Assignment title: Information
Instructions: (Please read carefully)
The deadline is April 28, 2017 before midnight on Blackboard
The exam is opened book, opened notes.
For every problem you need to show your work (don’t just provide final
answers)
For problems that require equations, it is preferable that you produce them
using the computer; however, it is acceptable to legibly develop them by
hand and scan them into ONE MS-Word or PDF file (do not submit
multiple files for each problem)
For problems that require computer solutions, provide a snapshot of the solution in
your report. Please make sure your computer solution is organized such that I can
understand the solution by looking at the snapshot
Provide one MS-Word or PDF file with your solution and one Excel file for problems
that require the use of Excel. Include multiple sheets in your Excel file for the different
problems as necessary (do not submit multiple Excel files)
This is a graduate level class; it is expected to submit a clear and organized solution that
is appropriate for the level of this course.
Do not type or write your solutions in light colors; only black or blue are acceptable.
Highlight your final answers if you wish but do not highlight your whole solutions
Please include your full name on your submission (preferably at the top of each page of
your solution)
This is an individual exam and you must not seek help from anyone in the class or outside
of the class. ODU’s honor code is in effect and sharing of solutions, computer models or
cheating in any verbal or written forms will not be tolerated. The punishment ranges from
getting “F” in the course to being expelled.
ENMA 603 Final Exam– Spring 2017 Dr. Ghaith Rabadi
Page 2 of 4
Problem 1 (20 points)
Circuit boards for a computer system are to be replaced at intervals over a period of 6 months. Ideally,
replacement should occur before an actual breakdown in order to maintain an operational system. Frequent
replacement incurs capital expenses and costs of labor for installation. But infrequent replacement may lead
to increased maintenance costs and unacceptably high rates of system downtime. If we collect data on the
costs of purchase, installation, and maintenance, cost of expected downtime, and salvage value of replaced
boards, we can arrive at a tabularized summary of these expenses, such as shown in the Table below. Any
circuit board becomes a candidate for replacement after 1 month.
Equipment Replacement Costs ($)
Circuit Board Replaced
Feb Mar Apr May June
Circuit Jan 5.00 6.75 8.25 12.50 16.80
Board Feb 5.25 6.25 9.50 11.50
Installed Mar 5.25 7.25 9.00
Apr 5.50 8.20
May 5.80
a) Represent this problem as a network and include all the information on it.
b) Solve the problem manually using the appropriate network algorithm to find the optimal
replacement policy. Make sure you show your solution step by step.
c) Formulate the problem as a mathematical program. Clearly define your decision variables, objective
and constraints.
d) Use Excel to implement the model you formulated in (c) and use Excel Solver to find the optimal
solution. Include a snapshot of your solution in the report
Problem 2 (20 points)
A data communications network can be described by the diagram below. Every data link from node i to
node j has a capacity which is denoted as a label on the data link in the diagram. Data is being generated
at node 1 and is to be routed through the network (not necessarily passing through all other nodes) to node
6 where the data will be used. This is a unidirectional network, which means data does not flow in the
opposite direction of the arrows. The amount of data generated at node 1 is exactly the amount of data
consumed at node 6. No data is generated or used at intermediate nodes, so all data that enters an
intermediate node must leave it, and vice versa.
ENMA 603 Final Exam– Spring 2017 Dr. Ghaith Rabadi
Page 3 of 4
(a) Solve this problem manually to find the maximum feasible amount of data that can flow through
this network? Show your step-by-step solution and present a summary of your final solution
(b) Which links comprise the bottleneck in this network? Explain your answer
(c) Formulate this problem as a mathematical program to find the optimal solution. Clearly define
your decision variables, objective and constraints.
(d) Using MS-Excel Solver to find a solution to the model you implemented in part (c). Include a
snapshot of your solution in the report
Problem 3 (20 Points)
An advertisement agency is trying to determine a TV advertising schedule for a client. The client has
three goals (listed here in descending order of importance). It wants its ads to be seen by:
Goal 1: at least 65 million high-income men (HIM)
Goal 2: at least 72 million high-income women (HIW)
Goal 3: at least 70 million low-income people (LIP)
The agency can purchase several types of TV ads: ads shown on live sports shows, on game shows, on
news shows, on sitcoms, on dramas, and on soap operas. At most $700,000 total can be spent on ads. The
advertising costs and potential audiences (in millions of viewers) of a 1-minute ad of each type are shown
in the following table. As a matter of policy, the client requires that at least two ads be placed on each of
the following shows: sports shows, news shows, and drama shows. Also, it requires that no more than ten
ads be placed on any single type of show. The agency wants to find the advertising plan that best meets its
client’s goals.
Ad Type HIM HIW LIP Cost
Sports Show 7 8 4 $120,000
Game Show 3 6 5 $40,000
News 6 3 5 $50,000
Sitcom 4 7 5 $40,000
Drama 6 6 8 $60,000
Soap Opera 3 5 4 $40,000
a) Formulate a Goal Programming model for this problem to determine the number of ads of the
different types that best meets the client’s goals. Clearly define your decision variables, constraints
and objective(s)
b) Solve this problem using Excel Solver. Make sure you label your sheets appropriately and use short
comments to describe what you did on each sheet. Include organized snapshots of your Excel solution
in the report.
Problem 4 (20 points)
A mower manufacturer produces two types of riding lawn mowers. One is a low-cost mower sold
primarily to residential home owners; the other is an industrial model sold to lawn service companies. The
company is interested in establishing a pricing policy for the two mowers that will maximize the profit for
the product line. A study of the relationships between sales prices and quantities sold of the two mowers
has validated the following price-quantity relationships.
q1 = 950 – 1.5p1 + 0.7p2
q2 = 2500 + 0.3p1 – 0.5p2
ENMA 603 Final Exam– Spring 2017 Dr. Ghaith Rabadi
Page 4 of 4
Where
q1 = number of residential mowers sold
q2 = number of industrial mowers sold
p1 = selling price of the residential mower in dollars
p2 = selling price of the industrial mower in dollars
The accounting department developed cost information on the fixed and variable cost of producing the
two mowers. The fixed cost of production for the residential mower is $10,000 and the variable cost is
$1,500 per mower. The fixed cost of production for the industrial mower is $30,000 and the variable cost
is $4,000 per mower.
a) The company traditionally priced the lawn mowers at $2,000 and $6,000 for the residential and
industrial mowers, respectively. Calculate the number of mowers that will be sold, and the profit with
this pricing policy?
b) Formulate a mathematical model to solve this problem optimally. Clearly define your decision
variables, constraints and objective function
c) Implement the model you formulated in (b) using Excel and find the optimal prices, profit and
number of units sold using Excel Solver. Include a snapshot of your solution in the report. Compare
the optimal answer you obtained to that in (a)
Problem 5 (20 points)
A cotton grower in south Georgia produces cotton on farms in Statesboro and Brooklet, ships it to cotton
gins in Claxton and Millen, where it is processed, and then sends it to distribution centers in Savannah,
Perry, and Valdosta, where it is sold to customers for $60 per ton. Any surplus cotton is sold to a
government warehouse in Hinesville for $25 per ton. The cost of growing and harvesting a ton of cotton
at the farms in Statesboro and Brooklet is $20 and $22, respectively. There are presently 700 and 500 tons
of cotton available in Statesboro and Brooklet, respectively. The cost of transporting the cotton from the
farms to the gins and the government warehouse is shown in the following table:
The gin in Claxton has the capacity to process 700 tons of cotton at a cost of $10 per ton. The gin in
Millen can process 600 tons at a cost of $11 per ton. Each gin must use at least one half of its available
capacity. The cost of shipping a ton of cotton from each gin to each distribution center is summarized in
the following table:
Assume that the demand for cotton in Savannah, Perry, and Valdosta is 400, 300, and 450 tons,
respectively.
a) Draw a network flow model to represent this problem.
b) Formulate a mathematical model to solve this problem. Clearly define your decision variables,
constraints and objective function
c) Implement the model you formulated in (b) using Excel and find the optimal solution using Excel
Solver. Include a snapshot of your solution in the report