Operations Research

Ch. 1 Overview of OR
Short Answer Questions
1. Write the phases of operations Research.
2. Define Operations Research.
3. What are the engineering applications of optimization?

Long Answer Questions

1. Explain the objectives of OR. What is Degeneracy? How is it taken care of?
2. Write short notes on types of OR models.
3. Explain the various phases of OR and their significance in decision making.
4. Explain merits and demerits of OR models.

Ch. 2 Linear Programming

Short Answer Questions

1. Give a brief note on the Big-M method.
2. Explain about degeneracy in LPP.
3. Write down the dual LP of the following LPP

4. What is an artificial variable? Write about its importance.

5. What are the requirements of a LPP?
6. Write down the graphical method for solving a LPP.
7. State the standard form of LPP.
8. Write down the dual of the following LPP

9. Types of objective functions in LPP.

10. How do you identify unbounded solution in a graphical LPP?
11. What is degeneracy in simplex method?

Long Answer Questions

1. Discuss the terminology involved in formulating a linear programming problem.

2. Explain the graphical method and use it to solve the LPP:

3. Using Big-M method to

4. Write a short note on the difference between regular simplex method and dual
simplex method.
5. Solve the following LPP by graphical method.

6. Solve the following LPP by using two-phase simplex method

7. Explain the principle of duality in LPP. Use this principle to obtain an optimal
solution for
8. Explain the characteristics of LP model and describe the applications of LP
9. Solve the following LPP by using simplex method
10. Explain the disadvantages of Big-M method over Two-phase method.
11. Using Big-M method, solve the following LPP.

12. Use graphical method to solve the LPP

13. Solve the following LPP by using Big-M method:

14. Write a short note on the relation between primal and dual LPP.
15. A company produces three products A, B, C for manufacturing three materials P,Q
and Rare used. Profit per unit: A- Rs -5, B Rs. 3, C Rs. 4. Resource requirement/
unit. Maximum raw material availability. P-80 units; Q-100 units; R-150 units.
Formulate LPP.
 Raw material/ P Q R
Product
A 20 50
B 20 30
C 30 20 40

16. Explain various steps involved in formulations of linear programming problem

using graphical method.
17. Discuss the different types of optimal solutions with reference to graphical LPP.
18. Solve

Ch. 3 Transportation Problems

Short Answer Questions

1. Write the North West Corner Rule.
2. Write down the mathematical formulation of transportation problem.
3. How does the problem of degeneracy arise in a transportation problem?
4. What are the methods to optimize a transportation problem?

Long Answer Questions

1. Briefly explain Vogel’s Approximation Method.
2. An oil corporation has got three refineries R1, R2, R3 and it has to send petrol to four
different depots D1, D2, D3, and D4. The cost of supplying one litre of petrol from each
refinery to each depot is given below. The requirements of the depot and the available
petrol at the refineries are also given. Find the minimum cost of shipping after obtaining
the initial solution by Vogel's Approximation Method.
3. A company has 3 factories A, B and C which supply to 5 warehouses its small car fans. The
production capacity of factories and the demand of customers are assumed constant. The
distribution cost is given in the following table. The objective is to supply the wholesalers
with their demands in a cheapest way. Find the optimum solution using VAM.

Factories/ I II III IV V Available

Wholesalers units
A 5 7 10 5 3 5
B 8 6 9 12 4 10
C 10 9 8 10 15 10
Requirement 3 3 10 5 4
4. Obtain the initial basic feasible solution to the following transportation problem by VAM.
Use it to find an optimal solution.

From/To D1 D2 D3 Available
O1 2 7 4 5
O2 3 3 1 8
O3 5 4 7 7
O4 1 6 2 14
Required 7 9 18

5. Find the starting solution in the following transportation problem by NWC method.

Costs
10 20 5 7 10
13 9 12 8 20
Demand 4 15 7 9 30 Supply
14 7 1 0 40
3 12 5 19 50
60 60 20 10

6. Given the following transportation problem. Find the initial solution by VAM method

From/To A B C D Supply
1 5 12 7 10 50
2 4 6 7 6 50
3 2 8 5 3 60
Demand 40 20 30 70

7. Write the steps to find the basic feasible solution by NWC method.
8. Explain the transportation problem.
9. Solve the following transportation problem. Whose cost matrix, availability at each point
and requirement at each warehouse are given as follows

Plants w1 w2 w3 w4 Availability
p1 190 300 500 100 70
p2 700 300 400 600 90
p3 400 100 600 400 180
Requirement 50 80 70 140

10. Write short note on degeneracy in transportation problems.

11. Solve the following unbalanced transportation problem. An unbalanced transportation
problem is provided below. Because the sum of all the supplies O1, O2, O3, and O4 does
not equal the sum of all the demands. D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5, the situation is unbalanced.

Source./Dest. D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 Supply (si)

O1 5 1 8 7 5 15
O2 3 9 6 7 8 25
O3 4 2 7 6 5 42
O4 7 11 10 4 9 35
Demand (di) 30 20 15 10 20 95/117

12. Considering the following transportation problem, determine

a. The initial basic feasible solution using NWC method, and
 b. Optimal solution by MODI method

From/To D1 D2 D3 D4 Total
O1 1 2 1 4 30
O2 3 3 2 1 50
O3 4 2 5 9 20
O4 20 40 30 10 100

Ch. 4 Assignment Problems/ Sequence Problems

Short Answer Questions

1. Define crew Scheduling problems.
2. Write short note on Travelling Salesman Problem.
3. State the assignment problem. Express it as a LPP.
4. What is the assignment problem and its types?
5. Compare assignment and transportation problems.
6. What is no passing in sequencing problem?
7. What are the advantages of sequencing problems?

Long Answer Questions

1. A company has one surplus truck in each of the cities A, B, C, D, and E, and one deficit
truck in each of the cities 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The distance between the cities in Km is shown
in the matrix below. Find the assignment of trucks from cities in surplus to cities in deficit
so that the total distance covered by vehicles is minimum.

1 2 3 4 5 6
A 12 10 15 22 18 8
B 10 18 25 15 16 12
C 11 10 3 8 5 9
D 6 14 10 13 13 12
E 8 12 11 7 13 10

2. Solve the following minimal assignment problem:

Job/Machinist 1 2 3 4
A 12 30 21 15
B 18 33 9 31
C 44 25 24 21
D 23 30 28 14

3. The following table shows the machine time (in hours) for 4 jobs to be processed on two
different machines

Job 1 2 3 4
Machine 1 3 7 4 5
Machine 2 6 2 7 3

4. Find the minimum assignment cost and the assignment schedule for the following problem:
 Engineers/ A B C D
Projects
1 4 2 2 8
2 3 4 4 11
3 2 6 12 4
4 1 3 2 7

5. We have five jobs, each of which must go through the two machines A and B in the order
AB. Processing times in hours are given in the table below. Determine the sequence for the
five jobs that will minimize the elapsed time.

Job 1 2 3 4 5
Machine A 5 1 9 3 10
Machine B 2 6 7 8 4

6. Write short notes on Hungarian method.

7. Find the sequence that minimizes the total elapsed time required to complete the"
following tasks on two machines I and II in the older I, II.

Task A B C D E F G H I
Machine I 2 5 4 9 6 8 7 5 4
Machine II 6 8 7 4 3 9 3 8 11

8. Solve the following assignment problem and find an optimal assignment.

Machines/Jobs I II III IV V
A 11 10 18 5 9
B 14 13 12 19 6
C 5 3 4 2 4
D 15 18 17 9 12
E 10 11 19 6 14

9. Define assignment model and compare with transportation model

10. Explain assignment problem, describe a method for finding an optimum solution to an
assignment problem.
11. Five jobs have to be processed on two machines A and B in the order AB. The processing
times are in the following table. Determine an optimum sequence for the five jobs that will
minimize the total elapsed time.

Job 1 2 3 4 5
Machine A 5 8 7 1 2
Machine B 7 9 3 4 6

12. Explain the various methods of assignment problems in OR.

13. There are five Jobs to be assigned on five Machines and associated cost matrix is as follows:
Find the optimum assignment and associated cost using the assignment technique.

1 2 3 4 5
A 11 17 8 16 20
B 9 7 12 6 15
C 13 16 15 12 16
D 21 24 17 28 26
E 14 10 12 11 15
 14. Find the sequence for the following data so as to minimize the idle time in hours. What will
be the earliest delivery time that can be promised? Also draw the Time schedule table.

Job A B C D
Machine I 5 6 8 4
Machine II 4 7 9 10

15. There are two jobs to be processed through five machines A, B, C, D, and E. The prescribes
technological order is: Job – 1: A → B → C → D → E, and for Job – 2: B → C → A → D →
E. The process times are given below. Find out the optimal sequencing of the jobs on
machines and the minimum time required to process these jobs.

Machines A B C D E
Job 1 3 4 2 6 2
Job 2 3 5 4 2 6

Ch. 5 Network Representation of a project

Short Answer Questions

1. What any two differences between PERT and CPM.
2. Mention the conversions (rules) that are used in drawing the network diagram of a project
data.
3. What is meant by PERT network?
4. What are the different floats in network analysis?

Long Answer Questions

1. Explain CPM Network Technique
2. A project has the following activities. Determine
a. The PERT network and identify the critical path
b. The mean and variance of the critical path
c. What are the probability that the project is completed within 25 days?

Activity T0 Tm Tp
1-2 2 6 10
1-3 4 8 12
2-3 2 4 6
2-4 2 3 4
3-4 0 0 0
3-5 3 6 9
4-6 6 10 14
5-6 1 3 5

3. Explain the following terms

a. Earliest time
b. Latest time
c. Critical path
d. Total float and independent float
 4. A project is composed of 8 actuaries whose time estimates are listed below. Draw the project
network and identity the critical path. Calculate the variance of the project length. Find
the probability that the jobs on the critical path will be completed in 41 days.

Job (i-j) Optimistic Most likely Pessimistic

(to) (tm) (tp)
1-2 3 6 15
1-6 2 5 14
2-3 6 12 30
2-4 2 5 8
3-5 5 11 17
4-5 3 6 15
6-7 3 9 27
5-8 1 4 7
7-8 4 19 28

5. Explain about forward pass and backward pass computations.

6. Explain the differences between the PERT and CPM network technique. What is a critical
path and critical activity?
7. A project has the following activities. Determine
a. The PERT network and identify the critical path
b. What are the probability that the project is completed within 25 days?

Activity T0 Tm Tp
1-2 2 6 10
1-3 4 8 12
2-3 2 4 5
2-4 2 3 4
3-4 1 1 1
3-5 3 6 9
4-6 6 10 14
5-6 1 3 5

8. What is the forward pass method used to determine in CPM?

9. What is Fulkerson rule for network labelling?
10. Tasks A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I constitute a project. The notation X<Y means that the task
X must be finished before Y can begin. With this notation A < D, A < E, B < F, D < F, C <
G, C < H, F < I, G < I. Draw a PERT network to represent the sequent of tasks and find
the minimum time of completion of the project, when time (in days) of completion of each
task is in table given below.

Task A B C D E F G H I
Time 8 10 8 10 16 17 18 14 9

Ch. 6 Replacement Problems/ Inventory Problems

Short Answer Questions

1. What is meant by EOQ?
2. What are individual and group replacement policies?
3. State and explain the various costs involved in the inventory problems.
4. Explain the difference between EOQ and EPQ.
 5. What do you mean by replacement model?
6. What is LIFO?

Long Answer Questions

1. Define Inventory. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having inventories?
2. The annual demand for a product is 10,000 units. Each unit costs Rs. 100 for orders placed
in the quantity below 200 units, but for orders of 200 or above the price is Rs.95. The annual
inventory holding cost is 10% of the value of the item and the ordering cost is Rs. 500 per
unit. Find the Economic Lot Size.
3. The capital cost of a machine is Rs. 3,000, and the running costs are given in the following
table. Assume that the present value of Rs. 1 to be spent in a year's time is 0.90 ps. When
should the machine be replaced?

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Running cost (Rs.) 500 600 800 1000 1300 1600 2000

4. Define economic order quantity. Derive the, EOQ formula for a deterministic inventory
model with uniform demand and no shortages.
5. Define economic order quantity. Derive the, EOQ formula for a deterministic inventory
model with shortages and uniform demand.
6. XYZ company buys in lots of 500 boxes which is a 3-month supply. The cost per box is Rs.
125 and the ordering cost is Rs. 150. The inventory cost is estimated at 20% of unit value.
a. What is the total annual cost of the existing inventory policy?
b. What is the minimum cost and how much money could be saved by employing the
economic order quantity?
7. The demand of an item is uniform at a rate of 25 units per month, production cost is Rs.1
per items inventory carrying cost is 0.30 paise per item per month and fixed cost is Rs.15
per production run. If the shortage cost is Rs.1.50 per item per month determine how obtain
to make a production run and of what size if should be.
8. The following table gives the running maintenance costs per year and the resale price of a
certain equipment whose purchase price Rs.5,000. Find at what year the replacement is
due

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Running cost (Rs.) 1500 1600 1800 2100 2500 2900 3400
Resale value (Rs.) 3500 2500 1700 1200 800 500 500

9. Explain the necessity of maintaining inventory and classification of inventory models.

10. The capital cost of a machine is Rs. 3,000, and the running costs are given in the following
table. Assume that the present value of Rs. 1 to be spent in a year's time is 0.90 ps, when
should the machine be replaced?

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Running cost (Rs.) 400 550 850 1000 1200 1500 1700 2000

11. XYZ company buys in lots of 1000 boxes which is a 3 months’ supply. The cost per box Rs.
200, and the ordering cost is Rs. 250. The inventory cost is estimated at 20% of unit value.
What is the minimum cost and determine the optimum ordering quantity?
12. What is inventory? Explain the four types of inventory controls.
13. Suppose that the value of money is assumed to be 10% per year. Machine A is replaced
after every 3 years where as machine B is replaced after every six years. The yearly cost of
the both the machines are given under. Determine which machine should be purchased.
 Year 1 2 3 4 5 6
Machine A 1000 200 400 1000 200 400
Machine B 1700 100 200 300 400 500

14. Arrivals at a telephone booth are considered to be Poisson at an average time of 8 min
between one arrival and the next. The length of the phone call is distributed exponentially
with a mean at 4 min. Determine.
a. Expected fraction of the day that the phone will be in use.
b. Expected number of unit in the system.
c. Expected number of units in the queue. Expected waiting time in the queue.
15. Discuss the various costs and the terminology used in Inventory.
16. A company uses 25000 units per year of an item. The purchase price is Rs. 2 per item.
Ordering cost is Rs. 30 per order. Carrying cost per year is 15% of the inventory value. Find
a. EOQ
b. The number of orders per year and
c. If the lead time is 4 weeks and assuming 50 working weeks per year, find the
reorder point.

Ch. 7 Game Theory

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a game in game theory? What are the properties of a game?
2. Define pure and mixed strategy games.
3. Define a strategy in a rectangular game.

Long Answer Questions

1. Solve the following game by using the dominance method.

Players B1 B2 B3
A1 4 5 8
A2 6 4 6
A3 4 2 4

2. Use the principle of dominance to solve the following game:

B1 B2 B3 B4
A1 8 10 9 14
A2 10 11 8 12
A3 13 12 14 13

3. Solve the following game by graphical method

Player B
Player A 1 3 11
8 5 2

4. With regard to two-person zero sum games, explain

a. Minimax criterion and Optimal strategy
b. Principle of dominance and properties/rules of dominance
5. Solve the following game, using the rules of dominance
 B1 B2 B3 B4
A1 1 2 3 -1
A2 2 2 1 5
A3 3 1 0 -2
A4 4 3 2 6

6. Explain the rules for game theory and saddle point.

7. Explain the principle of dominance and use it to solve the game problem:

B1 B2 B3 B4
A1 8 10 9 14
A2 10 11 8 12
A3 14 16 8 13

8. Solve the following by graphical method

Player A/ Player B I II III IV

I 1 3 6 1
II 8 5 2 7