Honors Algebra II Name:____________________________
Linear Programming Day 2 Notes & HW
CLASS EXAMPLES:
Health and Nutrition Problem
A school dietician wants to prepare a meal of meat and vegetables that has the lowest possible fat and that
meets the Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily allowances (RDA) of iron and protein. The RDA
minimums are 20 milligrams of iron and 45 grams of protein. Each 3-ounce serving of meat contains 45 grams
of protein, 10 milligrams of iron, and 4 grams of fat. Each 1-cup serving of vegetables contains 9 grams of
protein, 6 milligrams of iron, and 2 grams of fat. Let x represent the number of 3-ounce servings of meat, and
let y represent the number of 1-cup servings of vegetables.
a. Set up a table of the information:
b. Write the objective function for the total number of grams of fat for the meal.
c. Define the constraints:
d. Define the axes and scale of the graph & graph the
feasible region.
e. Corner Points:
f. Find the minimum number of grams of fat.
Aircraft Problem: Kurt is Chief Mathematician for Fly-By-Night Aircraft Corporation. He is responsible for
mathematical analysis of the manufacturing of the company’s two models of planes, the Camel and the larger
Hippopotamus. Fly-By-Night makes a profit of $300 per Camel and $200 per Hippo.
a. Define variables:
b. Write the objective function.
c. Kurt finds the following restrictions for the production of these aircraft.
i. Fly-By-Night can produce at most 12 aircraft per year.
ii. They can manufacture no more than 11 Camels and no more than 6 Hippos in a year.
iii. The number of Hippos can be at most 2 times the number of Camels.
iv. A Hippo requires 200 hours to build, and a Camel requires 100 hours to build. The company will
spend at least 1000 hours working on the aircraft.
Write a system of inequalities representing the constraints.
d. Graph the feasible region. List the coordinates of the boundaries of the feasible region.
e. How many Camels and Hippos should be produced to give
the greatest feasible profit? What would this profit be?
HOMEWORK
Oil Refinery Problem: Karl is the Chief Mathematician for Nadecki’s Oil Refinery. He recommends buying
Texas oil, priced at $30 per barrel, and California oil, priced at $15 per barrel. Ms. Nadecki consults Karl to find
out what is the most she might have to pay in a month for the oil the refinery uses.
a. Define variables for the number of barrels of Texas oil and then number of barrels of California oil
purchased in a month.
b. Write an equation expressing the total cost of the oil in terms of these two variables.
c. Karl finds the following restrictions on the amounts of oil that can be purchased in a month.
i. The refinery can handle as much as 40,000 barrels per month.
ii. To stay in business, the refinery must process at least 18,000 barrels a month.
iii. California oil has 6 pounds of impurities per barrel. Texas oil has only 2 pounds of impurities per
barrel. The most the refinery can handle is 120,000 pounds of impurities a month.
Write a system of inequalities representing the constraints.
d. Plot the graph of the feasible region. List all the
coordinates of the feasible region.
e. What is the maximum feasible amount Ms. Nadecki might
have to spend in a month? How much of each kind of oil
would give this maximum cost?
Cereal Problem:
Kellogg’s is going to produce a new cereal from a mixture of bran and rice that contains at least 88 grams of
protein and at least 36 mg of iron. Knowing that bran contains 80 grams of protein and 40 mg of iron per
kilogram and that rice contains 100g of protein and 30 mg of iron per kilogram, find the minimum cost of
producing this new cereal if bran cost 50 cents per kilogram and rice cost 40 cents per kilogram.
a. Define the variables.
b. Write the objective function.
c. Write the system of inequalities that are represented by the given constraints.
d. Graph the feasible region and identify the corner points.
e. Determine the minimum cost.
