Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-38/3/b/solution

For a minimum-cost flow with bounds , the capacitated flow optimality conditions consist of primal feasibility and network dual potentials whose network reduced costs obey
For a zero-capacity edge both bounds coincide and no sign restriction is needed; all capacities here are positive. These are the bound form of complementary slackness. To derive necessity directly, construct the residual network: a possible increase has original cost and a possible decrease has reverse cost . An optimal flow cannot admit a negative-cost directed cycle, since a positive step around it preserves flow balance and lowers cost. If there is no such cycle, connect a new source by zero-cost edges to every vertex and let be shortest-path distances. They exist because no negative cycle is reachable. For every residual edge , . Taking makes every residual network reduced cost nonnegative, exactly the displayed sign conditions: both directions exist for an interior edge.
Conversely, for any other feasible flow , equal flow balances give
Each summand is nonnegative at a lower or upper bound, and zero at an interior edge. Hence the sign conditions suffice for optimality as well.
For the final flow, use in the order . All four tree edges have zero network reduced cost, while have costs . More explicitly, every feasible flow satisfies
Our flow attains equality. This gives a direct cost certificate of 220. The strict signs also force , at any optimum; flow balance then fixes all remaining edges, so this flow is unique.

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