Assignment 6

Chapter 7 – Network Flow Models

Problem 1. From 1840 to 1850, more than 12,000 pioneers migrated west in wagon trains. It was
typically about a 2,000-mile journey, and pioneers averaged about 10 miles per day. One pioneer family,
the Smiths, is planning to join a wagon train traveling west to Oregon. The destination is Fort Vancouver,
which is near present-day Portland. The family plans to join a wagon train in St. Louis. However, the
trains follow various trails west that are mostly determined by the location of forts and trading posts
along the way. The Smith family wants to choose a wagon train that will get them to Oregon in the
shortest amount of time. They have checked around with the different wagon train leaders plus
immigrants, soldiers, fur traders, and scouts who have previously made the trip west, and from the
information they have gathered, they have developed the following network, with estimated times (in
days) along each branch:

a. Determine the shortest route for the Smiths from St. Louis to Ft. Vancouver.
b. Another family, the Steins, is leaving from Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Determine the shortest route for
the Steins to Ft. Vancouver, Oregon.

Problem 2. Tech wants to develop an area network that will connect its server at its computer and
satellite center with the main campus buildings to improve Internet service. The cable will be laid
primarily through existing electrical tunnels, although some cable will have to be buried underground.
The following network shows the possible cable connections between the computer center at node 1
and the various buildings, with the distances, in feet, along the branches:
Determine a minimal spanning tree network that will connect all the buildings and indicate the total
amount of cable that will be needed to do so.

Problem 3. A manufacturing company produces different variations of a product at different work

centers in its plant on a daily basis. Following is a network showing the various work centers in the plant,
the daily capacities at each work center, and the flow of the partially completed products between work
centers. Node 1 represents the point where raw materials enter the process, and node 15 is the
packaging and distribution center.

Determine the maximum number of units that can be completed each day and the number of units
processed at each work center.