Sample Problem :
A farmer has recently acquired a 110 hectares piece of land. He has decided to grow
Wheat and barley on that land. Due to the quality of the sun and the region’s excellent
climate, the entire production of Wheat and Barley can be sold. He wants to know how
to plant each variety in the 110 hectares, given the costs, net profits and labor
requirements according to the data shown below:
Variety Cost (Price/Hec) Net Profit (Price/Hec) Man-days/Hec
Wheat 100 50 10
Barley 200 120 30
The farmer has a budget of US$10,000 and availability of 1,200 man-days during the
planning horizon. Find the optimal solution and the optimal value.
Solution: To solve this problem, first we gonna formulate our linear program.
Formulation of Linear Problem
Step 1: Identify the decision variables
The total area for growing Wheat = X (in hectares)
The total area for growing Barley = Y (in hectares)
X and Y are my decision variables.
Step 2: Write the objective function
Since the production from the entire land can be sold in the market. The farmer would
want to maximize the profit for his total produce. We are given net profit for both Wheat
and Barley. The farmer earns a net profit of US$50 for each hectare of Wheat and
US$120 for each Barley.
Our objective function (given by Z) is, Max Z = 50X + 120Y
Step 3: Writing the constraints
1. It is given that the farmer has a total budget of US$10,000. The cost of producing
Wheat and Barley per hectare is also given to us. We have an upper cap on the total
cost spent by the farmer. So our equation becomes:
100X + 200Y ≤ 10,000
2. The next constraint is the upper cap on the availability of the total number of man-
days for the planning horizon. The total number of man-days available is 1200. As per
the table, we are given the man-days per hectare for Wheat and Barley.
10X + 30Y ≤ 1200
3. The third constraint is the total area present for plantation. The total available area is
110 hectares. So the equation becomes,
X + Y ≤ 110
Step 4: The non-negativity restriction
The values of X and Y will be greater than or equal to 0. This goes without saying.
X ≥ 0, Y ≥ 0
We have formulated our linear program. It’s time to solve it.
Solving an LP through Graphical method
Since we know that X, Y ≥ 0. We will consider only the first quadrant.
To plot for the graph for the above equations, first I will simplify all the equations.
100X + 200Y ≤ 10,000 can be simplified to X + 2Y ≤ 100 by dividing by 100.
10X + 30Y ≤ 1200 can be simplified to X + 3Y ≤ 120 by dividing by 10.
The third equation is in its simplified form, X + Y ≤ 110.
Plot the first 2 lines on a graph in the first quadrant (like shown below)
The optimal feasible solution is achieved at the point of intersection where the budget &
man-days constraints are active. This means the point at which the equations X + 2Y ≤
100 and X + 3Y ≤ 120 intersect gives us the optimal solution.
The values for X and Y which gives the optimal solution is at (60,20).
To maximize profit the farmer should produce Wheat and Barley in 60 hectares and 20
hectares of land respectively.
The maximum profit the company will gain is,
Max Z = 50 * (60) + 120 * (20)
= US$5400