Article
How the Oldest Recorded Multiple Facility Location Problem was Solved
Location Science
(1995)
Abstract
During the Israelites' wanderings in the Sinai Desert, the Lord instructed them that upon settling their new homeland they were to set aside three cities of refuge for unintentional murderers (i.e. the murder is committed without intent). Although the Bible states the purpose of these cities, the Lord did not specify their exact locations. After the Israelites conquered the land, the Bible lists the three cities that Joshua selected. No rationale for Joshua's selections is given. In this paper we apply multiple facility location methodology to the city of refuge problem, and show that using an appropriate objective function and population distribution, Joshua's selections were optimal.
Keywords
- Facility location,
- multiple facility,
- optimization,
- Bible,
- City of Refuge
Disciplines
Publication Date
May, 1995
DOI
10.1016/0966-8349(95)00001-X
Citation Information
Yonah Wilamowsky, Sheldon Epstein and Bernard Dickman. "How the Oldest Recorded Multiple Facility Location Problem was Solved" Location Science Vol. 3 Iss. 1 (1995) p. 55 - 60 ISSN: 0966-8349 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/yonah-wilamowsky/8/