Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!mather From: mather@uicsl.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Supermarket Flames! - (nf) Message-ID: <5543@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Sat, 11-Feb-84 22:44:34 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.5543 Posted: Sat Feb 11 22:44:34 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 15-Feb-84 03:53:58 EST Lines: 28 #R:ihu1g:-17000:uicsl:4300147:000:1142 uicsl!mather Feb 10 11:34:00 1984 What would be wrong with a queue structure similar to that of the post office ? Single stream, multi-processor system. That is, have one long line with an n-way branch to the cashiers. The next available cashier grabs the next item off the queue (me!) It would avoid the problem of a cashier getting off break, walking up to a closed register and saying, "I can take people over here" and having a mad dash (from the tails of the other queues) to that register. I realize that this ignores the problem of those that only want to buy a bag of potato chips and must have to endure a long line, but isn't first-come-first-serve (FIFO) THE AMERICAN WAY? When I'm at the post office, I really like that system. It seems fairer. What is the probability distribution for 'response time' for this model, given that the input to the queue is Poisson and the cashiers handle each queue item (the people) with different Poission rates lambda-sub-i ? B.C.Mather (I always get the slow line!) Le Maitre ...!uiucdcs!uicsl!mather I wonder if this 'long queue' would be shaped like the cattle stalls that the adventure parks (Disney) have?