MIE 379 Deterministic Operations Research

Midterm 2

Name ____________________________________________________

1. (20 points) Given the following primal linear programming problem, formulate
the associated Dual problem. Setup dual only. DO NOT SOLVE.

Maximize Z = 30x1 + 20x2

Subject to:
-x1 – x2 ≥ -8

6x1 + 4x2 ≥ 12

5x1 + 8x2 = 20

x1 ≥ 0, x2 ≥ 0

min -8y1 + 12y2 + 20y3

s.t.

–y1 + 6y2 + 5y3 ≥ 30

-y1 + 4y2+8y3 ≥ 20

y1 ≤ 0; y2 ≤ 0; y3 URS

(NOTE RESTRICTIONS ON DUAL VARIABLES)

2. (40 points) Sugarco can manufacture three types of candy bar. Each candy bar consists
totally of sugar and chocolate. The compositions of each type of candy bar and the profit
earned from each candy bar are shown in Table 1. 50 oz. of sugar and 100 oz of chocolate
are available. Let xi be the number of type i candy bars manufactured. Then the LP is

Max Z = 3x1 + 7x2 + 5x3

Subject to:
x1 + x2 + x3 ≤ 50

2x1 + 3x2 + x3 ≤ 100

x1,x2,x3 ≥ 0

After adding slack variables s1 and s2, the optimal tableau is shown below.

Table 1
Amount of sugar Amt. of chocolate Profits (cents)
(oz) (oz)
Candy 1 1 2 3
candy 2 1 3 7
candy 3 1 1 5

Final tableau
Z x1 x2 x3 s1 s2 rhs
1 3 0 0 4 1 300
0 ½ 0 1 3/2 -1/2 25
0 1/2 1 0 -1/2 1/2 25

A. What is the optimal product mix? (i.e. how many of each candy bar should they
make?)

X1 = 0 ; x2 = 25; x3 = 25

B. What would the profit of bar 1 have to be in order to include it?

3+3 = 6
C. For what range of profit on bar 2 is the current solution still optimal?

5≤c2≤15

D. What are the shadow prices for sugar and chocolate?

Sugar 4; chocolate 1

E. How much sugar should the firm buy at a price of 3 cents/oz.?

50 more ounces

F. A type 4 candy bar is under consideration. It yields a profit of 10 cents and uses 2 oz
of sugar and 1 oz of chocolate. Should the firm introduce this new product? (Do not
recalculate the new optimum.

2y1+y2≥(?)10

2(4) + (1) is not greater than 10. Thus, we should introduce the new product.
G. The marketing department has determined that the total demand for bar 2 and bar 3 is
no more than 40. Does this change the solution? If so, how? (Recalculate the new
optimum if it is different).
new constraint: X2 + x3 ≤ 40

25 + 25 is not less than 40. So we need to add constraint and re-calc.

Add constraint
Z x1 x2 x3 s1 s2 s3 rhs
1 3 0 0 4 1 0 300
0 ½ 0 1 3/2 -1/2 0 25
0 1/2 1 0 -1/2 1/2 0 25
0 0 1 1 0 0 1 40
Proper form
Z x1 x2 x3 s1 s2 s3 rhs
1 3 0 0 4 1 0 300
0 ½ 0 1 3/2 -1/2 0 25
0 1/2 1 0 -1/2 1/2 0 25
0 -1 0 0 -1 0 1 -10
Dual simplex gives solution (you don’t need to worry about this for midterm)
4. (20 points) Short answers

A. (5 points)Consider the following problem

Max Z = 2x1 – x2 + x3
s.t.
3x1 + x2 + x3 ≤ 60
x1 - x2 + 2x3 ≤ 10
x1 + x2 - x3 ≤ 20
x1,x2,x3 ≥ 0.

The primal solution when x1, s1, and s3 are basic is (10, 0, 0, 30, 0 ,10). The
complementary dual solution is (0, 2, 0, 0, -1, 3).

Is (10, 0, 0, 30, 0 ,10) the optimal solution to the primal? How can you tell?

It is not optimal. You can tell because the associated dual solution is infeasible,
i.e. it has a negative number in it.

B. Ford motors is calculating the optimal mix of models to manufacture. The constraints
it faces are on parts, average fuel efficiency standards, and capacity in their factories.
Give interpretations for each of the shadow prices (i.e. what can Ford do with this piece
of information?).

a. Interpret a shadow price on the availability of a particular part, such as

carburetors.
The shadow price on carburetors tells the firm how much they should be
willing to pay to acquire more carburetors (up to a point). If you were given
a range for the shadow price, that would tell you how many you would
want to acquire.

b. Interpret the shadow price on the required average fuel efficiency standard. For
example, say the current standard is 25 mpg, and the shadow price is 25 million
dollars.

We cannot buy a different fuel efficiency standard, but the firm may want
to direct lobbying money at having the standard changed. This gives them
an idea of what it is worth.
c. Say that the shadow price on capacity for factory A, where they make Escorts,
is $2500 and for factory B, where they make Explorers is $0. What might you
suggest?

This suggests moving some of the valuable work from Factory A to

Factory B, namely you might want to turn at least part of Factory B over to
making Escorts.