1. Explain the structure of Mathematical model in OR.

Ans
Many industrial and business situations are concerned with planning activities. In each case of planning, there are limited sources, such as men, machines, material and capital at the disposal of the planner. One has to take decision regarding these resources to either maximise production, or minimise the cost of production or maximise the profit. These problems are referred as the problems of constrained optimisation. Linear programming is a technique for determining an optimal schedule of interdependent activities, for the given resources. Therefore, you can say that programming refers to planning and the process of decision-making about a particular plan of action from a given set of alternatives. Any business activity or production activity to be formulated as a mathematical model can best be discussed through its parts which are as follows: 1. Decision variables 2. Objective function 3. Constraints 4. Diet problem Decision variables Decision variables are the unknowns, which you need to determine from the solution of the model. The parameters represent the controlled variables of the system. Objective function The objective function defines the measure of effectiveness of the system as a mathematical function of its decision variables. The optimal solution to the model is obtained when the corresponding values of the decision variable yield the best value of the objective function whilst satisfying all constraints. Therefore, you can say that the objective function acts as an indicator for the achievement of the optimal solution. While formulating a problem, the desire of the decision-maker is expressed as a function of n decision variables. This function is a linear programming problem that is each of its items will have only one variable raised to the power one). Some of the objective functions in practice are: Maximisation of contribution or profit Minimisation of cost Maximisation of production rate or minimisation of production time Minimisation of labour turnover Minimisation of overtime Maximisation of resource utilisation Minimisation of risk to environment or factory Constraints To account for the physical limitations of the system, you need to ensure that the model includes constraints, which limit the decision variables to their feasible range or permissible values. These are expressed as constraining mathematical functions. For example, in chemical industries, restrictions come from the government about throwing gases in the environment. Restrictions from sales department about the marketability of some products are also treated as constraints. A linear programming problem then has a set of constraints in practice. The mathematical models in OR may be viewed generally as determining the values of the decision variables x J, J = 1, 2, 3, n, which will optimize Z = f (x 1, x 2, - x n). Subject to the constraints: g i (x 1, x 2 x n) ~ b i, i = 1, 2, - m And xJ 0 j = 1, 2, 3 - n where ~ is , or =. The function f is called the objective function, where xj ~ bi, represent the ith constraint for i = 1, 2, 3 - m where b i is a known constant. The constraints x j 0 are called the non-negativity condition, which restrict the variables to zero or positive values only. Diet problem Formulate the mathematical model for the following: Vitamin A and Vitamin B are found in food 1 and food 2. One unit of food 1 contains 5 units of vitamin A and 2 units of vitaminB. One unit of food 2 contains 6 units of vitamin A and 3 units of vitaminB. The minimum daily requirement of a person is 60 units of vitamin A and 80 units of Vitamin B. The cost per one unit of food 1 is Rs. 5/- and one unit of food2 is Rs. 6/-. Assume that any excess units of vitamins are not harmful. Find the minimum cost of the mixture (of food 1 and food2) which meets the daily minimum requirements of vitamins.

Mathematical Model of the Diet Problem: Suppose x1 = the number of units of food1 in the mixture and x2 = the number of units of food2 in the mixture. Lets formulate the constraint related to vitamin-A. Since each unit of food1 contains 5 units of vitamin A, we have that x-1 units of food1 contains 5x1 units of vitamin A. Since each unit of food 2 contains 6 units of vitaminA, we have that x2 units of food2 contains 6x2 units of vitaminA. Therefore, the mixture contains 5x1 + 6x2 units of vitamin-A. Since the minimum requirement of vitamin A is 60 units, you can say that 5x-1 + 6x-2 60. Now lets formulate the constraint related to vitaminB. Since each unit of food1 contains 2 units of vitaminB we have that x1 units of food1 contains 2x1 units of vitamin-B. Since each unit of food2 contains 3 units of vitaminB, we have that x2 units of food2 contains 3x2 units of vitaminB. Therefore the mixture contains 2x1 + 3x2 units of vitaminB. Since the minimum requirement of vitaminB is 80 units, you can say that 2x2 + 3x2 80 Next lets formulate the cost function. Given that the cost of one unit of food1 is Rs. 5/- and one unit of food 2 is Rs. 6/-. Therefore, x1 units of food1 costs Rs. 5x1, and x2 units of food 2 costs Rs. 6 x2 . Therefore, the cost of the mixture is given by Cost = 5x1 + 6x2. If we write z for the cost function, then you can write z = 5x1 + 6x2. Since cost is to be minimised, you can write min z = 5x1 + 6x2. Since the number of units (x1 or x2) are always non-negative, therefore, you have x1 0, x2 0. Therefore, the mathematical model is: 5x1 + 6x2 60 2x1 + 3x2 80 x1 0, x2 0, min z = 5x1 + 6x2.

2. Explain briefly the graphical method of analyzing a linear programming problem. Can a LPP have unbounded solution? Ans:
Linear programming (LP) is a mathematical method for determining a way to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a given mathematical model for some list of requirements represented as linear equations. More formally, linear programming is a technique for the optimization of a linear objective function, subject to linear equality and linear inequality constraints. Given a polytope and a real-valued affine function defined on this polytope, a linear programming method will find a point on the polytope where this function has the smallest (or largest) value if such point exists, by searching through the polytope vertices. An Algorithm for solving a linear programming problem by Graphical Method: (This algorithm can be applied only for problems with two variables). Step I: Formulate the linear programming problem with two variables (if the given problem has more than two variables, then we cannot solve it by graphical method). Step II: Consider a given inequality. Suppose it is in the form a1x1+ a2x2 <= b (or a1x1 + a2x2 >= b). Then consider the relation a1x1+ a2x2= b. Find two distinct points (k, l), (c, d) that lie on the straight line a 1x1+ a2x2= b. This can be found easily: If x1= 0, then x2 = b / a2. If x2=0, then x1 = b / a1. Therefore (k, l) = (0, b / a2) and (c, d) = (b / a1, 0) are two points on the straight line a1x1+a2x2= b. Step III: Represent these two points (k, l), (c, d) on the graph which denotes X Y-axis plane. Join

these two points and extend this line to get the straight line which represents a 1x1+ a2x2= b. Step IV: a1x1 + a2x2= b divides the whole plane into two half planes, which are a1x1+ a2x2 <= b (one side) and a1x1+ a2x2 >= b (another side). Find the half plane that is related to the given inequality. Step V: Do step-II to step-IV for all the inequalities given in the problem. The intersection of the half-planes related to all the inequalities and x1 >= 0, x2 >= 0 , is called the feasible region (or feasible solution space). Now find this feasible region. Step VI: The feasible region is a multisided figure with corner points A, B, C, (say). Find the co-ordinates for all these corner points. These corner points are called as extreme points. Step VII: Find the values of the objective function at all these corner/extreme points. Step VIII: If the problem is a maximization (minimization) problem, then the maximum (minimum) value of z among the values of z at the corner/extreme points of the feasible region is the optimal value of z. If the optimal value exists at the corner/extreme point, say A (u, v), then we say that the solution x1= u and x2= v is an optimal feasible solution. Step IX: Write the conclusion (that include the optimum value of z, and the co-ordinates of the corner point at which the optimum value of z exists). Yes ,LPP can have unbounded solution. This is shown in given example Example for Unbounded Solution: Maximize Z = 2x1+3x2 Subject to x1 x2 2 x1 + x2 4 and x1, x2 0 The intersection point A of the straight lines x1 x2 = 2 and x1+x2 = 4 is A(3, 1). Here the solution space is unbounded. The vertices of the feasible region are A(3, 1) and B (0, 4). Value of objective at these vertices are Z atA(31) = 2 x 3+3 x1 = 9 Z at B(0, 4) = 2x0+4x3 = 12. But there are points in the convex region for which Z will have much higher values. For example E (10, 9) lies in the shaded region and the value of Z there at 47. In fact, the maximum values of Z occurs at infinity. Thus the problem has an unbounded solutions.