Ag Bus 435

Midterm

11/4/13

Dr. Hurley

General Instructions: This exam is worth 160 points. You must provide your own paper. You are allowed to use your notes for the exam. You must show all your work when appropriate to get credit. Create a new tab for each question you answer. No cell phones are allowed to be in your possession during the exam. If you are caught with a cell phone, you will receive a zero on the exam. (Please note that except for any diagrams or mathematical models, all answers should be entered into a textbox on your spreadsheet.)

GOOD LUCK!

Question 1: Given the following mathematical set-up and corresponding tabular form, complete and answer the following questions.

maxw.r.t. x1,x2,x35x1+2x2+1x3

Subject to:

8x1+4x2+2x3≤128

32x1+6x2+8x3≤422

18x1+12x2+6x3≤972

14x1+6x2+2x3≤194

x1≥0, x2≥0, x3≥0

Z / x1 / x2 / x3 / x4 / x5 / x6 / x7 / RHS
1 / 0 / 0 / -0.22222 / 0 / 0.018519 / 0 / 0.314815 / 68.88889
0 / 0 / 0 / 1.111111 / 1 / 0.074074 / 0 / -0.74074 / 15.55556
0 / 1 / 0 / 0.333333 / 0 / 0.055556 / 0 / -0.05556 / 12.66667
0 / 0 / 0 / 5.333333 / 0 / 0.555556 / 1 / -2.55556 / 710.6667
0 / 0 / 1 / -0.44444 / 0 / -0.12963 / 0 / 0.296296 / 2.777778

a)  Complete the next iteration in Excel (15 points). Note, you should be able to copy and paste the table into Excel. Also, the answer may not come out clean.

b)  Which number was your pivot number? Briefly explain how you know this (5 points).

c)  After completing the iteration in part (a), will there be any more iterations to this problem? Briefly explain your answer in a textbox (5 points).

d)  Assume that part (a) was the last iteration to solving the problem, please completely interpret the results in your final table, i.e., optimal solution to the problem and the shadow prices (10 points).

Question 2: Given the following mathematical set-up, complete and answer the following questions.

minw.r.t. x1,x23000x1+5000x2

Subject to:

7x1+12x2≥3250

65x1+10x2≥6500

1x1+1x2≥375

x1≥0, x2≥0,

a)  Set-up the augmented mathematical model for this minimization problem (10 points).

b)  Set-up and solve this problem using Solver (15 points).

c)  Set-up the dual mathematical model for this problem (10 points).

maxw.r.t.y1,y2,y33250y1+6500y2+375y3

Subject to:

7y1+65y2+y3≤3000

12y1+10y2+y3≤5000

y1≥0,y2≥0,y3≥0

d)  Set-up the tabular form of this problem in Excel (5 points).

e)  Solve the tabular problem in part (d) without using Solver (20 points).

f)  Briefly explain your solution in a textbox (5 points).

Question 3: Suppose you are a producer of strawberries in Watsonville. You currently have a contract with a local packer-shipper to take all of your strawberries as long as you meet the company’s minimum quality standards. There are three quality standards that you are required to meet—one for size, one for color, and one for sweetness. The company has developed its own way of measuring size, color, and sweetness. Based on its measurement of samples from the berries you send the company, you will need to achieve a point score of at least 750 for size, 13,000 for color, and 32,500 for sweetness.

You have found that the key input that affects the size, color, and sweetness of the berries is fertilizer. Having done a lot of trials in the past, you have found that there are two fertilizer brands you would consider using to grow your strawberries. The first fertilizer, known as Worm-Poo-Plus, costs $300 per ounce. Each ounce that you apply to your field of berries adds 70 points to the sweetness measurement of your berries, 130 points to color, and 2 points to size. The other fertilizer you can use is called Duck-Poo-Max. This fertilizer costs $500 an ounce. One ounce of Duck-Poo-Max will increase the sweetness score of your berries by 120 points, the color score by 20 points, and the size score by 2 points.

Your ultimate goal is to minimize the cost that you spend on fertilizer while meeting the minimum requirements by the packer-shipper. You are able to use any combination of Worm-Poo-Plus and Duck-Poo-Max.

a)  Please summarize in table form what the data for this problem is (5 points).

b)  Please develop a mathematical model for this problem (10 points).

maxw.r.t. WPP, DPM300WPP+500DPM

2WPP+2DPM≥750

70WPP+120DPM≥32500

130WPP+20DPM≥13000

WPP≥0,DPM≥0

c)  Please build a spreadsheet model for this problem (10 points).

d)  Solve the spreadsheet model using Solver and explain your optimal solution including how much you should use of each of the fertilizer and what is the lowest achievable cost (5 points).

e)  Please run a sensitivity report and calculate the allowable ranges for the objective coefficients and the constraints (5 points).

f)  Please explain what the shadow price regarding sweetness tells you (5 points).

g)  What is the lowest price that Worm-Poo-Plus could go to before your optimal solution changes? Please briefly explain (5 points).

h)  Given that Worm-Poo-Plus increases by $50, while Duck-Poo-Max decreases by $50, can you definitely say anything about the optimal solution based on the 100% rule for simultaneous changes? Please briefly explain (5 points).

Question 4: Solve the following problem without using solver (10 points):

35x1+7x2+9x3+37x4+31x5=379

12x1+24x2+18x3+6x4+39x5=333

32x1+21x2+25x3+16x4+35x5=388

10x1+32x2+16x3+20x4+12x5=262

34x1+14x2+10x3+37x4+8x5=280

Please briefly explain in a textbox your answer and how you got it. Note, your final answer should be clean.

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Revised: 5/25/12