Student id. ..................................

School of Business and Economics

EXAMINATION

Course : Quantitative Methods III Code: EBS2027

Coordinator(s): C. van Hoesel

Date : 8 April 2022 Time: 13.00 – 16.00

Location : TestVision MECC Westhall

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exams at the SBE for a period of time to be determined by the Board of Examiners, with a
maximum period of one year;
- termination of the student’s registration for the concerning study programme.

This examination consists of: (please check if you received all pages, before you start
answering)
12 Pages (Front page included)
30 Questions

You are allowed to make use of: Pocket calculator

Norm: You need to answer 20 questions correctly to pass the exam.

Publication of the results: within 15 workdays

Procedure for objections:

Objections concerning questions have to be sent within 5 working days after the exam to the
coordinator. Objections concerning grading should be sent by e-mail to the coordinator after the
results have been published. An exam inspection will be announced on ELEUM.

Particulars:
There are 6 cases in this exam. Each case is followed by 5 multiple choice questions. First read
the cases carefully, then think about how you would model it, and then answer the questions.
Put your models always in standard form.

You have to hand in the entire examination set. It is not allowed to take
home, copy or photograph the examination or parts of it!
(You can write your answers of MC questions on a piece of scrap paper and take it home).
Case Diet problem questions 1-5

Consider the problem of choosing prepared foods for mixing to meet certain nutritional requirements.
There are eight choices of food that can be mixed to a nutrient. For this nutrient we have
requirements for vitamins A, B1, B2, and C.
The following kinds of food are available for the given prices per package:

Food Price
Beef Beef 3,19
Chk Chicken 2,59
Fish Fish 2,29
Ham Ham 2,89
MCh Macaroni&Cheese 1,89
Mtl Meat Loaf 1,99
Spg Spaghetti 1,99
Tur Turkey 2,49

These dinners provide the following percentages, per package, of the minimum daily requirements
for vitamins A, B1, B2, and C.

Vitamin
A B1 B2 C
Beef 60 10 15 20
Chk 8 20 20 0
Fish 8 15 10 10
Ham 40 35 10 40
MCh 15 15 15 35
Mtl 70 15 15 30
Spg 25 25 15 50
Tur 60 15 10 20

The problem is to find the cheapest mix of foods that will meet the requirements per package: at least
34,5% of vitamin A, at least 18% for vitamin B1, at least 15% for vitamin B2, and at least 30% for
vitamin C. The objective is to minimize the costs of the mix.

Let us introduce the following variables:

• XBEEF for the fraction of beef in the mix,
• XCHK for the fraction of chicken in the mix,
• XFISH for the fraction of fish in the mix,
• XHAM for the fraction of ham in the mix,
• XMCH for the fraction of macaroni&cheese in the mix,
• XMTL for the fraction of meat loaf in the mix,
• XSPG for the fraction of spaghetti in the mix,
• XTUR for the fraction of turkey in the mix,

Answer the following questions. All questions refer to a model in the form, in which only numbers
appear on the right-hand side of a constraint, and in which each variable appears at most once in the
objective function and in the left-hand side each constraint.
Question 1
Consider the following 3 candidate constraints:
20XBEEF+0XCHK+10XFISH+40XHAM+35XMCH+30XMTL+50XSPG+20XTUR = 30
10XBEEF+20XCHK+15XFISH+35XHAM+15XMCH+15XMTL+25XSPG+15XTUR = 
XBEEF+XCHK+XFISH+XHAM+XMCH+XMTL+XSPG+XTUR = 1

How many of these three are correct constraints in the model?

a) 3
b) 0
c) 1
d) 2

Question 2
Suppose that we add the following constraint to the model. What effect will it have on the linear
program?
XBEEF+XCHK+XFISH+XHAM+2*(XMCH+XMTL+XSPG+XTUR)>=2

a) The value of the optimal solution will be increased

b) The problem becomes infeasible.
c) No effect, the constraint is redundant
d) For all feasible solutions we will have XBEEF=XCHK=XFISH=XHAM=0

Question 3
Suppose that we wish to have the availability of vitamins B1 and B2 equal in each portion. Which of
the following constraints models this extra restriction correctly.

a) 𝑋𝐵𝐸𝐸𝐹 + 𝑋𝐹𝐼𝑆𝐻 + 𝑋𝐻𝐴𝑀 + 𝑋𝑆𝑃𝐺 + 𝑋𝑇𝑈𝑅 = 1

b) 5𝑋𝐵𝐸𝐸𝐹 − 5𝑋𝐹𝐼𝑆𝐻 − 25𝑋𝐻𝐴𝑀 − 10𝑋𝑆𝑃𝐺 − 5𝑋𝑇𝑈𝑅 = 18
c) 5𝑋𝐵𝐸𝐸𝐹 + 5𝑋𝐹𝐼𝑆𝐻 + 25𝑋𝐻𝐴𝑀 + 10𝑋𝑆𝑃𝐺 + 5𝑋𝑇𝑈𝑅 = 0
d) 5𝑋𝐵𝐸𝐸𝐹 − 5𝑋𝐹𝐼𝑆𝐻 − 25𝑋𝐻𝐴𝑀 − 10𝑋𝑆𝑃𝐺 − 5𝑋𝑇𝑈𝑅 = 0
The output of the sensitivity report looks as follows:

Variable Cells
Final Reduced Objective Allowable Allowable
Name Value Cost Coefficient Increase Decrease
Variables Beef 0 1,2591 3,19 1E+30 1,2591
Variables Chk 0 0 2,59 1E+30 0,6718
Variables Fish 0 1,0845 2,29 1E+30 1,0845
Variables Ham 0 1,4627 2,89 1E+30 1,4627
Variables MCh 0,4 0 1,89 0,1 3,9244
Variables Mtl 0,3 0 1,99 0,45 0,1
Variables Spg 0,3 0 1,99 0,5851 0,0818
Variables Tur 0 1,19 2,49 1E+30 1,19

Constraints
Final Shadow Constraint Allowable Allowable
Name Value Price R.H. Side Increase Decrease
Fraction LHS 1 -0,27545 1 0 0,0558
Vitamin A LHS 34,5 0,00182 34,5 22 16,5
Vitamin B1 LHS 18 0,00818 18 4,8889 3
Vitamin B2 LHS 15 0,13436 15 0,9176 0
Vitamin C LHS 38 0 30 8 1E+30

Question 4
Suppose that we can obtain the turkey for 1.49 Euro per unit. What would be the impact on the
optimal objective value?
a) The optimal objective function value will stay the same.
b) The optimal objective function value will increase or stay the same.
c) Nothing can be said: the optimal objective function value can either increase or decrease, or
remain equal.
d) The optimal objective function value will decrease or stay the same.

Question 5
Suppose that the requirement for another vitamin, say D, must also be taken into account. What
would be the impact on the model if we do so? Do not take into account non-negativity constraints.
a) The number of variables remains the same, the number of constraints increases with one.
b) The number of variables remains the same, the number of constraints remains the same.
c) The number of variables increases with one, the number of constraints remains the same.
d) The number of variables increases with one, the number of constraints increases with one.
Case Alden enterprises questions 6-10
Alden enterprise manufactures two products. Each product can be manufactured on one of two
machines. The length of time needed to manufacture each product (in hours) on each machine is as
shown in the following table.

Machine 1 Machine 2
Product 1 4 3
Product 2 7 4

Each month 1000 hours of time are available on machine1, and 800 hours of time are available on
machine2. Each month, customers are willing to buy up to the quantities of each product at the prices
given in the table below. The company’s goal is to maximize the revenue obtained from selling units
during the next two months.

Demands Prices
Month 1 Month 2 Month 1 Month 2
Product 1 110 140 $50 $20
Product 2 180 100 $80 $40

We introduce the following decision variables.

P1M1: amount of units manufactured of product 1, in month 1;
P1M2: amount of units manufactured of product 1, in month 2;
P2M1: amount of units manufactured of product 2, in month 1;
P2M2: amount of units manufactured of product 2, in month 2;
D1M1: amount of demand satisfied of product 1, in month 1;
D1M2: amount of demand satisfied of product 1, in month 2;
D2M1: amount of demand satisfied of product 2, in month 1;
D2M2: amount of demand satisfied of product 2, in month 2;
I1: amount of units of product 1 moving from month 1 to month 2;
I2: amount of units of product 2 moving from month 1 to month 2.

Answer the following questions.

Question 6
What is the objective of the model?
a) 50*P1M1 + 20*P1M2 + 80*P2M1 + 40*P2M2
b) 50*D1M1 + 20*D1M2 + 80*D2M1 + 40*D2M2
c) 50*P1M1 + 20*P1M2 + 80*P2M1 + 40*P2M2
- 50*D1M1 - 20*D1M2 - 80*D2M1 - 40*D2M2
d) 50*D1M1 + 20*D1M2 + 80*D2M1 + 40*D2M2
+ 50*P1M1 + 20*P1M2 + 80*P2M1 + 40*P2M2

Question 7
The balance constraint(s) for product 1 is (are)
a) P1M1<=D1M1 and P1M2 <=D1M2
b) P1M1+P1M2<=D1M1+D1M2
c) P1M1=D1M1+I1 and I1+P1M2=D1M2
d) P1M1>=D1M1+I1 and I1+P1M2<=D1M2
Question 8
Suppose that at least 60% of the items produced must be of product 2. Which of the following
constraints models this extra restriction? Do not take into account non-negativity constraints.
a) 40*(P1M1+P1M2)<=60*(P2M1+P2M2)
b) 40*(P1M1+P1M2)>=60*(P2M1+P2M2)
c) 60*(P1M1+P1M2)<=40*(P2M1+P2M2)
d) 60*(P1M1+P1M2)>=40*(P2M1+P2M2)

Question 9
To set up production it turns out that a fixed cost of 400 has to be incurred for each product in each
month. What is the effect on the model?
a) Eight new variables are introduced, and eight new constraints are introduced, and the
objective function is extended with four terms, .
b) Eight new variables are introduced, and eight new constraints are introduced, and the
objective function is extended with eight terms, .
c) Four new variables are introduced, and four new constraints are introduced, and the objective
function is extended with four terms, .
d) Four new variables are introduced, and eight new constraints are introduced, and the objective
function is extended with four terms, .

Question 10
What happens to the model if a new product is introduced, say P3? Do not take into account non-
negativity constraints.
a) Four new variables are introduced, and two new constraints are introduced.
b) Four new variables are introduced, and four new constraints are introduced.
c) Five new variables are introduced, and two new constraints are introduced.
d) Five new variables are introduced, and four new constraints are introduced.

Case Maastricht Hospital questions 11-15

Maastricht Hospital serves cases from four diagnostic-related groups (DRGs). Though these groups
act independently of each other, they make use of the same resources. The question the hospital
wishes to answer is how to assign cases to the four groups.
The profit contribution, diagnostic service use (in hours), bed-day use (in days) nursing care use (in
hours), and drug use (in dollars) are given in the table below. The hospital now has available each
week 500 hours of diagnostic services, 300 bed days, 1000 nursing hours, and 50000 dollars’ worth
of drugs. To meet the community’s minimum requirements for health care at least 10 DRG1, 15
DRG2, 40DRG3, and 160DRG4 cases must be handled each week. The objective of the hospital is to
maximize its net profit.

DRG1 DRG2 DRG3 DRG4

Unit profit 2000 1500 500 300
Diagnostics 7 4 2 1
Bed-days 5 2 1 1
Nursing Use 30 10 5 1
Drugs 800 500 150 100

We introduce the following decision variables.

D1: amount of cases for DRG1, D2: amount of cases for DRG2,
D3: amount of cases for DRG3,D4: amount of cases for DRG4,
Answer the following questions.

Question 11
What is the objective of the model?
a) 30*D1+10*D2+5*D3+1*D4
b) 2000*D1+1500*D2+500*D3+300*D4
c) 800*D1+500*D2+150*D3+100*D4
d) 7*D1+4*D2+2*D3+1*D4

Question 12
The resource constraint(s) for the diagnostic services is (are)
a) D1 >= 10, D2 >= 15, D3 >= 40, D4 >= 160
b) D1+D2+D3+D4 >= 225
c) 7*D1+4*D2+2*D3+1*D4 <= 500
d) 7*D1 <= 500, 4*D2 <= 500, 2*D3 <= 500, 1*D4 <= 500

Question 13
Suppose that at most half of the case assignments is allowed to be assigned to DRG4. Which of the
following constraints models this extra restriction?
a) D1+D2+D3−D4 >= 0
b) D4 >= D1+D2+D3
c) D4 <= 2*(D1+D2+D3)
d) D4 <= 0.5*(D1+D2+D3)

Question 14
What happens to the profit if we increase the number of bed-days with two from 300 to 302?
a) The optimal objective function value will increase or stay the same.
b) None of the other alternatives, since one can not say at all what will happen.
c) The optimal objective function value will stay the same.
d) The optimal objective function value will decrease or stay the same.

Question 15
The hospital wishes to extend its offered DRG with another one, DRG5. This unit uses 10 hours of
diagnostic services, 3 bed days, 40 nursing hours, and 1000 dollars worth of drugs. Its unit profit is
2500 dollars. No minimum requirement for DRG5. What changes will this have for the model?
a) One extra variable and no extra (non-trivial) constraint.
b) No extra variable and no extra (non-trivial) constraint.
c) One extra variable and one extra (non-trivial) constraint.
d) No extra variable and one extra (non-trivial) constraint.
Case Team allocation Questions 16-20

A company has to allocate 8 teams to 3 different projects referred to as projects A, B and C. The
profit for each project depends on the number of teams that are assigned to that project. To each
project there should be assigned at least one team, and at most 5 teams, while only 8 teams can be
used for all projects.
The table below tells the profit achievable in project A, B and C (in thousands of Euro) depending on
how many teams are allocated to that project.

Number of teams \ Project A B C

1 team 45 20 50
2 teams 70 45 70
3 teams 90 75 80
4 teams 105 110 100
5 teams 120 150 130

The company wants to assign the teams to the projects so as to maximize total profit. Build a
mathematical model by which we can solve this problem, using the following 15 binary variables:

• Ai (i=1,…,5) is 1 if i teams are assigned to project A, 0 otherwise.

• Bi (i=1,…,5) is 1 if i teams are assigned to project A, 0 otherwise.
• Ci (i=1,…,5) is 1 if i teams are assigned to project A, 0 otherwise.

Question 16
How many constraints do we need in a correct model?

a) Exactly one constraint

b) at least 2, but not more than 3 constraints
c) at least 4, but not more than 7 constraints
d) at least 8 constraints

Question 17
Which of the following statements is NOT true?

a) The coefficients of all decision variables in all constraints are either equal to 0, 1,or -1
b) The decision variables are binary decision variables
c) We can model the problem by using only equality constraints
d) The optimal solution assigns all 8 teams.

Question 18
Suppose there is one project more. How many additional decision variables do we need?

a) 0
b) 1
c) 3
d) 5

Question 19
Referring back to the original model, suppose we have 9 instead of 8 teams available. How many
additional constraints do we need? Do not take into account non-negativity constraints.

a) 0
b) 1
c) 3
d) 5
Question 20
Referring back to the original model, suppose the profit that can be achieved by assigning 5 teams to
project A increases by 30, thus it is now 150. What can we say about the new optimal solution?
(Hint: you have to make use of the numbers in the profit table to answer this question correctly.)

a) It has the same objective value.

b) It has a strictly larger objective value.
c) It has a strictly smaller objective value.
d) We cannot judge, without knowing the optimal solution, because it can either have a smaller
or a larger objective value.

Case Bowling alley questions 21-25

Joe Jones wants to establish a construction fund (or sinking fund) to pay for a new bowling alley he is
having built. Construction of the bowling alley is expected to take six months and cost $300,000.
Joe’s contract with the construction company requires him to make payments of $50,000 at the end of
the second and fourth months, and a final payment of $200,000 at the end of the sixth month when
the bowling alley is completed. Joe has identified four investments that he can use to establish the
construction fund; these investments are summarized in the following table:

The table indicates that investment A will be available at the beginning of each of the next six
months, and funds invested in this manner mature in one month with a yield of 1.8%. Similarly,
funds can be placed in investment C only at the beginning of months 1 and/or 4, and they mature at
the end of three months with a yield of 5.8%. Joe wants to minimize the amount of money he must
invest in month 1 to meet the required payments for this project.

The basic decision faced by Joe is how much money to place in each investment vehicle during each
time period when the investment opportunities are available. To model this problem, we need
different variables to represent each investment/time period combination. This is done as:
• A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6: the amount of money (in $1,000s) placed in investment A at the
beginning of months 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively
• B1, B3, B5: the amount of money (in $1,000s) placed in investment B at the beginning of
months 1, 3, and 5, respectively
• C1, C4: the amount of money (in $1,000s) placed in investment C at the beginning of months
1 and 4, respectively
• D1: the amount of money (in $1,000s) placed in investment D at the beginning of month 1

Notice that all variables are expressed in units of thousands of dollars to maintain a reasonable scale
for the problem.

Question 21
Which of the following is the correct objective for this problem?
a. A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6
b. A1+B1+C1+D1
c. A6+B5+C4+D1
d. A1+A2+A3+A4+A5+A6+ B1+ B3+ B5+C1+ C4+D1
Question 22
Which of the following is not a correct constraint for this problem?
a. 1.110*D1+1.018*A1=A2
b. 1.035*B1+1.018*A2=A3+B3+50
c. 1.058*C1+1.018*A3=A4+C4
d. 1.035*B3+1.018*A4=A5+B5+50

Question 23
Suppose that a new investment E can be bought at the beginning of period 2 and at the beginning of
period 4. It has a maturity of two months and a yield of 4.6%. What changes does it bring to the
model besides the introduction of the two variables E2 and E4.
a. The objective gets two additional variables, and two of the constraints get additional
variables.
b. The objective gets two additional variables, and four of the constraints get additional
variables.
c. Three of the constraints get additional variables.
d. Four of the constraints get additional variables.

In investment problems like this, it is not uncommon for decision makers to place limits on the
amount of risk they are willing to assume. For instance, suppose Joe assigned the following risk
ratings to each of the possible investments on a scale from 1 to 10 (where 1 represents the least risk,
and 10 the greatest risk). We will also assume that Joe wants to determine an investment plan
where the weighted average risk level does not exceed 5.

We will need to formulate an additional constraint for each time period to ensure the
weighted average risk level never exceeds 5.

Question 24
Which of the following constraints models the upper bound 5 on weighted average risk for period 3.
a. 3*C1+D1-4*A3-2*B3 <= 5
b. 3*C1+D1-4*A3-2*B3 <= 0
c. 3*C4-4*A3-2*B3 <= 5
d. 3*C4-4*A3-2*B3 <= 0

Question 25
What will happen to the model if the risk rating of A is increased from 1 to 2?
a. The optimal solution may become infeasible.
b. The feasible region may become larger or remain the same
c. The optimal solution may improve
d. The optimal solution remains the same.
Case Project Management Question 26-28

You are given the following information about a project consisting of seven activities:

Immediate
Activity Duration EST EFT LST LFT
Predecessors
1 – 2
2 1 3
3 1 4
4 1 5
5 2 4
6 2, 3, 4 2
7 5, 6 2

For all activities, compute the earliest start and earliest finish times, the latest start and latest finish
times, and then answer questions 26-28.
Note: The earliest start time of all activities with no immediate predecessors is assumed to be 0.

Question 26
The earliest finish time of activity 7 is …?
a) 12
b) 13
c) 10
d) 11

Question 27
The latest finish time of activity 3 is …?
a) 7
b) 8
c) 5
d) 6

Question 28
How many activities are critical?

a) 5
b) 6
c) 3
d) 4
The current project duration seems unacceptable to you. Therefore you consider adding personnel to
activities 3, 4, and 5, in order to shorten the duration of these activities. Activity 3 can be shortened
by at the most 3 time units, at a cost of 120 per time unit; activity 4 can be shortened by at the most 2
time units, at a cost of 150 per time unit; activity 5 can be shortened by at the most 1 time unit, at a
cost of 160 per time unit.

You want to shorten the project duration by 2 time units, and are searching for a plan to achieve this
goal at minimum cost. Set up the linear programming model by which you can determine such a plan.
Use the following decision variables:
ES1, ES2, ES3, ES4, ES5, ES6, and ES7 for the earliest start times of activities 1 up to 7,
respectively. R3, R4, and R5 for the time units by which activities 3, 4, and 5 should be shortened,
respectively. Then answer questions 29 and 30.

Question 29
Which of the following constraints is not a correct constraint of the model?

a) ES6 – ES3 + R3 >= 4

b) ES6 – ES4 + R4 >= 5
c) ES7 – ES6 >= 2
d) ES3 – ES1 – R3 >= 2

Question 30
In how many constraints (apart from its non-negativity constraint) does the variable ES6 have a non-
zero coefficient?

a) 3
b) 4
c) 1
d) 2