Applications of Linear Programming

APM 236H1S Course outline, Spring 2004

Professor: Mary Pugh, mpugh@math. utoronto.ca, (416) 978-5233
Office hours: by appointment. Please email.
Office location: room 3141, Earth Sciences Centre, 22 Russell Street.

If you're going to send me email, please include "apm236" in the subject line. Otherwise, there's a good chance my spam filter will filter your email.

TA: Oliver Chen, ochen@math. utoronto.ca
Office hours: by appointment. Please email.
Office location: Sidney Smith, room 3070

Prerequisites: MAT 223H or MAT 240H

Text: Bernard Kolman and Robert E. Beck, Elementary Linear Programming with Applications, 2nd edition. The book is on reserve in Gerstein. Its call number is T57.74 .K64 1995X.

Additional Materials: nine problem sets are given below. Solutions for the first six problem sets are available for short-term loan in the Gerstein Science Information Centre, as are copies of some term tests (including solutions). Solutions for the remaining three problem sets are posted below. The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students in SS 1089 has old final exams for most courses currently offered at the St. George campus. I've taught this course twice before. Here are the course webpages for Spring 2002 and Spring 2003 in case you find them of use.

Marking Scheme: Two term tests, each worth 25% of the course mark, and a two-hour final exam worth 50% of the course mark. Calculators and other devices are not allowed during the term tests and the final exam. The first term test will be on Wednesday February 4 starting at 6:10, ending at 7:00. The second term test will be on Wednesday March 10 starting at 6:10, ending at 7:00.

Course Summary (subject to change): review of linear algebra (Chapter 0, you read it on your own), introduction to linear programming (Chapter 1), the simplex method (Chapter 2), further topics in linear programming (Sections 3.1-3.4), matrix games (supplementary class notes), problems from integer programming (Chapter 5).

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Recommended problems: Make sure you can do the following problems.

problem set 1: p 21, #6b. (Additional instructions: (i). Solve for x, y, and z in terms of w. (ii). Solve for x, z, and w in terms of y.) p 21, #9a, p 28, #6c, #8b, p 42, #5d, #6b
problem set 2: p 57, #2, #4. p. 28, #6, #8, p 59, #10. Put these problems in canonical and in standard form.
problem set 3: p 82, #14. p 83, #16. In the preceding questions, replace instructions (b) and (c) with "draw the line z = c^T x = k, where k is the optimal value of z." p 91, #4, #8, #12. p 100, #6, #8. (NOTE: if you try doing problem #7 on page 100, you'll discover that the answer in the back of the book is wrong. The correct answer is: 7a: not a basic solution since it doesn't satisfy Ax=b. 7b: is a basic solution with basic variables x2, x3, and x5. 7c: is a basic solution with basic variables x1, x3, and x5. Or with x2, x3, and x5. Or with x3, x4, and x5.)
Supplementary problems:
1. Prove that the set of optimal solutions of any linear programming problem is convex.
2. Prove that the set of objective values which a linear programming problem attains over its feasible region is convex.
3. Give an example of a convex set in R^2 which is not a line segment, and hwihc has (1,0) and (0,2) as its only extreme points.
4. Find all extreme points (in R^3) of the set
{(x1,x2,x3) such that x1 - x2 + x3 = -1, 3 x1 - 2 x2 + 4 x3 = 2, x1 + x2 + 3 x3 = 9, x1 >=0, x2 >= 0, x3 >= 0}.
problem set 4: p 120, #6 (solve the problem which this tableau represents), #8 (insert row labels and solve the problem). p.121, #14, #16, #19. p. 122, #22, #23. p 131, #6.
problem set 5: p. 150 #2, p. 152, #10, #20.
Supplementary problems:
1. Maximize z = -x1 + 5 x2 + 3 x3 subject to the constraints
2 x1 + x2 + x3 = 5, 3 x1 + 2 x2 >= 6, 4 x1 + 3 x2 - x3 <= 7, x1 >= 0, x2 >= 0, x3 >= 0.
2. Maximize z = -9 x1 - 4 x3 subject to the constraints
9 x1 + x2 + x3 >= 27, 3 x1 + x2 + 2 x3 = 9, x1 >= 0, x2 >= 0, x3 >= 0.
problem set 6: p 165, #2, #4. p. 166 #6, p. 183, #9. Modify this problem by replacing "x1, x2, x3 unrestricted" with "x1 >= 0, x2 >= 0, x3 >= 0". p 184, #11.
Supplementary problems pertaining to section 3.3:
Consider the standard problem: Maximize z = -76 x1 + 13 x2 - 11 x3 - 27 x4 + 2 x5, subject to constraints
11 x1 + x2 - x3 - 7 x4 + x5 <= 3, -15 x1 - x2 + 2 x3 + 23 x4 - 3 x5 <= 2, -7 x1 + 2 x2 - 2 x3 - 9 x4 + x5 <= 4, x1, x2, x3, x4, x5 >= 0.
a) insert slack variables x6, x7, x8 for the first, second, and third constraints respectively, and write the initial simplex tableau for the problem.
b) The final simplex tableau for the problem has basic variables x5, x3, x2 (in that order). Without using the simplex method to find it, write the final simplex tableau for the problem.
c) Let w_i (i=1,2,3) be the dual variable associated with the ith primal constraint. What is the optimal solution of the dual problem?
problem set 7: Here are some game theory problems to work on. Here are their solutions.
problem set 8: p 325, #8, #10, #11, #12. Here are the solutions to problem set 8.