Application of R Programming in Solution and Sensitivity Analysis of Diet Problem of Indian Men

Diet problem is an application of Linear programming problem (LPP). Linear programming is a technique of Operations Research for determining an optimum schedule of interdependent activities in view of the available resources. The word programming means determining the plan of action from amongst several alternatives and the word linear refers to the fact that the relationships involved are linear. The various nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in different food items like jawar, rice, milk, beetroot, banana, sesame seeds, etc. are helpful for maintenance, growth, reproduction and health of human beings. R is a widely used programming language and freely available software for statistical computing. This paper is the study of determining the optimum solution and analyzing its sensitivity for diet problem of sedentary and moderate working men in India. We solved this problem by using R programming. In this paper the various food items are taken as decision variables and constraints are designed corresponding to different nutrients. In the construction of constraints we have assumed that any intake of more than the minimum requirement of nutrients is not harmful to the human body. Here the objective is to find the optimum solution that is to find the quantity of food items that should be consumed to minimize the cost of diet which will fulfil the minimum requirement of nutrients for these two types of men.