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Math Case Study 1

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IZZATUL HAREESA BINTI ZAIDI
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15 views2 pages

Math Case Study 1

Uploaded by

IZZATUL HAREESA BINTI ZAIDI
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A mathematical case study is a detailed examination of a real-world scenario or theoretical

problem where mathematical methods and principles are applied to analyze, solve, or predict
outcomes. Below is an example case study that demonstrates the application of mathematics
in optimizing business decisions.

Case Study: Optimizing Delivery Routes for a Delivery Company

Background:

A delivery company has a fleet of vehicles that are tasked with delivering packages to various
locations throughout a city. The company wants to minimize the total distance traveled by its
vehicles to save fuel costs and improve delivery efficiency. The challenge is to find the most
efficient routes for each vehicle, given a set of delivery points and constraints such as time
windows for delivery, vehicle capacities, and traffic conditions.

Objective:

The company wants to determine the optimal routes for its fleet of vehicles so that:

1. Each delivery point is visited exactly once.


2. The total distance traveled by all vehicles is minimized.
3. The delivery windows and vehicle capacity constraints are respected.

Mathematical Tools and Methods Used:

1. Graph Theory: The problem can be modeled as a graph where:


o Nodes represent the delivery locations (including the depot).
o Edges represent the possible paths between locations, with weights
corresponding to the distance or travel time between locations.
2. Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP): This problem is a classic example of a Vehicle
Routing Problem (VRP), where the goal is to find optimal routes for a fleet of
vehicles that must serve a set of customers. In the simplest case (the Traveling
Salesman Problem, TSP), one vehicle must visit all the customers once, but VRP
considers multiple vehicles.
3. Optimization Algorithms: Various optimization techniques can be used to solve
VRP, including:
o Exact Methods: These include Integer Linear Programming (ILP) and
Branch-and-Bound algorithms that guarantee an optimal solution but may
require significant computational resources for large instances.
o Heuristic Methods: These include algorithms like Nearest Neighbor, Clarke-
Wright Savings Algorithm, or Simulated Annealing, which provide good
solutions within reasonable computation times but do not guarantee
optimality.
4. Constraints Handling: Constraints like delivery time windows and vehicle capacities
are incorporated into the model through additional mathematical equations. These can
be handled in an ILP formulation or by adding penalty terms in heuristic methods.

Formulation of the Problem:


 Let CC be the set of customers (delivery locations).
 Let VV be the set of vehicles.
 The cost of traveling from node ii to node jj is denoted as cijc_{ij}.
 Let xijkx_{ijk} be a binary variable where:
xijk={1if vehicle k travels from i to j,0otherwise.x_{ijk} = \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if
vehicle } k \text{ travels from } i \text{ to } j, \\ 0 & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}
 The objective function is to minimize the total distance traveled by all vehicles:
Minimize∑k∈V∑i∈C∑j∈Ccijxijk\text{Minimize} \sum_{k \in V} \sum_{i \in C} \
sum_{j \in C} c_{ij} x_{ijk}
 Subject to constraints such as:
o Each customer must be visited exactly once.
o Each vehicle must start and end at the depot.
o Time windows and vehicle capacity constraints.

Solution:

1. Exact Solution (Integer Linear Programming): Using ILP solvers (such as CPLEX
or Gurobi), the company can obtain an optimal solution, but the solution process may
take time depending on the size of the problem.
2. Heuristic Solution (Clarke-Wright Savings Algorithm): The company could use a
heuristic approach, such as the Clarke-Wright Savings Algorithm, which iteratively
combines routes to reduce travel distances. This is faster than ILP but may not always
provide the absolute best solution.
3. Simulation: Simulations of different algorithms (e.g., Simulated Annealing or
Genetic Algorithms) can be run to see which one performs best in practice, balancing
computational efficiency and solution quality.

Results:

After applying the chosen algorithm, the company found that the total distance traveled by all
vehicles was reduced by 15%, which saved significant fuel costs. Additionally, delivery time
windows were respected, and vehicles did not exceed their capacity.

Conclusion:

Mathematical optimization provided an efficient way to solve the delivery route problem for
the company. By applying VRP algorithms, the company optimized its operations, reducing
costs and improving delivery performance. This case study illustrates how mathematical
methods such as optimization, graph theory, and heuristics can be applied to real-world
logistics problems.

This case study shows how mathematics can be applied to improve efficiency and decision-
making in real-world scenarios.

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