Exhibit 6.1 The Following Questions Pertain to the Problem, Formulation, and Spreadsheet

question 37

Essay

Exhibit 6.1
The following questions pertain to the problem, formulation, and spreadsheet implementation below.
A research director must pick a subset of research projects to fund over the next five years. He has five candidate projects, not all of which cover the entire five-year period. Although the director has limited funds in each of the next five years, he can carry over unspent research funds into the next year. Additionally, up to $30K can be carried out of the five-year planning period. The following table summarizes the projects and budget available to the research director. The following is the ILP formulation and a spreadsheet model for the problem.
-Refer to Exhibit 6.1. What values would you enter in the Analytic Solver Platform task pane for the above Excel spreadsheet?
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Objective Cell:
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Variables Cells:
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Constraints Cells:

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Definitions:

Treasury Bonds

Long-term, interest-bearing securities issued by the government that are considered a safe investment.

Relative Value Strategy

An investment strategy that seeks to identify and exploit differences in the price or rate of securities, often aiming to profit from discrepancies in relative valuation rather than absolute price movements.

On-The-Run Bonds

The most recent issue of a government bond, usually more liquid and yielding slightly less interest compared to older ('off-the-run') bonds.

Nearly Identical Duration

A characteristic of two or more financial instruments whose cash-flows occur over a similar time frame, making their sensitivity to interest rate changes similar.