MATH 304, Fall 2017

Linear Algebra Applications. Solutions

09 / 24 / 2017

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Marco A. Roque Sol SECTION #: 505

1. A Simple Model for Marital Status.

In a certain town, 30 percent of the married women get divorced each year and 20 percent of the single women get
married each year. There are 8000 married women and 2000 single women. Assuming that the total population
of women remains constant, how many married women and how many single women will there be after 1 year?

Solution

Form a matrix A as follows:

1) The entries in the first row of A will be the percent of married and single women, respectively, that are married
after 1 year.

2) The entries in the second row will be the percent of women who are single after 1 year.

Thus we obtain the matrix

 
0.70 0.20
A=
0.30 0.80

If we let

 
8000
x0 =
2000

the number of married and single women after 1 year can be computed by multiplying A times x0 .

    
0.70 0.20 8000 6000
x1 = Ax0 = =
0.30 0.80 2000 4000

After 1 year there will be 6000 married women and 4000 single women.

Excersise 1. Find the number of married and single women after 2 years.

Excersise 2. Find the number of married and single women after 3 years.

Excersise 3. Write a formula (that is, an equation or expression) for how to calculate the number of single and
married women after n years. (Do not attempt an explicit calculation, just write down the formula.)

This is a classical problem of “population dynamics” we can approach this example in a more advanced setting,
namely, Markov Chains
2. Production Costs.

A company manufactures three products. Its production expenses are divided into three categories. In each
category, an estimate is given for the cost of producing a single item of each product. An estimate is also made
of the amount of each product to be produced per quarter. These estimates are given in Tables 1 and 2:

Product
Expenses A B C
Raw Materials 0.10 0.30 0.15
Labor 0.30 0.40 0.25
Overhead 0.10 0.20 0.15
Table 1. Production Costs Per Item (dollars)

Seasson
Product Summer Fall Winter Spring
A 4000 4500 4500 4000
B 2000 2600 2400 2200
C 5800 6200 6000 6000
Table 2. Amount Produced Per Quarter

The company would like to present at their stockholders’ meeting a single table showing the total costs for each
quarter in each of the three categories: raw materials, labor, and overhead.

Solution

The costs for the summer quarter, can be obtained from the Tables:

Raw materials: (0.10)(4000) + (0.30)(2000) + (0.15)(5800) = 1870

Labor: (0.30)(4000) + (0.40)(2000) + (0.25)(5800) = 3450

Overhead: (0.10)(4000) + (0.20)(2000) + (0.15)(5800) = 1670

The second column will represent the costs for the fall quarter:

Raw materials: (0.10)(4500) + (0.30)(2600) + (0.15)(6200) = 2160

Labor: (0.30)(4500) + (0.40)(2600) + (0.25)(6200) = 3940

Overhead: (0.10)(4500) + (0.20)(2600) + (0.15)(6200) = 1900

Following in this way, we can calculate the costs for the winter :

Raw materials: = 2070

Labor: = 3810

Overhead: = 1830
and spring quarter:

Raw materials: = 1960

Labor: = 3580

Overhead: = 1740

Now, consider the tables, given at the very beginning, as represented by the matrices

   
0.10 0.30 0.15 4000 4500 4500 4000
M =  0.30 0.40 0.25  P =  2000 2600 2400 2200 
0.10 0.20 0.15 5800 6200 6000 6000

If we form the product M P , then every column represents the costs for the summer, fall, winter, and spring
quarters

 
1870 2160 2070 1960
M P =  3450 3940 3810 3580 
1670 1900 1830 1740

On the other hand, he entries in the first row of M P represent the total cost of raw materials for each of the
four quarters. The entries in rows 2 and 3 represent the total cost for labor and overhead, respectively, for each
of the four quarters. The yearly expenses in each of the columns may be added to obtain the total production
costs for each quarter. Table 3 summarizes the total production costs.

Seasson
Summer Fall Winter Spring
Raw Materials 1870 2160 2070 1960
Labor 3450 3940 3810 3580
Raw Materials 1670 1900 1830 1740
Total Costs 6990 8000 7710 29980

Exercise 1 . A toy manufacturer makes toy airplanes, boats, and cars. Each toy is fabricated in a factory F1 in
Taiwan and then assembled in factory F2 in the U.S. The total cost of each product consists of the manufacturing
cost and the shipping cost. Then the costs at each factory (in $ US) can be described as

Manuf. Ship.
Costs Costs
 
0.32 0.40 Airplanes
F1 =  0.50 0.80  Boats
0.70 0.20 Cars

and
 Manuf. Ship.
Costs Costs
 
0.40 0.60 Airplanes
F2 =  0.50 0.50  Boats
1.30 0.20 Cars

Find a matrix that gives the total manufacturing and shipping costs for each product.
Warning: you need to use some practical reasoning here; do not mimic the previous example exactly !!!!!

3. Economic Models for Exchange of Goods.

Suppose that in a primitive society, the members of a community are engaged in three occupations: farming,
manufacturing of tools and utensils, and the weaving and sewing of clothing. Assume that initially the community
has no monetary system and that all goods and services are bartered. Let the three groups be denoted by F, M,
and C, respectively. Suppose that this directed graph indicates how the bartering system works in practice:

This figure indicates that the farmers keep half of their produce and give one quarter of their produce to the
manufacturers and on quarter to the clothing producers. The manufacturers divide the goods evenly among three
groups, one third goes to each (including themselves). The group producing clothes gives half of the clothes
too the farmers and divides the other half evenly between themselves and the manufacturers. The results are
summarized in the above table:

The first column of the table indicates the distribution of the goods produced by the farmers, the second column
indicates the distribution of the manufactured goods, and the third column indicates the distribution of the
clothing.

As the size of the community grows, the system of bartering becomes too cumbersome and, consequently, the
community decides to institute a monetary system of exchange. For this simple economic system, we assume
that there will be no accumulation of capital or debt and that the prices for each of the three types of goods
will reflect the values of the existing bartering system. The question is how to assign values to the three types
of goods that fairly represent the current bartering system.
Solution

This problem can be turned into a linear system using a model that was originally developed by the Nobel prize
winning economist Wassily Leontief.

For now, let x1 be the monetary value of the goods produced by the farmers, x2 be the value of the manufactured
goods, and x3 be the value of the clothing produced.

According to the first row of the table, the value of the goods received by the farmers amounts to half the value
of the farm goods produced, plus one-third the value of the manufactured products, and half the value of the
clothing goods. Thus the total value of the goods received by the farmers is 21 x1 + 13 x2 + 12 x3 . If the system is
fair, the total value of goods received by the farmers should equal x1 the total value of the farm goods produced.
Thus we have the linear equation

1 1 1
x1 + x2 + x3 = x1
2 3 2
Using the second row of the table and equating the value of the goods produced and received by the manufac-
turers, we obtain a second equation

1 1 1
x1 + x2 + x3 = x2
4 3 4
Finally, the third row of the table yields:

1 1 1
x1 + x2 + x3 = x3
4 3 4
These equations can be rewritten as a homogeneous system:

1
+ 13 x2 + 12 x3 = x1

 2 x1
1
4 x1 + 13 x2 + 14 x3 = x2
1
4 x1 + 13 x2 + 14 x3 = x3


The reduced row-echelon form of the augmented matrix for this system is

− 35
 
1 0 0
 0 −1 − 35 0 
0 0 0 0

We can find a parametric representation for the solution set of this system by letting x3 = t. Then we immediately
get x1 = 35 , x2 = α and x3 = β by back-substitution. It follows that the variables x1 , x2 , x3 should be assigned
values in the ratio.

x1 : x2 : x3 = 5 : 3 : 3

Consider the parallel with modern currency systems; it doesn’t matter what the actual units of money are,
just that one can find a fair system of exchange. This simple system is an example of the closed Leontief
input-output model. Leontief’s models are fundamental to our understanding of economic systems.
 Excersise 1 Determine the relative values of x1 , x2 , x3 if the distribution of goods is as described in this table:

F M C
1 1 1
F 3 3 3
1 1 1
M 3 2 6
1 1 1
C 3 6 2

4. Production Planning.

A manufacturer makes three different types of chemical products: A, B, and C. Each product must go through
two processing machines, X and Y . The products require the following times in machines X and Y :

(1) One ton of A requires 2 hours in machine X and 2 hours in machine Y .

(2) One ton of B requires 3 hours in machine X and 2 hours in machine Y .
(3) One ton of C requires 4 hours in machine X and 3 hours in machine Y .

Machine X is available 80 hours per week and machine Y is available 60 hours per week. Since management does
not want to keep the expensive machines X and Y idle, it would like to know how many tons of each product
to make so that the machines are fully utilized. It is assumed that the manufacturer can sell as much of each
product as is made.

Solution

To solve this problem, let x1 , x2 , x3 denote the number of tons of products A, B, and C, respectively, to be made.
The number of hours that machine X will be used is

2x1 + 3x2 + 4x3

which must equal 80, so we get the equation

2x1 + 3x2 + 4x3 = 80

Similarly, the number of hours machine Y will be used is

2x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 = 60

Mathematically, the problem is to find a solution set for the system of equations


2x1 + 3x2 + 4x3 = 80
2x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 = 60
Since we have 3 variables and only 2 equations, this system will have many (in fact, infinitely many) possible
solutions. The reduced row-echelon form of the augmented matrix for this system is

 
1 0 1/2 10
0 1 1 20

Thus, we have that x3 is a free variable then let x3 = t so that t is the number of tons of C that is produced.First,
notice that it is impossible (even nonsensical! ) to make a negative amount of anything.This indicates that the
smallest amount of C that can be made is 0. Now, since even when x1 , x2 are both 0, x3 cannot be over 20, it
is clear that we must have 0 ≤ t ≤ 20. Thus

Thus we see that all solutions are given by


 x1 = 20−t
2
x2 = 20 − t
x3 = t


where 0 ≤ t ≤ 20

For example, when t = 10, the original system is satisfied by

x1 = 5, x2 = 10, x3 = 10

and when t = 6, the original system is satisfied by

x1 = 7, x2 = 14, x3 = 6

Any such solution is as good as any other, and there are infinitely many of them. There is no best solution
unless additional information or restrictions are given.

Excersise 1 . An oil refinery produces low-sulphur and high-sulphur fuel. Each ton of lowsulfur fuel requires 5
minutes in the blending plant and 4 minutes in the refining plant; each ton of high-sulfur fuel requires 4 minutes
in the blending plant and 2 minutes in the refining plant. If the blending plant is available for 3 hours and the
refining plant is available for 2 hours, how many tons of each type of fuel should be manufactured so that the
plants are fully utilized?

Excersise 2 . A dietician is preparing a meal consisting of foods A, B, and C. The nutritional information for
these types of food is (in units per ounce of food):

A B C
Proteins 2 3 3
Fats 3 2 3
Carbohydrates 4 1 2

If the meal should provide exactly 25 units of protein, 24 units of fat, and 21 units of carbohydrate, how many
ounces of each type of food should be used?

Excersise 3 . An inheritance of $4, 000 is to be divided among three trusts, with the second trust receiving twice
as much as the first trust. The three trusts pay interest at the rates of 9%, 10%, and 6% annually, respectively,
and return a total in interest of $2210 at the end of the first year. How much was invested in each trust?
5. Chemistry. Application 1

It takes three different ingredients A, B, and C, to produce a certain chemical substance. A, B, and C have to be
dissolved in water separately before they interact to form the chemical. Suppose that the solution containing A
at 1.5g/cm3 combined with the solution containing A at 3.6g/cm3 combined with the solution containing C at
5.3g/cm3 makes 25.07g of the chemical. If the proportion for A, B, C in these solutions are changed to 2.5, 4.3,
and 2.4g/cm3 , respectively (while the volumes remain the same), then 22.36g of the chemical is produced.
Finally, if the proportions are 2.7, 5.5, and 3.2g/cm3 , respectively, then 28.14 g of the chemical is produced.
What are the volumes (in cubic centimeters) of the solutions containing A, B, and C

Solution

Let x, y, z be the corresponding volumes (in cubic centimeters) of the solutions containing A, B, and C. Then
1.5x is the mass of A in the first case, 3.6y is the mass of B, and 5.3z is the mass of C. Added together, the
three masses should give 25.07g. So

1.5x + 3.6y + 5.3z = 25.07

The same reasoning applies to the other two cases. This gives the linear system


 1.5x + 3.6y + 5.3z = 25.07
2.5x + 4.3y + 2.4z = 22.36
2.7x + 5.5y + 3.2z = 28.14


The augmented matrix of this system is

 
1.5 3.6 5.3 25.07
 2.5 4.3 2.4 22.36 
2.7 5.5 3.2 28.14

The reduced row-echelon form of the augmented matrix for this system is

 
1 0 0 1.5
 0 1 0 3.1 
0 0 1 2.2

and the solution is

x = 1.5, y = 3.2, z = 2.2

6. Chemistry. Application 2

Another typical application of linear systems to chemistry is balancing a chemical equation. The rationale behind
this is the Law of conservation of mass which states the following:

“mass is neither created nor destroyed in any chemical reaction. Therefore balancing of equations requires the
same number of atoms on both sides of a chemical reaction. The mass of all the reactants (the substances going
into a reaction) must equal the mass of the products (the substances produced by the reaction).”

As an example consider the following chemical equation

C2 H6 + O2 → CO2 + H2 O

Balance this chemical reaction.

Solution

Balancing this chemical reaction means finding values of x, y, z and t so that the number of atoms of each element
is the same on both sides of the equation:

xC2 H6 + yO2 → zCO2 + tH2 O

This gives the following linear system:


 2x = z
6x = 2t
2y = 2z + t


The augmented matrix of this system is

 
2 0 −1 0 0
 6 0 0 −2 0 
0 2 −2 −1 0

The reduced row-echelon form of the augmented matrix for this system is

 
1 0 0 −12/36 0
 0 1 0 −7/6 0 
0 0 1 −4/6 0

2 7 4
x= α, y= α, z = α, t=α
6 6 6

Since we are looking for whole values of the variables x, yz, and t, choose t = 6 and get x = 2, y = 7, and z = 4.
The balanced equation is then:

2C2 H6 + 7O2 → 4CO2 + 6H2 O