Riley owns two firms that produce widgets. Each firm produces identical products, and each has a production function given by f(L, K) = VLK. The firms differ in the amount of capital equipment each has in the short run. Suppose that firm I has K, = 36, firm 2 has K2 = 144, and the prices of both inputs are equal to 1. (a) If Riley wishes to minimize short-run total costs of production, how should output be allocated between the two firms? (b) Given that output is optimally allocated between the two firms, calculate Riley's short-run total cost function