A computer start-up named Pear is considering entering the U.S. market with what they believe to be a smaller and faster computer than some of the existing products on the market. They want to get a feel for whether or not customers would be willing to switch from some of the existing bigger brands to consider their product. They want to collect a reasonable sample from across the U.S. representative of all age brackets. They have split the U.S. into 2 regions: East and West. They want to at least 65% of their sample to cover the East and no fewer than 25% of the West. They also have divided the age groups into 3 categories: 18-35, 36-69, and 70 and up. They want at least 50% of their sample to be between 18-35 and at least 40% to be between 36-69. The costs per person surveyed is given in the table below:
Region 18-35 36-69 70 and up
East $2.50 $2.00 $1.50
West $3.50 $3.00 $2.00
Assume that exactly 1,000 people are to be surveyed. The problem is for Pear Company to decide how many people to survey from each age bracket within each region in order to minimize costs while meeting requirements. Find the optimal solution and minimum cost. (multiple solutions exist)