The formal process continues until no deficiencies remain. However since there is no specification, explicit or implicit, that xij > 0 or that xij is integral, the resulting parametric solution is a general solution with no restrictions on the xij. The more restricted form of the problem, as stated above, requires a solution with integral xij ! 0. To obtain a solution for such a restricted problem from a general solution in which one or more xi่j may be negative, it is appropriate to introduce a transformation to eliminate the negative solution. Such a transformation is called a negative solution transformation.