DAYANANDA SAGAR COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(An Autonomous Institute Affiliated to VTU, Belagavi)

ShavigeMalleshwara Hills, Kumaraswamy Layout, Bengaluru-560078
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Operations Research
Question Bank for Module 1

1. What are the essential characteristics of Operation Research? Enumerate various types of
models

2. List and explain the various phases of ‘OR’ with a flow chart.

3. Enumerate different phases of OR.

4. “Operations Research is an art of winning the war without actually fighting it”. Justify the
statement briefly.

5. In a carpentry shop, it was found that 100 square feet of plywood scrap and 80 square feet
of white pine scrap are in usable form for construction of tables and book cases. It takes 16
square feet of plywood and 8 square feet of white pine to make a table. 12 square feet of
plywood and 16 square feet of white pine are required to construct a book case. A profit of
Rs250 on each table and Rs. 200 on each book case can be realized. How can the left
over wood be most profitably used? Use graphical method to solve the problem and also
obtain the optimal solution to the problem.

6. Solve the following by Graphical method.

Z max = 3X1 + 4X2
Subject to constraints;
5X1 + 4X2 ≤ 200
3X1 + 5X2 ≤ 150
5X1 + 4X2 ≥ 100
8X1 + 4X2 ≥ 80
X1≥0, X2≥0

7. Solve the following LPP by graphical method.

Zmax = 5X1 + 4X2
Subject to constraints;
6X1 + 4X2 ≤24
X1 + 2X2 ≤6
-X1 + X2≤1
X2 ≤2
X1≥0, X2≥0
8. A cooperative society of farmers has 50 hectare of land to grow two crops Paddy and
Sugarcane. The profit from crops, Paddy and Sugarcane per hectare are estimated as Rs
10,500 and Rs. 9,000 respectively. To control weeds, a liquid herbicide has to be used for
crops, Paddy and Sugarcane at rates of 20 liters and 10 liters per hectare. Further, no more
than 800 liters of herbicide should be used in order to protect fish and wild life using a
pond which collects drainage from this land. How much land should be allocated to each
crop so as to maximize the total profit of the cooperative society?

9. A manufacturer of a line of patent medicines is preparing a production plan on medicines

‘A’ and’ B’. There are sufficient ingredients available to make 20,000 bottles of A and
40,000 bottles of B. But there only 45,000 bottles into which either medicine can be put ,
Further more it will take 3 hours to prepare enough material to fill 1000 bottles of A. it
takes 1 hours to prepare enough material to fill 1000 bottles of B , and there are 66 hours
available for this operation. The profit is Rs 8 per bottle’ A ‘and Rs 7 per bottle ‘B’.
Formulate problem as LPP and solve by Graphical method

10. Old hens can be brought at Rs. 50/-each and young hens at Rs 100/- each. The old hens lay
3 eggs/week & young hen’s 5/week. Each egg cost Rs 2. A hen cost Rs 5 /week to feed, if
person has only Rs.2000 to spend for hens, Analyze the given statement and formulate the
suitable ‘OR’ model to decide how many of each kind of hens should be buy? And he
cannot house more than 40 hens.

11. A farmer has 100 acre farm. He can sell all tomatoes, lettuce or radishes and can raise the
price to obtain Rs.1.00 per kg for tomatoes, Rs. 0.75 a head for lettuce and Rs. 2.00 per kg
for radishes. The average yield per acre is 2000 kgs of tomatoes, 3000 heads of lettuce and
1000 kgs of radishes. Fertilizers are available at Rs.0.50 per kg and the amount required
per acre is 100 kgs each for tomatoes, and lettuce and 50 kgs for radishes. Labour required
for sowing, cultivating and harvesting per acre is 5 man–days for tomatoes, and lettuce and
6 man-days for lettuce. A total of 400 man days of labour available at Rs.20 per man–day.
Formulate this problem as linear programming model to maximize farmer’s total profit.
 Question Bank for Module 2
1. Find the optimal solution for the following transportation problem
Destination
Source A B C D Availability
I 21 16 25 13 11
II 17 18 14 23 13
III 32 10 22 45 19
Requirement 6 10 12 15

2. ABC Limited has three production shops supplying a product to 5 warehouses. The cost of
production varies from shop to shop, cost of transportation from shop to shop, cost of
transportation from shop to warehouses also varies. Each shop has a specific production
capacity of each warehouse has certain amount of requirement. The cost of transportation
are as given below:

Shop Warehouse Capacit Cost for

I II III IV V y producti
on
A 6 4 4 7 5 100 14
B 5 6 7 4 8 125 16
C 3 4 6 3 4 175 15
Requirement 60 80 85 105 70
Find the optimum quantity to be supplied from each shop to different warehouse at
minimum cost.

3. Obtain the initial solution by VAM and optimal solution by MODI method for the
transportation problem shown below :
A company has a three plants at locations A, B and C which supply to ware houses located
at D,E, F and H . Monthly plant capacities are 800, 500 and 900 with respectively. Monthly
ware house requirements are 400, 400,500, 400 and 800 units are respectively. unit
transportation costs are given below
D E F G H
A 5 8 6 6 3
B 4 7 7 6 5
C 8 4 6 6 4
Determine optimal distribution for the company in order to minimize total transportation
cost

4. Check the optimality for given problem and Determine the initial feasible solution by using
VAM method.
5. Obtain the initial solution by VAM and optimal solution by MODI method for the
transportation problem shown below :

6. A product is produced by four factories A, B, C and D. The unit production costs in these
are ₹2, ₹3, ₹1 and ₹5 respectively. Their production capacities are Factory A =50units,
B=70units, C=30units, and D=50units. These factories supply the product to four stores,
demands of which are 25, 35,105 and 20 units respectively. Unit transport cost in rupees
from each factory to each store is given in the table below. Determine the extent of
deliveries from each of the factories to each of the stores so that the total production and
transportation cost is minimum. Obtain IBFS by VAM.

Store
1 2 3 4
Factory A 2 4 6 11
B 10 8 7 5
C 13 3 9 12
D 4 6 8 3

7. A company has plants A, B and C which have capacity to produce 300, 200 and 500 Kg
respectively of a particular chemical/day. The production cost per kg in these plants are
₹0.70, ₹0.60 and ₹0.66 respectively. Four bulk consumers have placed orders for the
products on the following books;

Consumers Kg required /day Price offered ₹/kg

I 400 1.00
II 250 1.00
III 350 1.02
IV 150 1.03
Shipping costs in paise/kg from plants to consumers are given below:

To Consumers
From I II III IV
plants A 3 5 4 6
B 8 11 9 12
C 4 6 2 8
Workout the optimum schedule for the above situation considering all the data given.
 Operations Research
Module 1 & 2
Question Bank for Objective Type Questions

1 Decision variables
a. tell how much or how many of something to produce, invest, purchase, hire, etc.
b. represent the values of the constraints.
c. measure the objective function.
d. must exist for each constraint.

2 Operations research is a powerful tool for a

a. Research b. Programming c. Decision Making d. None of the above

3 The maximization or minimization of a quantity is the

a. Goal of management science. b. Decision for decision analysis.
c. Constraint of operation research. d. Objective of linear programming.
4 Which of the following is not an application of ‘OR’?
i) Finance ii) Fabrication iii) Marketing iv) Investment
5 Which of the following is a valid objective function for a linear programming problem?
a. Max 5xy b. Min 4x + 3y + (2/3)z c. Max 5x2 + 6y2 d. Min (x1 + x2)/x3

6 Who defined operations research as scientific approach to problem solving for executive
management
i) E.L.Arnoff ii) PMS Blackett iii) H.M.Wagner iv) None of the above

7 Which of the following is a valid objective function for a linear programming problem?
i) Max 7xy ii) Min 4x+ 3y+ (2/3)z iii) Max 4x2 + 6y2 iv) Min (x1+x2)/x3
8 To find the optimal solution to a linear programming problem using the graphical method
a. find the feasible point that is the farthest away from the origin.
b. find the feasible point that is at the highest location.
c. find the feasible point that is closest to the origin.
d. None of the alternatives is correct.
9 ___________is not a category of model in ‘OR’
i) Deterministic ii) probabilistic iii) prescriptive iv) random pattern

10 Allocations problems can be solved by

a. Linear Programming technique b, Nonlinear programming techniques
c, both i&ii d. None of the above

11 Bad answers are given instead of _____________answers in ‘OR’ methods

i) Worse ii) better iii) best iv) correct
12 In maximization problem, optimal solution occurring at corner point yields the
a. Mean values of z, b. Highest value of z, c. Lowest value of z, d. Mid values of z
13 Assumptions made in LPP are
i) Additivity ii) Multiplicativity iii) Divisibility iv) All of these

14 Which of the following industries are making use of Operation research concept?
i) HUL ii) HAL iii) Delhi cloth mill iv) All of these
15 If an optimal solution is degenerate, then
i) There are alternative optimal solution
ii) The solution is infeasible
iii) The solution is of no use to the decision maker
iv) None of these
16 In linear programming, oil companies used to implement resources available is classified as
a. implementation modeling, b. transportation models,
c. oil model, d. resources modeling

17 In _____models everything is defined and results are certain

i) Deterministic models ii) probabilistic models
ii) both i&ii iv) none of the above

18 Operations research attempt to find best and ____________solution to a problem

ii) Optimum ii) Perfect iii) Degenerate iv) All of these
19 Decision variable are
a. Controllable b. Uncontrollable c. Parameters d. None of these
20 The initial solution to a transportation problem can be generated in any manner, so long as
a. it minimizes cost b it ignores cost
c. all supply and demand are satisfied d. degeneracy does not exist
21 The purpose of the transportation approach for locational analysis is to minimize
a. Total costs b. Total shipping costs c. Total variable costs d. total fixed costs
22 The solution to a transportation problem with m-rows and n-columns is feasible
if number of positive allocations are
i) m + n ii) m * n iii) m+n-l iv) m+n+l

23 Which of the following is a method for improving an initial solution in a transportation

problem?
a. Intuitive lowest-cost, b. northwest-corner, c southeast-corner rule d. stepping stone
24 The dummy source or destination in a transportation problem is added to
i)to satisfy rim conditions ii)prevent solution from becoming degenerate
iii)Ensure that total cost does not exceed iv)None of the above

25 A transportation problem has a feasible solution when

a. All of the improvement indexes are positive
b. all the squares are used
c. The solution yields the lowest possible cost
d. all demand and supply constraints are satisfied
26 The initial solution of a transportation problem can be obtained by applying any known
method. However, the only condition is that
i) the solution be optimal ii) the rim conditions are satisfied
iii) the solution not be degenerate iv) all of the above

27 In transportation model analysis the stepping-stone method is used to

a. a. obtain an initial optimum solution
b. obtain an initial feasible solution
c. evaluate empty cells for potential solution improvements
d. evaluate empty cells for possible degeneracy