Operations Research

Lecture 1: Introduction

Instructor: Dr. Safaa Amin

2020/2021

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• Textbook: Problems in Operations Research, Gupta, 10th edition
• Operations Research, Shaum
• Grade: 20% Quizes and Assignment + 20% mid-term exam + 60% final
exam
• Email: [email protected]
• Office hour: to be specified
• Course materials:
Textbook + PPT/Board + Lecture notes

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 Introduction
• Operations Research is an Art and Science
• Operations Research is the scientific
approach to execute decision making, which
consists of:
– The art of mathematical modeling of
complex situations
– The science of the development of solution
techniques used to solve these models

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 What is Operations Research?
• OR has its early roots in World War II and then in
business and industry with the aid of computer
• Application areas of OR include military, industry,
business, public sector, healthcare…

• Operational Research as termed in Europe, is an

Branch of applied mathematics that uses
techniques and statistics to arrive at Optimal
solutions to solve complex problems
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 What is an optimal solution?

• An optimal solution is a
feasible solution where the objective
function reaches its maximum (or
minimum) value – for example, the most
profit or the least cost.
• A globally optimal solution is one where
there are no other feasible solutions with
better objective function values.
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 INTRODUCTION TO
OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
Operational Research: is a systematic and analytical
approach to decision making and problem solving.

It is typically concerned with determining the maximum

profit, sale, output, crops yield and efficiency
And minimum losses, risks, cost, and time of some
objective function.
 USE OF COMPUTERS
The models of OR need lot of computation and
therefore, the use of computers becomes necessary.
With the use of computers it is possible to
handle complex problems requiring large amount of
calculations.
The objective of the operations research models
is to attempt and to locate Best or Optimal Solution.
 NATIONAL PLANNING AND
BUDGETING
OR is used for the Preparation of-

• Five Year Plans

• Annual Budgets
• Forecasting of Income and Expenditure
• Scheduling of Major Projects of National
Importance
• Population
• Employment and Generation of Agriculture Yields,
etc.
 1.3 An OR study: the general steps
An OR study usually contains the following steps:

1. Identify the problem;

2. Formulate the problem as a math model;
3. Develop effective algorithms
or computer packages to solve the model;
5. Obtain numerical solution for the model;
6. Implementation
 Course plan (preliminary)
Introduction
Chapter 1: Linear Programming: modeling
and graphical solution;
Chapter 2: Powerful Method, LP: simplex method;
How to be efficient? LP: duality Theory
(Dual Simplex Method- Dual Problem)
Chapter 3: What if?
sensitive analysis;
Chapter 4: Integer Programming
1- epsilon close method 2- Rounding
3- Assigning non-zero value to the non-Basic variable
Chapter 5: Integer program Applications
( Transportation – Production- Transshipment- assignment)
Example: Iron Works.
Iron Factory, manufactures two products made from
steel and just received this month's allocation of 2000 pounds
of steel. It takes 2 pounds of steel to make a unit of product 1
and it takes 3 pounds of steel to make a unit of product 2.
unit profits for products 1 and 2, are100 and 200
respectively.
The manufacturer has a contract calling for at least 60
units of product 1 this month. The firm's facilities are such that
at most 720 units of product 2 may be produced monthly.

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 Example: Iron Works, Inc.
• Decision Variable: Let x1 and x2 denote this month's production level of
product 1 and product 2, respectively.
• Objective:
– The total monthly profit =
(profit per unit of product 1)
x (monthly production of product 1)
+ (profit per unit of product 2)
x (monthly production of product 2)
= 100x1 + 200x2
We want to maximize total monthly profit:
Max : Z= 100x1 + 200x2

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 Example: Iron Works, Inc.
• Constraints
– The total amount of steel used during monthly production =
(steel required per unit of product 1)
x (monthly production of product 1)
+ (steel required per unit of product 2)
x (monthly production of product 2)
= 2x1 + 3x2
This quantity must be less than or equal to the
allocated b pounds of steel:
2x1 + 3x2 < 2000

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 Example: Iron Works, Inc.
• Mathematical Model (continued)
– The monthly production level of product 1 must be greater
than or equal to 60:
x1 > 60
– The monthly production level of product 2 must be less
than or equal to 720:
x2 < 720
– However, the production level for product 2 cannot be
negative:
x1 and x2 > 0

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 Example: Iron Works.
• Answer:
Substituting, the model is:
Max: Z= 100x1 + 200x2
s.t. 2x1 + 3x2 < 2000
x1 > 60
x2 < 720
x1 and x2 > 0

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 Example: Iron Works, Inc.
• Question:
The optimal solution to the current model is x1 = 60 and
x2 = 626 2/3. If the product were engines, explain why this is
not a true optimal solution for the "real-life" problem.
• Answer:
One cannot produce and sell 2/3 of an engine. Thus the
problem is further restricted by the fact that both x1 and x2 must
be integers. They could remain fractions if it is assumed these
fractions are work in progress to be completed the next month.

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 Example: Iron Works
Inputs
$100 profit per unit Prod. 1
$200 profit per unit Prod. 2
2 lbs. steel per unit Prod. 1
3 lbs. Steel per unit Prod. 2
2000 lbs. steel allocated
60 units minimum Prod. 1
720 units maximum Prod. 2
0 units minimum Prod. 2

60 units Prod. 1 Max 100(60) + 200(626.67) Profit = $131,333.33

626.67 units Prod. 2 s.t. 2(60) + 3(626.67) < 2000 Steel Used = 2000
60 > 60
Controllable Inputs 626.67 < 720 Output
626.67 > 0
Mathematical Model 17
 Graphical solution

A Graphical Solution Procedure (LPs with 2 decision

variables can be solved/viewed this way.)

lot
1. each constraint as an equation and then decide which
side of the line is feasible (if it’s an inequality).
2.
Find the feasible region.
3. find the coordinates of the corner (extreme) points of the
feasible region.

4. Substitute the corner point coordinates in the

objective function
5. Choose the optimal solution
Example 2: A Minimization Problem
• LP Formulation
Min z = 5x1 + 2x2

s.t. 2x1 + 5x2 > 10

4x1 - x2 > 12
x1 + x2 > 4

x 1, x 2 > 0
 Example 1: Graphical Solution
• Graph the Constraints
Constraint 1: When x1 = 0, then x2 = 2; when x2 = 0, then x1 =
5. Connect (5,0) and (0,2). The ">" side is above this line.
Constraint 2: When x2 = 0, then x1 = 3. But setting x1 to 0
will yield x2 = -12, which is not on the graph. Thus, to get a
second point on this line, set x1 to any number larger than 3 and
solve for x2: when x1 = 5, then x2 = 8. Connect (3,0) and (5,8).
The ">" side is to the right.
Constraint 3: When x1 = 0, then x2 = 4; when x2 = 0, then x1 =
4. Connect (4,0) and (0,4). The ">" side is above this line.
 Example 1: Graphical Solution
• Constraints Graphed
x22 Feasible Region

4x11 - x22 > 12

5

4 x11 + x22 > 4

3
2x11 + 5x22 > 10
2
(16/5,4/5)
1 (10/3, 2/3)
x11
11 22 33 44 55 66
(5,0)
•
Example 1: Graphical Solution
Solve for the Extreme Point at the Intersection of the second and third Constraints
4x1 - x2 = 12
x1+ x2 = 4
Adding these two equations gives:
5x1 = 16 or x1 = 16/5.
Substituting this into x1 + x2 = 4 gives: x2 = 4/5
• Solve for the extreme point at the intersection of the first and third constraints
2x1 + 5x2 =10
x1 + x2= 4
Multiply the second equation by -2 and add to the first equation, gives
3x2 = 2 or x2 = 2/3
Substituting this in the second equation gives x1 = 10/3

point Z

(16/5, 4/5) 88/5

(10/3, 2/3) 18

(5, 0) 25
Example 2: A Maximization
Problem

Max z = 5x1 + 7x2

s.t. x1 < 6
2x1 + 3x2 < 19
x1 + x2 < 8

x 1, x 2 > 0
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
• Constraint #1 Graphed
x2
8

6
x1 < 6
5

1 (6, 0)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
• Constraint #2 Graphed
x2

8 (0, 6 1/3)
7

6 2x1 + 3x2 < 19

5

4
3

2
(9 1/2, 0)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
• Constraint #3 Graphed
x2
(0, 8)
8

6
x1 + x2 < 8
5

1 (8, 0)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
• Combined-Constraint Graph
x2
8
x1 + x2 < 8
7

6
x1 < 6
5

2
2x1 + 3x2 < 19
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Example 2: A Maximization
x 2
Problem
• Feasible Solution Region
8

2 Feasible
1
Region

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
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7 • The Five Extreme Points

5
(0, 19/3) 6

4 (5, 3)
3
4
2 Feasible 3 (6, 2)
1
Region
1 2
(0, 0) x1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

(6, 0)
 Example 2: A Maximization
Problem
• Having identified the feasible region for the
problem, we now search for the optimal solution,
which will be the point in the feasible region with
the largest (in case of maximization or the
smallest (in case of minimization) of the objective
function.
• To find this optimal solution, we need to evaluate
the objective function at each one of the corner
points of the feasible region.
 Example 2: A Maximization
x 2
Problem Point Z
(0,0) 0
• Optimal Solution
8

7 (6,0) 30
6
(6,2) 44
Optimal Solution
5
(5,3) 46
4

3
(0,19/3)
44.33
2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x1
 Extreme Points and the Optimal
Solution
• The corners or vertices of the feasible region
are referred to as the extreme points.
• An optimal solution to an LP problem can be
found at an extreme point of the feasible region.
• When looking for the optimal solution, you do
not have to evaluate all feasible solution points.
• You have to consider only the extreme points
of the feasible region.
 Feasible Region
• The feasible region for a two-variable linear
programming problem can be nonexistent, a single point,
a line, a polygon, or an unbounded area.
• Any linear program falls in one of three categories:
– is infeasible
– has a unique optimal solution or alternate optimal solutions
– has an objective function that can be increased without bound
• A feasible region may be unbounded and yet there may
be optimal solutions. This is common in minimization
problems and is possible in maximization problems.
 Special Cases
• Alternative Optimal Solutions
In the graphical method, if the objective function line
is parallel to a boundary constraint in the direction of
optimization, there are alternate optimal solutions,
with all points on this line segment being optimal.
• Infeasibility (No Solution)
A linear program which is over constrained so that
no point satisfies all the constraints is said to be
infeasible.
• Unbounded
For a max (min) problem, an unbounded LP occurs if it
is possible to find points in the feasible region with
 Example with Multiple Optimal Solutions

x2
z1 z2 z3
Maximize z = 3x1 – x2
4

3 subject to 15x1 – 5x2  30

2
10x1 + 30x2  120
1
x1  0, x2  0
0
0 1 2 3 4 x1
 Example: Infeasible Problem
• Solve graphically for the optimal solution:
Max z = 2x1 + 6x2

s.t. 4x1 + 3x2 <

12
2x1 + x2 > 8

x1, x2 > 0
 Example: Infeasible Problem
• There are no points that satisfy both
constraints, hence this problem has no
feasible region, and no optimal solution.
x2

8 2x1 + x2 > 8

4x1 + 3x2 < 12

4

x1
3 4
 Example: Unbounded Problem
• Solve graphically for the optimal solution:
Max z = 3x1 + 4x2

s.t. x1 + x2 > 5
3x1 + x2 > 8

x1, x2 > 0
 Example: Unbounded Problem
• The feasible region is unbounded and the
objective function line can be moved
parallel to itself without bound so that z can
be increased infinitely. x2

3x1 + x2 > 8
8

5
x1 + x2 > 5

x1
2.67 5
Solve the following LP graphically
max 45 x1 + 60 x2 Objective Function
s.t. 10 x1 + 20 x2  1800 A Structural
28 x1 + 12 x2  1440 B constraints
6 x1 + 15 x2  2040 C
15 x1 + 10
0 x2  2400 D
x1  40 E
x2  100 F
x1 ≥ 0, x2 ≥ 0 nonnegativity

Where x1 is the quantity

Are the LP
produced from product Q,
assumptions
and x2 is the quantity of
valid for this
product P problem?
 The graphical solution
P
Assignment:
240 Max Q Complete the
E problem to find the
200
D optimal solution
160

120 Max P

80 F
A
(
40
B 1 C
0 )
0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 Q
 Possible Outcomes of an LP

1. Infeasible –feasible region is empty; e.g., if the

constraints include
x1+ x2  6 and x1+ x2
7
2. Unbounded -Max 15x1+ 7x2 (no finite optimal
s.t. x1 + x2  1 solution)
x1, x2  0
3. Multiple optimal solutions -
max 3x1 + 3x2
s.t. x1+ x2  1
x1, x2  0
4. Unique Optimal Solution

Note: multiple optimal solutions occur in many practical (real-world) LPs.