1. A transport company has two types of trucks, Type A and Type B.
Type A
has a refrigerated capacity of 20 m 3 and a non-refrigerated capacity of 40
m 3 while Type B has the same overall volume with equal sections for
refrigerated and non-refrigerated stock. A grocer needs to hire trucks for
the transport of 3,000 m 3 of refrigerated stock and 4,000 m 3 of non-
refrigerated stock. The cost per kilometer of a Type A is $30, and $40 for
Type B. How many trucks of each type should the grocer rent to achieve the
minimum total cost?
1 Choose the unknowns.
x = Type A trucks
y = Type B trucks
2 Write the objective function .
f(x,y)=Z = 30x + 40y
3 Write the constraints as a system of inequalities .
A B Total
Refrigerated 20 30 3 000
Non-refrigerated 40 30 4 000
20x + 30y ≥ 3 000
40x + 30y ≥ 4 000
x ≥ 0
y ≥ 0
4 Find the set of feasible solutions that graphically represent
the constraints.
5 Calculate the coordinates of the vertices from the compound of
feasible solutions.
6 Calculate the value of the objective function at each of the
vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.
f(0, 400/3) = 30 · 0 + 40 · 400/3 = 5,333.332
f(150, 0) = 30 · 150 + 40 · 0 = 4,500
As x and y must be natural numbers round the value of y.
f(50, 67) = 30 · 50 + 40 ·67 = 4,180 Minimum
The minimum cost is $4,180. To achieve this 50 trucks of Type A and
67 trucks of Type B are needed.
2. A school is preparing a trip for 400 students. The company who is providing
the transportation has 10 buses of 50 seats each and 8 buses of 40 seats,
but only has 9 drivers available. The rental cost for a large bus is $800 and
$600 for the small bus. Calculate how many buses of each type should be
used for the trip for the least possible cost.
1 Choose the unknowns.
x = small buses
y = big buses
2 Write the objective function .
f(x, y) = 600x + 800y
3 Write the constraints as a system of inequalities .
40x + 50y ≥ 400
x + y ≤ 9
x ≥ 0
y ≥ 0
4 Find the set of feasible solutions that graphically represent
the constraints.
5 Calculate the coordinates of the vertices from the compound of
feasible solutions.
6 Calculate the value of the objective function at each of the
vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.
f(0, 8) = 600 · 0 + 800 · 8 = $6,400
f(0, 9) = 600 · 0 + 800 · 9 = $7,200
f(5, 4) = 6 00 · 5 + 800 · 4 = $6,200 € Minimum
The minimum cost is $6,200. This is acheived with 4 large and 5 small
buses.
3. A store wants to liquidate 200 of its shirts and 100 pairs of pants from last
season. They have decided to put together two offers, A and B. Offer A is a
package of one shirt and a pair of pants which will sell for $30. Offer B is a
package of three shirts and a pair of pants, which will sell for $50. The
store does not want to sell less than 20 packages of Offer A and less than
10 of Offer B. How many packages of each do they have to sell to maximize
the money generated from the promotion?
1 Choose the unknowns.
x = number of packages of Offer A
y = number of packages of Offer B
2 Write the objective function .
f(x, y) = 30x + 50y
3 Write the constraints as a system of inequalities .
Mi
ni
m
al
h 2
ir 0
t 0
a 1
n 0
t 0
x + 3y ≤ 200
x + y ≤ 100
x ≥ 20
y ≥ 10
4 Find the set of feasible solutions that graphically represent
the constraints.
5 Calculate the coordinates of the vertices from the compound of
feasible solutions.
6 Calculate the value of the objective function at each of the
vertices to determine which of them has the maximum or minimum values.
f(x, y) = 30 · 20 + 50 · 10 = $1,100
f(x, y) = 30 · 90 + 50 · 10 = $3,200
f(x, y) = 30 · 20 + 50 · 60 = $3,600
f(x, y) = 30 · 50 + 50 · 50 = $4,000 Maximum
50 packages of each offer generates a maximum amount of $4,000 in
sales.
