The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation Systems (NASDAQ) is a network system in which quotation information in over-the-counter operations is collected. Users of the system can receive, in a matter of seconds, buy and sell prices and the exact bid and ask price of each market maker that deals in a particular security. There are 1700 terminals in 1000 locations in almost 400 cities. The central processing center is in Trumbull, Conn., with concentration facilities in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco. On this particular day, the market is quiet, so there are only a few terminals being used. The information they have has to be sent to one of the main processing facilities. The following table gives terminals (supply centers), processing facilities (demand centers), and the time that it takes to transfer a message

a) Solve, using the minimum matrix method to find an initial feasible solution.

 b) Are there alternative optimal solutions?

Terminals Cleveland Boston Houston Los Angeles Washington, D.C. Demand Trumbull |N.Y. Atlanta Chicago San Fran. 6 6 9 4 10 3 2 7 5 12 8 7 5 6 4 11 5 2 4 5 11 120 75 85 12 3 80 9 4 50 Supply 45 90 95 75 105