For each row and each column that are still considered as programmable source or absorption locations, we have to define the value describing its difference parameter. The difference parameter is defined as the difference between costs of components (cij) having the smallest and the-second-smallest unit costs remaining in these rows or columns. (If two or more matrix elements have the same smallest value of cij, then the differency parameter is 0.) In the next step, let us define the row or column that can be characterised by the highest difference parameter, and then from the selected row/column we choose the elements that have the smallest unit costs. (If there are more rows/columns that have the largest difference, or if there are more elements that have the smallest unit costs, the programmed variable can be selected arbitrarily – Hillier and Lieberman 2001a). The initial form of the table is presented in Table 36. The main numbers of the cells indicated by the large-sized characters are the decision variables (xij), while the unit cost values (cij) are in the upper right index. The difference parameters are in the last row and in the last column (these refer to the difference between the two smallest numbers in the given row/column).