Numerical semigroups in a problem about cost-effective transport

Abstract

AbstractLet ${{\mathbb{N}}}$ be the set of nonnegative integers. A problem about how to transport profitably an organized group of persons leads us to study the set T formed by the integers n such that the system of inequalities, with nonnegative integer coefficients,$a_{1}x_{1}+\cdots+a_{p}x_{p}<n<b_{1}x_{1}+\cdots+b_{p}x_{p}$has at least one solution in ${{\mathbb{N}}^{p}}$. We will see that ${T\cup\{0\}}$ is a numerical semigroup. Moreover, we will show that a numerical semigroup S can be obtained in this way if and only if ${\{a+b-1,a+b+1\}\subseteq S}$, for all ${a,b\in S\setminus\{0\}}$. In addition, we will demonstrate that such numerical semigroups form a Frobenius variety and we will study this variety. Finally, we show an algorithmic process in order to compute T.