In a transportation problem, the goal is to find the most cost-effective way to transport goods from multiple suppliers to multiple destinations, where the quantities of goods can vary. While the transportation problem deals with quantities and costs, the assignment problem focuses on matching tasks with agents efficiently.

The main difference between a transportation problem and an assignment problem lies in their objectives: a transportation problem focuses on optimizing the distribution of goods from multiple suppliers to multiple consumers while minimizing transportation costs, whereas an assignment problem involves assigning a set of tasks or resources to a set of agents in a way that minimizes total costs or maximizes total efficiency.

The main difference is that a transportation problem involves distributing goods from multiple suppliers to multiple consumers, while an assignment problem focuses on assigning tasks to resources, typically with one-to-one relationships