Dynamic Programming Solutions 1 1) The owner of a chain of three grocery stores has purchased 5 crates of fresh strawberries. The estimated probability distribution of potential sales of the strawberries before spoilage differs among the three stores. Therefore, the owner wants to know how to allocate 5 crates to the three stores to maximize expected profit. For administrative reasons, the owner does not wish to split crates between stores. However, he is willing to distribute no crates to any of his stores. The following table gives estimated expected profit at each store when it is allocated various numbers of crates. Soln:

Dynamic Programming Solutions 1 2) A college student has 7 days remaining before final examinations begin in her four courses and she wants to allocate this study time as effectively as possible. She needs at least 1 day on each course, and she likes to concentrate on just one course each day, so she wants to allocate 1, 2, 3, or 4 days to each course. Having recently taken an O.R. course, she decides to use dynamic programming to make the allocations so as to maximize the total grade points. Soln:

Dynamic Programming Solutions 1 3) Consider an electronic system consisting of four components, each of which must work for the system to function. The reliability of the system can be improved by installing several parallel units in one or more components. The following table gives the probability that the respective components will function if they consist of one, two, or three parallel units: The probability that the system will function is the product of the probabilities that the respective components will function. The cost (in $100’s) of installing 1, 2, or 3 parallel units in the respective components is given by the following table: (total budget = $1,000). Soln: