Maria has an online shop where she sells handmade paintings and cards.
She sells the painting
for $50 and the card for $20. It takes her 2 hours to complete 1 painting and 45 minutes to make a single
card. She also has a day job and makes paintings and cards in her free time. She cannot spend more than
15 hours a week to make paintings and cards. Additionally, she should make not more than 10 paintings
and cards per week. She makes a profit of $25 on painting and $15 on each card. How many paintings
and cards should she make each week to maximize her profit.
Let 𝑥 be the number of Paintings; and
STEP i: Represent the unknown in the problem.
𝑦 be the number of Cards.
STEP ii: Tabulate the data (if necessary).
Paintings (x) Cards (y) Available
Hours 2 0.75 15
No. of units that can be 10
made
Profit 25 15
STEP iii: Formulate the objective function and constraints by restating the information in an LP model.
Objective Function:
Max: P= 25x+15y
Subject to: 2x+0.75y < 15
x+y < 10
x>0, y>0
A. B. C.
2x+0.75y < 15 x+y < 10 x>0
2x+0.75y = 15 x+y =10 x 0 0
x 0 5 x 0 5 y 0 5
y 20 6.67 y 10 5 y>0
x 0 20
y 0 0
STEP iv: Graph each of the constraints, identify the feasible region and determine the coordinates of the
corner/extreme points.
Extreme/ Corner points:
A. 2x+0.75y = 15 B. 2x+0.75y = 15 C. x+y =10
y=0 (x+y=10)2 x= 0
2x = 15 2x+2y= 20
2 2 2x+0.75y= 15 y= 10
x= 7.5 1.25y= 5 1 1
(7.5,0) 1.25 1.25 y=10
y= 4 (0,10)
2x+0.75y = 15
2x+3= 15
2x=15-3
2x = 12
2 2
x= 6
(6,4)
STEP v: Substitute the coordinates of the extreme points (corner points) on the feasible region to the
objective function.
Extreme/ Corner points Values of the Objective Function
(7.5, 0) 25(7.5) + 15(0) = 188
(6,4) 25(6) + 15(4) = 210
(0,10) 25(0) + 15(10) = 150
(0,0) 25(0) + (0) = 0
STEP vi: Formulate the decision.
Decision: X= 6 paintings Y= 4 cards
Max P: 210
Since the coordinate (6,4) will give the highest value of P210, the decision is to make 6 paintings and 4
cards in a week in order to maximize the sales.
