Edexcel D2 2009 June — Question 1

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleD2 (Decision Mathematics 2)
Year2009
SessionJune
TopicPermutations & Arrangements
TypeOptimization assignment problems

  1. A company, Kleenitquick, has developed a new stain remover. To promote sales, three salespersons, Jess, Matt and Rachel, will be assigned to three of four department stores \(1,2,3\) and 4 , to demonstrate the stain remover. Each salesperson can only be assigned to one department store.
The table below shows the cost, in pounds, of assigning each salesperson to each department store.
\(\mathbf { 1 }\)\(\mathbf { 2 }\)\(\mathbf { 3 }\)\(\mathbf { 4 }\)
Jess15111412
Matt1381713
Rachel1491315
  1. Explain why a dummy row needs to be added to the table.
  2. Complete Table 1 in the answer book.
  3. Reducing rows first, use the Hungarian algorithm to obtain an allocation that minimises the cost of assigning salespersons to department stores. You must make your method clear and show the table after each iteration.
  4. Find the minimum cost.