Problem

An animal feed to be mixed from soybean meal and oats must contain at least 168lb of protein, 27lb of fat, and 14lb of mineral ash. Each sack of soybeans costs $21 and contains 70lb of protein, 9lb of fat, and 7lb of mineral ash. Each sack of oats costs $7 and contains 21lb of protein, 7lb of fat, and 1lb of mineral ash. How many sacks of each should be used to satisfy the minimum requirements at minimum cost?
What is the minimum cost?
(Round to the nearest cent as needed.)

Answer

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Answer

Final Answer: The minimum cost to satisfy the minimum requirements is approximately 51.28.

Steps

Step 1 :We denote the number of sacks of soybeans as x and the number of sacks of oats as y. The cost function to be minimized is 21x+7y.

Step 2 :We have the following constraints: 70x+21y168 for protein, 9x+7y27 for fat, and 7x+y14 for mineral ash.

Step 3 :We also have the constraints x0 and y0 since we can't have a negative number of sacks.

Step 4 :By solving this linear programming problem, we find that the optimal value of the cost function is approximately $51.28.

Step 5 :This means that the minimum cost to satisfy the minimum requirements is $51.28.

Step 6 :The values of x and y are approximately 2.02 and 1.26 respectively.

Step 7 :This means that approximately 2 sacks of soybeans and 1 sack of oats should be used to satisfy the minimum requirements at minimum cost.

Step 8 :Final Answer: The minimum cost to satisfy the minimum requirements is approximately 51.28.

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