You are the manager of Neutral Milk Motel $($a band so Hipster that you$$ve probably never heard of it$),$ which, incidentally, is a wonderful use of your Daniels MS in Business Analytics Degree! You are helping the band plan their $2016$Southern Comfort$$ tour, where they$$re going to hit the following cities:

Dallas

Houston

San Antonio

Oklahoma City

Little Rock

Shreveport

New Orleans

Memphis

Birmingham

The band doesn$$t like time on the road, and they are delighted to discover that you are a trained analyst with the skills necessary to find the most efficient route that hits every city exactly once, with the exception of the starting city, where they will fly in and out of$.($As much as they hate the road, they are willing to make the extra leg of the trip in order to save on air fare.$)$

Build the distance matrix that connects each destination with every other one. $($Feel free to work in teams to accomplish this as a class.$)$

Find the shortest trips that hit every city exactly once, but that start and end in the same city, and calculate the trip lengths.

Present the solution that minimizes the miles driven, but include a decision for the start$/$end city.

How many possible routes are there to choose from?