1. The more sources and destinations there are for a transportation problem, the smaller the percentage of all cells that will be used in the optimal solution. Explain.
2. All of the transportation examples appear to apply to long distances. Is it possible for the transportation model to apply on a much smaller scale, for example, within the departments of a store or the offices of a building? Discuss.
3. Develop a northeast -corner rule and explain how it would work. Set up an initial solution for the Arizona Plumbing problem analyzed in Example C1.
Example C1
THE NORTHWEST-CORNER RULE Arizona Plumbing wants to use the northwest-corner rule to find an initial solution to its problem.