Consider the following statements : (a) Assignment problem can be used to…
2016
Consider the following statements :
(a) Assignment problem can be used to minimize the cost.
(b) Assignment problem is a special case of transportation problem.
(c) Assignment problem requires that only one activity be assigned to each resource.
Which of the following options is correct ?
- A.
(a) and (b) only
- B.
(a) and (c) only
- C.
(b) and (c) only
- D.
(a), (b) and (c)
Attempted by 25 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Answer: All three statements are correct.
Statement (a): Assignment problem can be used to minimize the cost. True. The standard assignment formulation assigns tasks to agents to minimize the total cost (or equivalently to maximize total benefit). Algorithms like the Hungarian method solve this minimization.
Statement (b): Assignment problem is a special case of transportation problem. True. If you model the transportation problem with supplies and demands all equal to one, it becomes the assignment problem. This is why techniques and formulations for transportation problems apply to assignments.
Statement (c): Assignment problem requires that only one activity be assigned to each resource. True. The canonical assignment problem enforces one-to-one matching: each resource is assigned to exactly one activity and each activity to exactly one resource.