Irwin’s sells a particular model of fan, with most of the sales being made in thesummer months. Irwin’s makes a one-time purchase of the fans prior to eachsummer season at a cost of $40 each and sells each fan for $60. Any fans unsoldat the end of the summer season are marked down to $29 and sold in a special fallsale. Virtually all marked-down fans are sold. The following is the number of salesof fans during the past 10 summers: 30, 50, 30, 60, 10, 40, 30, 30, 20, 40.a. Estimate the mean and the variance of the demand for fans each summer.b. Assume that the demand for fans each summer follows a normal distribution,with mean and variance given by what you obtained in part (a). Determine theoptimal number of fans for Irwin’s to buy prior to each summer season.c. Based on the observed 10 values of the prior demand, construct an empiricalprobability distribution of summer demand and determine the optimal numberof fans for Irwin’s to buy based on the empirical distribution.d. Based on your results for parts (b) and (c), would you say that the normaldistribution provides an adequate approximation?

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter11: Simulation Models
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 47P
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Irwin’s sells a particular model of fan, with most of the sales being made in the
summer months. Irwin’s makes a one-time purchase of the fans prior to each
summer season at a cost of $40 each and sells each fan for $60. Any fans unsold
at the end of the summer season are marked down to $29 and sold in a special fall
sale. Virtually all marked-down fans are sold. The following is the number of sales
of fans during the past 10 summers: 30, 50, 30, 60, 10, 40, 30, 30, 20, 40.
a. Estimate the mean and the variance of the demand for fans each summer.
b. Assume that the demand for fans each summer follows a normal distribution,
with mean and variance given by what you obtained in part (a). Determine the
optimal number of fans for Irwin’s to buy prior to each summer season.
c. Based on the observed 10 values of the prior demand, construct an empirical
probability distribution of summer demand and determine the optimal number
of fans for Irwin’s to buy based on the empirical distribution.
d. Based on your results for parts (b) and (c), would you say that the normal
distribution provides an adequate approximation?

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