Northwest Corner Method Calculator

About this calculator

The northwest corner method is a simple algorithm for generating an initial basic feasible solution to a transportation problem — the classic operations research task of shipping goods from multiple supply points to multiple demand points at minimum total cost. Starting at the top-left ("northwest") cell of the cost table, the method allocates as much as possible to that cell, then moves right or down depending on whether supply or demand was exhausted first, repeating until all supply and demand is assigned.

This calculator applies the rule to a balanced 2×2 transportation problem, returning the allocation and its total cost. While the northwest corner method doesn't account for cost at all — it's later improved with methods like Vogel's approximation or the stepping-stone method — it's the standard starting point taught in operations research and logistics courses for understanding how transportation problems are set up and solved, and it's still used in practice as a fast first feasible allocation before optimization.