Question

How would I define the decision variables and use them to list the linear program?

Answer 1

The variable that decision maker will determine in order to solve the problem in the linear programming is called decision variable. This requires assigning the best or optimized value to each of the variables with optimization method.

These variables are represented in an algebraic notation such as X₁ , X₂,... X_n . n is the number of decision variable and X_i is used to represent its name.

Assigning the value to each of the variables in the problem is termed as a solution.

The objective function of linear programming can be represented as-

y= a₁x₁ + a₂x₂ + a₃x₃ + ..... a_n x_n  = _{$\sum_{i=1}^{n}$}   a_i x_i

There can be maximal or minimal criteria selection. Whereas, a_i is the coefficient of decision variable of its ithposition.

Hope this will be helpful in understanding.