Since an assignment problem can be posed in the form of a single matrix, I am wandering if numpy has a function to solve such a matrix. So far I have found none. Maybe one of you guys know if numpy/scipy has an assignment-problem-solve function?
Edit: In the meanwhile I have found a python (not numpy/scipy) implementation at http://www.clapper.org/software/python/munkres/. Still I suppose a numpy/scipy implementation could be much faster, right?
No, NumPy contains no such function. Combinatorial optimization is outside of NumPy's scope. It may be possible to do it with one of the optimizers in scipy.optimize but I have a feeling that the constraints may not be of the right form.
NetworkX probably also includes algorithms for assignment problems.
There is an implementation of the Munkres' algorithm as a python extension module which has numpy support. I've used it successfully on my old laptop. However, it does not work on my new machine - I assume there is a problem with "new" numpy versions (or 64bit arch).