A hospital dietitian prepares breakfast menus every morning for the hospital patients. Part of the dietitian’s responsibility is to make sure that minimum daily requirements for vitamins A and B are met. At the same time, the cost of the menus must be kept as low as possible. The main breakfast staples providing vitamins A and B are eggs, bacon, and cereal. The vitamin requirements and vitamin contributions for each staple follow:

Vitamin Contributions Vitamin mg/Egg mg/Bacon Strip mg/Cereal Cup Minimum Daily Requirements A 2 4 1 16 B 3 2 1 12 An egg costs $0.04, a bacon strip costs $0.03, and a cup of cereal costs $0.02. The dietitian wants to know how much of each staple to serve per order to meet the minimum daily vitamin requirements while minimizing total cost.

a. Formulate a linear programming model for this problem.

b. Solve the model by using the computer. LO.1