LINEAR PROGRAMMING

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Linear programming is concerned with the problem of optimizing (maximizing or minimizing)
some variable (profit, output, loss etc.) subject to some constraints (costs, availability etc.).
Linear programming therefore enables a manager to calculate the profit maximizing output mix
of a multi-product firm subject to restrictions on input availability, or the input mix that will
minimize costs subject to minimum quality standards being met. As such linear programming is
an extremely useful tool for managerial decision-making.
Business organizations have various objectives which they have to meet using a certain available
resource that are usually in scarce supply, for instance:
i) A manufacturing company deems to provide quality products and make profit through
utilization of the limited resources like personnel, material, machine, lime, market etc.
ii) A hospital has the main objective of maintaining and restoring good health to its patients at an
affordable cost to the patients. Resources include medical personnel, number of beds, pharmacies
and laboratories.

In such examples, mathematical programming (MP)provides a technique that may be used to

make decision on the best way to allocate the limited resources in order to maximize profit or
minimize cost.
Programming refers to a mathematical technique which is iterative. Iteration is a technique
which converges towards an optimal solution using the same basic steps in a repetitive manner.
The solution keeps improving until it can improve no more i.e., until the best solution is obtained
given that circumstance.
Mathematical Programming therefore is a mathematical decision tool that aids managers in
seeking either the maximization n of profit, minimization of cost or both within an environment
of scarce/limited resources. Such scarce resources are called constraints e.g., raw materials
labour supply, market etc. The maximization of profit and in minimization of cost are known as
objectives. The decision problems can be formulated and solved as mathematical programming
problems. Mathematical programming involves optimization of a certain function called the
objective function subject to certain constraints.
The mathematical programming techniques can be divided into 7 categories namely:
1. linear programming

2. non-liner programming

3. integer programming

4. dynamic programming

5. stochastic programming

6. parametric programming

7. goal programming
1. Linear programming (LP) method
This method is a technique for choosing the best alternative from aset of feasible alternatives
whereby the objective function and constraints are expressed as linear mathematical functions. In
order to apply linear programming (LP), the following requirements should be met:
i) There should be a clearly identifiable objective which is measured quantitatively.
ii) The activities to be included should be distinctly identifiable and measurable in quantitative
terms.
iii) The resources of the system should be identifiable and measurable quantitatively and also in
limited supply.
iv) The relationships representing objective function and the constraints equations or inequalities
must be linear in nature.
v) There should be a series of feasible alternative courses of action available to the decision
maker, which are determined by the resource constraints.

Business application of linear programming

a) Determination or optimal product mix in industries.
b) Determination of optimal machine and labour contribution
c) Determination of optimal use of storage and shipping facilities
d) Determining the best route in transport industry.
e) To determine investment plans.
f) To find the appropriate number of financial auditors
g) Assigning advertising expenditures to different media plans.
h) Determining the amount of fertilizer to apply per acre in the agricultural sector.
i) Determining campaign strategies in politics.
j) Determining the best marketing strategies.

Basic assumptions of linear programming (LP)

i. Certainty– values (numbers) in the objective and constraint are known with certainty and do
not change during the period being studied.
ii. Proportionality/linearity– a basic assumption of linear programming (LP) is that
proportionality exists in the objective function and the constraints inequalities- e.g., if a
production of 1unit of a product uses 3 hours of a particular scarce resource, then making 10
units use 30 hours of the resource.
iii. Additivity– the total of all the activities is given by the sum total of each activity conducted
separately. For instance, the total profit in the objective function is determined by the sum of the
profit contributed by each of the products separately.
iv. Divisibility/continuity– solutions need not be in whole numbers (integers) Instead, they are
divisible and may take any fractional value.
v. Non negativity/finite choice– negative values of physical quantities are impossible, you
simply cannot produce negative number of chairs, shirts, lamps or computers.
vi. Time factors are ignored. All productions are assumed to be instantaneous.
vii. Costs and benefits which cannot be quantified easily like goodwill, liquidity and labour
stability are ignored.
viii. Interdependence between demand products is ignored, products may be complementary or a
substitute for one another.

1.1 DEFINITION OF TERMS

In the solution of a linear programming problem, one usually meets the terms defined below:
Objective Function: This is the function to be maximized or minimized.
Constraints: Linear equations or inequalities which restrict the values of the variables.
Feasible Region: A region in the x-y plane which satisfies all of the constraints under
consideration.
Advantages of linear programming (LP)
i) Improves the quality of decisions.
ii) Helps in attaining the optimum use of production factors.
iii) It highlights the bottlenecks in the production process
iv) It gives insight and perspective into problem situations,
v) Improves the knowledge and skills of tomorrow’s executives,
vi) Enable one to consider all possible solutions to problems.
vii) Enables one to come up with better and more successful decisions
viii) It is a better tool for adjusting to meet changing conditions.
Disadvantages of Linear programming
i) It treats all relationships as linear.
ii) It is assumed that any activity is infinitely divisible.
iii) It takes into account single objective only i.e. profit maximization or cost minimization
iv) It can be adopted only under the condition of certainty i.e. recourses, per unit contribution,
costs etc. are known with certainty. This does not hold in real situations

Mathematical formulation of linear programming problems

Formulating a linear program involves developing a mathematical model to represent the
managerial problem. The step in formulating a linear program follows:
a) Completely understand the managerial problem being faced
b) Identify the objective and the constraints.
c) Define the decision variables.
d) Use the decision variables to write mathematical expression for the objective function and the
constraints.
EXAMPLE
A manager wishes to decide on the product mix which will maximize profits when his firm has
limited amounts of the various inputs required for the different products that it makes. The firm’s
objective is to maximize profit and so profit is the objective function. He will try to optimize
this function subject to the constraint of limited input availability.
7.2 LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL
A general linear programming model takes the following form:

There are various ways of solving a linear programming problem, the only
1.3 GRAPHICAL APPROACH
Procedure for solving a linear programming problem.
Input: Objective function P= ax +by and a set of constraints.
Output: Optimal value of the objective function.

Step 1: Plot the lines corresponding to each of the given constraints.

Step 2: Determine the feasible region. This will be the region satisfying all the given
inequalities.
Step 3: The maximum or minimum value of the objective function occurs at a vertex of the
feasible region. So, to work out the optimum solution, substitute values of x and y from each
vertex of the feasible region into the given objective function. Now determine the maximum
value or minimum value by considering values of the objective function. The largest value of the
objective function corresponds to a vertex which maximizes the objective and the smallest value
of the objective function corresponds to a vertex which minimizes the objective function.

The diagram below shows the feasible region.

Example 2:
A company manufactures two types of boxes, corrugated and ordinary cartons. The boxes
undergo two major processes: cutting and pinning operations. The profits per unit are K 6and K
4 respectively. Each corrugated box requires 2 minutes for cutting and 2 minutes for pinning
operation, whereas each carton box requires 3 minutes for cutting and 1 minute for pinning. The
available operating time is 120minutes and 60 minutes for cutting and pinning machines
respectively. Determine the optimum quantities of the two boxes to maximize the profits.
Solution:
Key Decision: To determine how many (number of) corrugated and carton boxes are to be
manufactured.
We present the information given in a table.
Decision variables: Let x and y be the number of corrugated and carton boxes to be
manufactured respectively.
Objective Function: The objective is to maximize the profits. Given profits on corrugated box
and carton box are K6 and K4 respectively. Therefore, the objective function is, P=6x +4y
Constraints: The available machine-hours foreach machine and the time consumed by each
product are given. Therefore, the constraints are,

As the company cannot produce negative quantities of the two goods, we can also add the two
non-negativity constraints on the solutions for the optimum values x ≥ 0 and y ≥ 0
We now plot the inequalities to determine the feasible region. See the graph below.
Note that the coordinates for B can be read off from the graph or can be found by solving the
equations

The feasible region is clear from the graph and contains the vertices (0,0), (0,40), (15,40),
(30,0).
The next thing is to plug these into the objective function. We will do this using a table.

We can see those 15 corrugated boxes and 30 ordinary boxes will yield the maximum profit.
ASSIGNMENT 1

5. Wezi a self-boarding Accountancy student and studying in Blantyre has K30,000 in her
account at the start of the semester which has 21 weeks. She would like to save at K5000 for her
transport back home in Lilongwe. Write out an inequality to express how much Wezi should
withdraw from the account per week for her upkeep.
6. A company uses inputs K and L to manufacture goods A and B. It has available 200 units of K
and 180 units of L and the input requirements are:
10 units of K plus 30 units of L for each unit of A
25 units of K plus 15 units of L for each unit of B
If the per-unit profit is K80 for A and K30 for B, what combination of A and B should it produce
to maximize profit and how much of K and L will be used in doing this?
7 Mr. Chiwoza is a farmer in Chitipa, a wheat and paprika growing area. He has 10 acres to plant
in wheat and puprica. Mr. Chiwoza has to plant at least 7 acres. However, he has only K360,000
to spend and each acre of wheat costs K60,000 to plant and each acre of paprika costs K30,000
to plant. Moreover, the farmer has to get the planting done in 12 hours and it takes an hour to
plant an acre of wheat and 2 hours to plant an acre of paprika.
Required
a) Identify the constraints for Mr. Chiwoza and write them as inequalities.
b) Graph the inequalities and identify the feasible region.