Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Semester II

Descriptive Practice Question Paper

MB0048 Operations Research 4 Credits
Book ID: B1631
Set 1
Q. No

Question

Marks

The basic characteristic feature of Operations Research is that it employs

1.

mathematical representations or models to analyse problems. Discuss the

methodology of Operations Research.

10 Marks

Refer Unit 1
a. Linear Programming is most a widely used technique for large number of
applications in business industry as well as in various other fields. Explain in
brief the steps involved in linear programming problem formulation.
b. A paper mill produces two grades of paper viz., X and Y. Because of raw
material restrictions, it cannot produce more than 400 tons of grade X paper and
2.

300 tons of grade Y paper in a week. There are 160 production hours in a week. It

10 Marks

requires 0.20 and 0.40 hours to produce a ton of grade X and Y papers. The mill
earns a profit of Rs. 200 and Rs. 500 per ton of grade X and Y paper respectively.
Formulate this as Linear Programming model by setting appropriate objective
function and constraints.
Refer Unit 2
Explain the steps involved in finding Initial Basic Feasible solution by the
following methods:
3

a. North West Corner Rule method

b. Matrix minima method or least cost method

10 Marks

c. Vogels approximation method

Refer Unit 6
4.

10 Marks
Six Operators are to be assigned to five jobs with the cost of assignment in Rs.
given in the matrix below. Determine the optimal assignment. Which operator
will have no assignment?

Operators
1
2
3
4
5
6

1
6
2
7
6
9
4

2
2
5
8
2
3
7

Jobs
3
5
8
6
3
8
4

4
2
7
9
4
9
6

5
6
7
8
5
7
8

Refer Unit 7
(Hint: Introduce a dummy column (fictitious job 6) to make the square matrix with zero cost for
the dummy column)

Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Semester II

Descriptive Practice Question Paper
MB0048 Operations Research 4 Credits
Book ID: B1631
Set 2

Q.
No

Question

Marks

a. Explain the Monte Carlo Simulation.

1.

b. A Company produces 150 cars. But the production rate varies with the
distribution.
Production Rate

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

Probability
0.05 0.10
0.15
0.20
0.30
0.15
0.05
10 Marks
At present the track will hold 150 cars. Using the following random numbers
determine the average number of cars waiting for shipment in the company and
average number of empty space in the truck. Random Numbers : 82, 54, 50, 96, 85,
34, 30, 02, 64, 47.
Refer Unit 12/13
A Service store employs one cashier at its counter. 9 customers arrive on an average
every 5 min while the cashier can serve 10 customers in 5 min. Assuming Poisson
distribution for arrival rate and exponential distribution for service rate. Find
2.

a. Average number of customers in the system

10 Marks

b. Average number of customers in the queue

c. Average time a customer spends in a system
d. Average time a customer waits before being served.

Refer Unit 10
A Game refers to a situation of conflict and competition in which two or more
competitors are involved in decision making in anticipation of certain outcome.
Define the following with respect to games:
i.

Pay-off matrix

ii.

Strategy

iii.

Two- person zero-sum game

iv.

Saddle point

b. Find the saddle point of the following game and state the optimum strategies for
players A and B.
B

1
2
3
4

1
9
6
2
5

2
3
5
4
6

3
1
4
4
2

4
8
6
3
2

5
0
7
8
1

10 Marks

Refer Unit 15
a. What are the differences between PERT and CPM?
b. A project has eleven activities whose duration is given in the following table:

Acti

0-1

vity
Duration

1-2
2

1-3
8

2-4
10

2-5
6

3-4
3

3-6

4-7

5-7

6-7

7-8

(days)

i. Draw the
network
ii. Determine total and free float
iii. Identify the critical activities and critical path.
Refer Unit 14

10 Marks