Test 1 Solutions: Problem 1. Simplex Method (9 Points: 2, 2, 2, 3)
Test 1 Solutions: Problem 1. Simplex Method (9 Points: 2, 2, 2, 3)
Test 1 Solutions: Problem 1. Simplex Method (9 Points: 2, 2, 2, 3)
x1 x2 x3 x4 RHS
0 2 0 -1
4
1 1 0 1
3
0 -2 1 1
2
a) What are the current basic and nonbasic variables? What is the current basic
feasible solution? What is the objective function value?
Basic variables: x1 and x3
Nonbasic variables: x2 and x4
Basic feasible solution: ( x1 x2 x3 x4 ) = ( 3 0 2 0 )
Objective function value is 4.
b) If you choose x2 as the entering variable and x1 as the leaving variable, what can
you say about the next basic solution (feasible or infeasible, Z increasing or
decreasing)?
Z will decrease; next solution is feasible.
c) If you choose x4 as the entering variable and x1 as the leaving variable, what can
you say about the next basic solution (feasible or infeasible, Z increasing or
decreasing)?
Z will increase; next solution is infeasible.
d) Choosing the correct entering and leaving variables, perform one iteration of the
simplex method. Answer part (a) for the resulting basic solution? Is it optimal?
Z
x1
x4
x1 x2 x3 x4 RHS
0 0 1 0
6
1 3 -1 0
1
0 -2 1 1
2
x1 x2 x3 x4 RHS
0 -1 0 0
6
1 -1 0 1
2
0 0 1 -2
4
Can you conclude about this problem whether it is infeasible, has a unique
optimal solution, has multiple optimal solutions, or is unbounded? Briefly justify
your answer. You dont need any simplex iterations to answer this question.
If you think the problem is unbounded, give a feasible solution of value at least
100. If you think the problem has a unique optimal solution, give that solution. If
you think the problem has multiple optimal solutions, give two optimal solutions.
The coefficient of x2 in row 0 is negative but there are no positive entries in the
column of x2 . This indicates that the problem is unbounded. From row 0 we have
Z = 6 + x2 . Thus, to get a feasible solution of value at least 100, we should
increase x2 from its current value 0 to at least 94 (while keeping the other nonbasic variable x4 at 0). When x4 stays at 0, the rows of x1 and x3 can be written as
x1 x2 = 2
x3 = 4
If we take x2 =94 then we get the values of x1 and x3 from these equations:
x1 = 96, x3 = 4.
Thus, ( x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = (96 , 94 , 4 , 0 ) is a solution of value 100.
x1 - x2
x2 4
-0.5x1 + x2 2
x1 , x2 0