LINEAR PROGRAMMING FORM 4
SAMPLE QUESTIONS
Q1 A relief organization has to transport atleast 80 people and
atleast 18 tonnes of supplies to a site. There are two
types of vehicles available type A and B. type A can
carry 900kg of supplies and 6 people while type B
can carry 1350kg of supplies and 5 people. There are
at most 12 vehicles of each type available. By
putting X to represent the number of vehicles of type
A and y to represent the number of vehicles of type
B
(a) Write down all the four inequalities to represent
the above information (4mks)
(b) On the grid provided, draw all the inequalities in
(a) above (4mks)
(c) Use the graph in (b) above the determine the least
number of vehicles required at the site (2mks)
SOLUTION 6x + 5y ≥ 80
2x + 3y ≥ 40
y≤ 12
x≤`12
on the graph paper
possible least no of lorries = 8&8, 11 & 6
and 5&10
= 15 lorries
Q2 A businessman wants to buy machines that make plastic
chairs. There are two types of machines that can make
these chairs, type A and type B. Type A makes 120 chairs
a day, occupies 20 m2of space and is operated by 5 men.
Type B makes 80 chairs a day, occupies 24 m2of space
and is operated by 3men.The businessman has 200m2 of
space and 40 men.
(a)List all inequalities representing the above
information given that the business man
buys x machines of type A and y machines of
type B. (3marks)
(b) Represent the inequalities above on the grid
provided. (3marks)
(c)Using your graph find the number of machines of
type A and those of type B that the business man
should buy to maximize the daily chair
production. (2marks)
(d) Given that the price of a chair isKsh.250,
determine the maximum daily sales the
businessman can make.
(2marks)
SOLUTION (a)Inequalities
5 x 3 y 40
20 x 24 y 200 / 5 x 6 y 50
x 0, y 0
(b) Graph
(c) 6 type x and 3 type y
(d) 9 250 Kshs. 2,250
Q3 A farmer has at least 50 acres of land on which he plans to
plant potatoes and cabbages. Each acre of potatoes
requires 6 men and each acre of cabbages requires 2
men. The farmer has 240 men available and he must
plant at least 10 acres of potatoes. The profit on
potatoes is ksh. 1000 per acre and on cabbages is
ksh.1200 per acre. If he plants x acres of potatoes and
y acres of cabbages:
(a)Write down three inequalities in x and y to describe
this information. (3 marks)
(b) Represent these inequalities graphically.
(4 marks)
(c) Use your graph to determine the number of acres for
each crop which will give maximum profit and
hence find the maximum profit.
(3 marks)
SOLUTION a) x + y > 50
x > 10
3x + y < 120
Q4 A tailor makes two types of garments A and B. Garment A
requires 3m of material while B
requires 2 ½ m of material. The tailor uses not more
than 600m of material daily in making both
garments. The tailor must make not more than 100
garments of type A and not less than 80 of type B
each day.
(a) Write down four inequalities from this
information. (4mks)
b) Draw a graph for the inequalities shading the
unwanted regions. (4mks)
c) If the tailor makes a profit of sh.80 on garment
A and a profit of sh. 60 on garment B, how many
garments must she make in order to maximize her total
profit if all thegarments are sold at once.
(2mks)
SOLUTION
80x + 60y = P
80(100)+ 60 (120) = P
P = 15,200……………..
Q5 A girl’s school has a store a far off distance for food. It
has 20 sacks of rice and 35 sacks of maize. The
weight, volume and number of meal rations for each
sack are as follows.
Sack of Weight in Volume No of
kg (m³) meals
Rice 25 0.05 800
Maize 10 0.05 160
A delivery van is to carry the largest possible total
number of meals. It can carry up to 600kg in weight and
2m³ in volume.
(a) If a load is made up of sacks of rice and y
sacks of maize, write four inequalities other
than 0, y 0 which satisfy these
conditions. (3mks)
(b) Illustrated these inequalities graphically by shading
unwanted region.(4mks)
(b) Write down an expression for the number of
meals that can be provided from sacks of
rice and y-sacks of maize. Use your graph to
find best values to take for and y. (3mks)
SOLUTION (a) 25 + 10y 600 (=) 5 + 2y 120
0.05 + 0.05y 2 (=) + y 40
20
y 35
(b) 800 + 160y = meals
40 100
Search line slope =
8 20
50
=
60
Point is (20, 10)
= 20 ; y = 10 for max meals
SECTION 2 SAMPLE REVISION QUESTIONS
Q1 A company wishes to buy two types of squash machines;
electric and manual. A manual machine requires 4
attendants where as an electric one requires two. An
electric machine fills 300 packets per hour; a manual
one can fill 200 packets per hour. At least 3000
packets need to be filled per hour and the number of
attendants should not exceed 40.
a) Write down inequalities to describe these
conditions and graph them. (7 marks)
b) If for every hour it is used, an electric machine
brings a profit of shs 200 and a manual one is
shs 500, determine the number of machines of
each type that should be installed in order to
maximize profit per hour.
(1 mark)
c) Find the maximum profit.
(2 marks)
Q2 An auto spare dealer sells two types of lubricant A and B
in his shop. While purchasing type A cost Sh.40 per
100ml tin and type B cost Sh.60 per 100ml tin. He
decided to buy at least 30 tins altogether of type A
and B with Sh.1500 available. He decides that at
least one third of the tins should be of type B. He
buys tins of type A and y tins
of type B.
(a) Write down three inequalities, which represent
the above information. (3 marks)
(b) On a graph paper, draw a graph to show the
three inequalities (a) above. (3 marks)
(c) Determine how many tins of each type that he
should buy to maximize his
profit if he makes a profit of Sh.10 of each type
A and a profit of Sh.20 on each type B tin.
(2 marks)
(d) Calculate maximum possible profit.(2 marks)
Q3 A transporter has a van and a pick-up available for trips to
the nearest town. He can allow atmost 120 litres of
petrol and 4 litres of oil to be used each day. Each trip,the
van uses 10litres of petrol and 0.2 litres of oil. Each trip
the pick-up uses 6 litres of petrol and 0.8 litres of oil. The
profit made on each trip by the van is shs. 60 and on each
trip by the pick-up is shs. 80. If he makes x trips in the van
and y trips in the pick-up;
a) Write down four inequalities which must be satisfied by
x and y (4marks)
b) Represent the inequalities above graphically using a
scale of 1cm to represent 2 units in both axes, and then
determine the number of trips made by each vehicle to
give maximum profit by use of a search line. Then give
the maximum profit.
(6marks)
Q4 A theatre has seating capacity of 250 people. The charges
are shs. 100 for ordinary seat and shs 160 for special
seat. It cost shs 16000 to stage a show and the theatre
must make a profit. There are never more than 200
ordinary seats and for a show to take place, at least 50
ordinary seats must be occupied; the number of special
seats is always less than twice the number of ordinary
seats.
(a)Taking X to be number of ordinary seats and y to be
the number of special seats, write down all the
inequalities representing the above information
(2 marks)
(b) On the grid provided, draw a graph to show the
inequalities in (a) above (4marks)
(c)Determine the number of seats of each type that
should be booked in order to maximize the profit
( 2 marks)
(d) Calculate this maximum profit
( 2marks)
Q5 The games master whishes to hire two matatus for a trip.
The operators have a Toyota
which carries 10passengers and a Kombi which
carries 20 passengers. Altogether 120
people have to travel. The operators have only
20litres of fuel and the Toyota consumes
4 litres on each round trip and the Kombi 1 litre on
each round trip. If the Toyota makes x
round trips and the kombi y round trips;
(a) write down four inequalities in x and y
which must be satisfied
b) represent the inequalities graphically on the grid
provided
(c) The operators charge shs.100 for each round trip
in the Toyota and shs.300 for each
round trip in the kombi;
(i) determine the number of trips made by each
vehicle so as to make the total cost a
Minimum
(ii) find the minimum cost
Q6 . A shoe maker makes two types of shoes A and B. He
takes 3 hours to make one pair of type
A and 4 hours to make one pair of type B. He
works for a maximum of 120 hours to make x
pairs of type A and y pairs of type B. It costs him
Kshs. 400 to make a pair of type A and
Kshs.150 to make a pair of type B. His total cost
does not exceed kshs.9000. He must make
at least 8 pairs of type A and 12 pairs of type B.
(a) Write down four inequalities representing the
information above
(b) On the grid provided represent the inequalities
and shade the unwanted regions
(c) The shoe maker makes a profit of kshs.40 on
each pair of type A and kshs.70 on each pair
Q7 A theatre has a seating capacity of 250 people. The
charges are shs.100 for an ordinary
seat and shs.160 for a special seat. It costs
shs.16,000 to stage a show and the threatre
must make a profit. There is never more than 200
ordinary seats and for a show to take
place at least 50 ordinary chairs must be
occupied. The number of special seats is always
less than twice the number of ordinary seats.
a) taking x to be the number of ordinary seats and
y the number of special seats ,
write down all the inequalities representing
the information above.
b) On the grid provided, draw the graph to show the
inequalities in (a) above
c) Determine the number of seats of each type that
should be booked in order to maximize
the profit.
Q8 A school has to take 384 people for a tour. There are two
types of buses available.
Type X and type Y. Type X can carry 64
passengers and type Y can carry 48 passengers.
They have to use at least 7 buses.
a) Form all linear inequalities which will represent
the above information .
b) On the grid provided, draw the inequalities and
shade the un-wanted region.
b) The charges for hiring the buses are ;
Type X: shs.25,000
Type Y: shs.20,000
Use your graph to determine the number of
buses of each type that should be hired to
minimize the cost.
Q9 A trader makes two types of chair, ordinary and special
chairs. The cost of each ordinary
chair is shs.300 while each special chair costs
shs.700. He is prepared to spend not more than
shs.21,000. It is not viable for hi m to make less
than 20 chairs. Ordinary chairs must be less
than twice the special chairs but more than 15. By
taking the number of ordinary chairs as x
and special chairs as y:
(a) Write down all the inequalities in x and y
(b) Draw the inequalities on the grid provided
(c) He sells a special chair at a profit of shs.140
while ordinary chairs at a profit of shs.120;
Determine the maximum possible profit
Q10 A company produces shirts and jerseys using two types of
machines. Every shirt made
requires 2 hours on machine A and 2 hours on
machine B. Every Jersey made requires
3hours on machine A and I hour on machine B. In
one day the time limit on machine A
is 24hours but that on machine B is 12hrs. The
number of Jerseys produced must not be
more than the shirts produced in one day. The
company makes a profit of shs.200 on each
shirt and shs.200 on each Jersey. The company
produces x shirts and y jerseys per day
(a) Write down four inequalities which must be
satisfied by x and y and represent these
inequalities on a grid
(b) Find the values of x and y which will give the
company maximum daily profit and
also state the maximum profit
Q11 A man bakes two types of cakes, queen cakes and marble
cakes. Each week he bakes x
queen cakes and y marble cakes. The number of
cakes baked are subject to the following
conditions; 30x + 20y ≤ 4800, 30x + 40y ≥ 3600 and
10x >30y
He makes a profit of shs.10 on each queen cake and
shs.12 on each marble cake.
(i) Draw a graph to represent the above information
on the grid provided
(ii) From the graph, determine how many cakes of
each type he should make to
maximize his weekly profit
(iii) Calculate the maximum profit
(iv) If he is to make a weekly profit of at least
shs.600, find the least number of marble
cakes he should bake
