Operational Research

• Operational research is the study of mathematic models for complex organizational systems.
• Operation research is a scientific method of providing executive departments with a quantitative
basis for decision regarding the operations under their control.
By Moose & Kimball
• Operation research is applied decision theory. It uses any scientific, mathematical or logical
means to attempt to cope with the problems that confront the executives when he tries to achieve
a thorough-going rationality in dealing with his decision problems.
By Miller & Starr
• Operation research is the act of winning wars without actually fighting them.
By Arthur Clarke
• Operation research is an aid for the executive in making his decision by providing him with the
needed quantitative information based on the scientific method of analysis.
By Little

History
Operation research started just before World War II in Britain with the establishment of a team of
scientists to study the strategic & tactical problems involved in military operations.
The objective was to find the most effective utilization of limited military resources by the use of
quantitative techniques. Following the war, numerous peace-time applications emerged, leading to the
use of operational research and management science in many industries and occupations.

Characteristics
Based on the various definitions of Operational Research, we have the following characteristics of O.R.:
1. It is system (executive) oriented
2. It uses interdisciplinary teams
3. It requires application of scientific methods
4. Uncovering of new problems
5. Improvement in the quality of decisions
6. Use of computers
7. It has quantitative solutions
8. human factors

Linear Programming
Basic Concept of Linear Programming
Linear programming deals with the optimization (maximization or minimization) of a function of variables
known as objective function, subject to a set of linear equations / inequalities known as constraints.

The objective function may be profit, cost, production capacity, or any other measure of effectiveness
which is to be obtained in the best possible or optimal manner.
The constraints may be imposed by different resources such as market demands, production processes
and equipment, storage capacity, raw materials, etc. By linearity, we mean a mathematical expression in
which expressions among the variables are linear.

Linear Programming: is a mathematical modelling technique useful for economic allocation of scarce
or limited resources to several competing activities on the basis of a given criteria of optimality.

Steps in the formulation of linear program model

1. identify activities (decision variable)

2. identifying objective function as a linear function of its decision variable
3. state all resource limitation as linear equations or inequalities of its decision variable
4. add non- negativity constrains from the combination (𝑥1 , 𝑥2 & 𝑥3 > 0)
 5. use mathematical technique to find all possible set of values for the decision variable satisfying
all functions and constrains.
6. Select the particular set of values of variable obtain in step 5 that leads to the amount of the
objective functions

The objective function

The objective function is a mathematical representation of the overall goal of the organization stated as a
linear function its decision variable to optimize the constrain of optimality. The general form of objective
𝑛
function is 𝑧 = ∑𝐽=1 𝐶𝑖 𝑋𝑦 .

Constrains: The constrains must be expressed as linear in-equatives or equalities in terms of decision
variables.

∑ 𝑎𝑖𝑗 𝑥𝑗 (≤≥)𝑏𝑖
𝑖=1
𝑗=1

𝑎11 𝑥1 + 𝑎12 𝑥2 + ⋯ + 𝑎1𝑛 𝑥𝑛 (≤≥)𝑏1

𝑎21 𝑥1 + 𝑎22 𝑥2 + ⋯ + 𝑎2𝑛 𝑥𝑛(≤≥)𝑏2

𝑎𝑛1 𝑥1 + 𝑎𝑛2 𝑥2 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑛𝑛 𝑥𝑛 (≤≥)𝑏𝑛

The 𝑎𝑖𝑗 are called technical ecoefficiency and measure in per unit. Consumption of the resource for
executing one unit of unknown variable and can be positive, negative or zero. the 𝑏𝑖 represent the total
availability of the ith resource. It is assumed that 𝑏𝑖 is positive all the time.

The time required to manufacture one unit of each of H is product and the daily capacity of the three
machines are given

Machine Time per unit Time per unit Time per unit Machine capacity
(minutes) (minutes) (minutes)
Product 1 Product 2 Product 3
M1 2 3 3 440
M2 4 - 3 470
M3 2 5 - 430
It is required to determine the daily number of units to be manufactured for each product given that the
profit per unit for product 1,2,3 is 4,3 and 6 naira per unit respectively. It is assumed that all product
produce is consume in the market. Formulate the mathematical model that can maximize the daily profit.

Let 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 & 𝑥3 be product

Max Z = 4𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 + 6 𝑥3

= 2𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 + 2𝑥3 ≤ 440
= 4𝑥1 + 0𝑥2 + 3𝑥3 ≤ 470
= 2𝑥1 + 5𝑥2 + 0𝑥3 ≤ 430
𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 ≥ 0

Problem 2: a person wants to decide the constituent (component) of a diet which will fulfil the daily
requirement of protein, fat and carbohydrate at the minimum cost. The choice is to made from four
different types of food. The yield per unit of these food are given

Food Yield per unit Yield per unit fat Yield per unit Cost per unit
proteins carbohydrate
1 3 2 6 45
2 4 2 4 40
3 8 7 7 85
 4 6 5 4 65
Min. req. 800 200 700

• Formulate the linear programming model for this problem

• Plot each of the constrains
• Identify the feasible region for solution space that satisfy all the constrains simultaneously.
Meaning any point or within, there represent a physical solution to the given problem
• Locate the solution point that is indent the corner point from the solution space. Graphic method
only for two
• Determine the optimal solution
• Interpret the result

Let 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 , 𝑥4 be the amount of food type

𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑍 = 45𝑥1 + 40𝑥2 + 85𝑥3 + 65𝑥4

s.t 3𝑥1 + 2𝑥2 + 8𝑥3 + 6𝑥4 ≥ 800

2𝑥1 + 2𝑥2 + 7𝑥3 + 5𝑥4 ≥ 200

6𝑥1 + 4𝑥2 + 7𝑥3 + 4𝑥4 ≥ 700

Important definition

1. Solution: a set of values of decision variable 𝑋1 (𝑖 = 1,2,3, … , 𝑁) which satisfies the constrains of
the linear programming problem.
2. Feasible solution: the set of value of decision variable 𝑋1 which satisfys all constrain and non-
negative condition
3. Infeasible solution
4. Optimum solution: a feasible solution which optimize the objective function value of the given
linear programming problem
5. Unbounded solution: a solution which can increase or decrease the value of the objective
function of linear programming problem indefinitely.

Problem: consider a company that manufactures two model of colour TV set model A and B. in other to
make maximum profit the profit realized from model A is $300 and model B $250.

i. The availability of only 40hurs of labour each in the production department

ii. A daily availability of only 45hurs on machine time
iii. Ability to sell 12 set of model A

How many set of each model will be produce each day in other to maximize profit

Model A Model B Available hrs

Labour 2 1 40
Machine Hrs 1 3 45
Marketing 1 0 12
$300 $250

Let 𝑥1 be model A
𝑥2 be model B

𝑀𝑎𝑥 𝑍 = 300𝑥1 + 250 𝑥2

s.t 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 ≤ 40
𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 ≤ 45
𝑥1 + 0𝑥2 ≤ 12
 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 ≥ 0

Substitute all four points

2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 = 40
40−𝑥2
𝑥1 = 2
𝑥1 = 20 𝑖𝑓 𝑥2 = 0
𝑃1 (20,0)
𝑃2 (0,40)
if 𝑥1 = 0
𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 = 45
𝑃1 (0,15)
𝑃2 (45,0)
if 𝑥1 = 0

𝑥1 + 0𝑥2 = 12
𝑃1 (0,12)
𝑃2 (12,0)
if 𝑥1 = 0
after plotting the graph, we point out the interceptions
𝑍 = 300𝑥1 + 250 𝑥2 to obtain optimal
(0,0) = $00
(0,15) = $3750
(12,0) = $3600
(12,11) = $6350

Note:

❖ numerical method is for two or more variable

❖ graphical for two variables
❖ limitation is also known as constrains

The simpler method

• slack variable
• tableau
• pivot variables

𝑀𝑎𝑥 𝑍 = 300𝑥1 + 250 𝑥2 + 0𝑆1 + 0𝑆2 + 0𝑆3

s.t 2𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑆1 = 40
𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 + 𝑆2 = 45
𝑥1 + 0𝑥2 + 𝑆3 = 12
𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑆1 , 𝑆2 , 𝑆1 ≥ 0
𝑀𝑖𝑛 𝑍 = 5𝑥1 − 2 𝑥2 𝑀𝑎𝑥 − 𝑍 = −5𝑥1 + 2 𝑥2

St

𝑥1 𝑥2 𝑆1 𝑆2 𝑆3 b
2 1 1 0 0 40
1 3 0 1 0 45
1 0 0 0 1 12
-300 -250 0 0 0 0
To prof element
𝑏𝑖 40 45 12
𝑎𝑖𝑗
= 2
, 1
, 1
𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑣𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 12

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑅1 = (−2 × 𝑅3 ) + 𝑅1

𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑅2 = (−1 × 𝑅3 ) + 𝑅2

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑅4 = (300 × 𝑅3 ) + 𝑅4

𝑥1 𝑥2 𝑆1 𝑆2 𝑆3 b
0 1 1 0 -2 16
0 3 0 1 -1 33
1 0 0 0 1 12
0 -250 0 0 300 3600
(𝑅
𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑅2 = 2 ÷ 3)

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑅1 = (−1 × 𝑅2 ) + 𝑅1

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑅4 = (250 × 𝑅2 ) + 𝑅4

𝑥1 𝑥2 𝑆1 𝑆2 𝑆3 b
0 0 1 −1 −5 5
3 3
0 1 0 1 −1 11
3 3
1 0 0 0 1 12
0 0 0 250 650 6,350
3 3

Assignment

Use the simple method to obtain the solution

𝑀𝑎𝑥 𝑍 = −8𝑥1 + 10𝑥2 − 7𝑥3

s.t 𝑥1 + 3𝑥2 + 2𝑥3 ≤ 10
−𝑥1 − 5𝑥2 − 𝑥3 ≥ −5
𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 ≥ 0