Picking marbles











up vote
7
down vote

favorite
2













We have 15 urns each of them having a different number of marbles, from 1 to 15. We start by picking the same number of marbles from each of the urns we choose. We repeat the process until we have picked all marbles. What is the minimum number of days we can finish picking all marbles? Just to clarify that it is not necessary to pick marbles from EVERY urn.




I don't think I can make it in less than 5 moves (start by picking 6, then 4, then 3, then 2 and 1) but I am fairly sure it can be done in 4 or maybe less.



Any ideas?










share|cite|improve this question
























  • What do you mean by picking 6?
    – Akash Roy
    12 hours ago















up vote
7
down vote

favorite
2













We have 15 urns each of them having a different number of marbles, from 1 to 15. We start by picking the same number of marbles from each of the urns we choose. We repeat the process until we have picked all marbles. What is the minimum number of days we can finish picking all marbles? Just to clarify that it is not necessary to pick marbles from EVERY urn.




I don't think I can make it in less than 5 moves (start by picking 6, then 4, then 3, then 2 and 1) but I am fairly sure it can be done in 4 or maybe less.



Any ideas?










share|cite|improve this question
























  • What do you mean by picking 6?
    – Akash Roy
    12 hours ago













up vote
7
down vote

favorite
2









up vote
7
down vote

favorite
2






2






We have 15 urns each of them having a different number of marbles, from 1 to 15. We start by picking the same number of marbles from each of the urns we choose. We repeat the process until we have picked all marbles. What is the minimum number of days we can finish picking all marbles? Just to clarify that it is not necessary to pick marbles from EVERY urn.




I don't think I can make it in less than 5 moves (start by picking 6, then 4, then 3, then 2 and 1) but I am fairly sure it can be done in 4 or maybe less.



Any ideas?










share|cite|improve this question
















We have 15 urns each of them having a different number of marbles, from 1 to 15. We start by picking the same number of marbles from each of the urns we choose. We repeat the process until we have picked all marbles. What is the minimum number of days we can finish picking all marbles? Just to clarify that it is not necessary to pick marbles from EVERY urn.




I don't think I can make it in less than 5 moves (start by picking 6, then 4, then 3, then 2 and 1) but I am fairly sure it can be done in 4 or maybe less.



Any ideas?







combinatorics






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited 12 hours ago

























asked 13 hours ago









Reyansh Laghari

1365




1365












  • What do you mean by picking 6?
    – Akash Roy
    12 hours ago


















  • What do you mean by picking 6?
    – Akash Roy
    12 hours ago
















What do you mean by picking 6?
– Akash Roy
12 hours ago




What do you mean by picking 6?
– Akash Roy
12 hours ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
4
down vote



accepted










You can look at your urns as an array of 4 bit integers:
$0001_b$
$0010_b$
$0011_b$

...
$1111_b$



On every step you can set one bit to $0$ on every integer for which it isn't already 0. There are 4 bits so you can do it in 4 steps. If we go back to decimal, you're removing 8, then 4, then 2, then 1.



In fact we can also prove that $n$ is the minimum number of steps for $n$-digit urns through a recursion on the number of digits.






share|cite|improve this answer






























    up vote
    3
    down vote













    It is possible in 4 days:



    First day you reduce the number of balls by 8 in urns with at least 8 balls. So now each urn has at most 7 balls.



    Second day you reduce the number of balls by 4 in urns with at least 4 balls. So now each urn has at most 3 balls.



    Third day you reduce the number of balls by 2 in urns with at least 2 balls. So now each urn has at most 1 ball.



    Last day you took balls from all the nonemty urns.






    share|cite|improve this answer





















      Your Answer





      StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
      return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
      StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
      StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
      });
      });
      }, "mathjax-editing");

      StackExchange.ready(function() {
      var channelOptions = {
      tags: "".split(" "),
      id: "69"
      };
      initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

      StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
      // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
      if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
      StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
      createEditor();
      });
      }
      else {
      createEditor();
      }
      });

      function createEditor() {
      StackExchange.prepareEditor({
      heartbeatType: 'answer',
      convertImagesToLinks: true,
      noModals: true,
      showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
      reputationToPostImages: 10,
      bindNavPrevention: true,
      postfix: "",
      imageUploader: {
      brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
      contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
      allowUrls: true
      },
      noCode: true, onDemand: true,
      discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
      ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
      });


      }
      });














       

      draft saved


      draft discarded


















      StackExchange.ready(
      function () {
      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3015813%2fpicking-marbles%23new-answer', 'question_page');
      }
      );

      Post as a guest















      Required, but never shown

























      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes








      2 Answers
      2






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes








      up vote
      4
      down vote



      accepted










      You can look at your urns as an array of 4 bit integers:
      $0001_b$
      $0010_b$
      $0011_b$

      ...
      $1111_b$



      On every step you can set one bit to $0$ on every integer for which it isn't already 0. There are 4 bits so you can do it in 4 steps. If we go back to decimal, you're removing 8, then 4, then 2, then 1.



      In fact we can also prove that $n$ is the minimum number of steps for $n$-digit urns through a recursion on the number of digits.






      share|cite|improve this answer



























        up vote
        4
        down vote



        accepted










        You can look at your urns as an array of 4 bit integers:
        $0001_b$
        $0010_b$
        $0011_b$

        ...
        $1111_b$



        On every step you can set one bit to $0$ on every integer for which it isn't already 0. There are 4 bits so you can do it in 4 steps. If we go back to decimal, you're removing 8, then 4, then 2, then 1.



        In fact we can also prove that $n$ is the minimum number of steps for $n$-digit urns through a recursion on the number of digits.






        share|cite|improve this answer

























          up vote
          4
          down vote



          accepted







          up vote
          4
          down vote



          accepted






          You can look at your urns as an array of 4 bit integers:
          $0001_b$
          $0010_b$
          $0011_b$

          ...
          $1111_b$



          On every step you can set one bit to $0$ on every integer for which it isn't already 0. There are 4 bits so you can do it in 4 steps. If we go back to decimal, you're removing 8, then 4, then 2, then 1.



          In fact we can also prove that $n$ is the minimum number of steps for $n$-digit urns through a recursion on the number of digits.






          share|cite|improve this answer














          You can look at your urns as an array of 4 bit integers:
          $0001_b$
          $0010_b$
          $0011_b$

          ...
          $1111_b$



          On every step you can set one bit to $0$ on every integer for which it isn't already 0. There are 4 bits so you can do it in 4 steps. If we go back to decimal, you're removing 8, then 4, then 2, then 1.



          In fact we can also prove that $n$ is the minimum number of steps for $n$-digit urns through a recursion on the number of digits.







          share|cite|improve this answer














          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer








          edited 11 hours ago

























          answered 11 hours ago









          Rchn

          46515




          46515






















              up vote
              3
              down vote













              It is possible in 4 days:



              First day you reduce the number of balls by 8 in urns with at least 8 balls. So now each urn has at most 7 balls.



              Second day you reduce the number of balls by 4 in urns with at least 4 balls. So now each urn has at most 3 balls.



              Third day you reduce the number of balls by 2 in urns with at least 2 balls. So now each urn has at most 1 ball.



              Last day you took balls from all the nonemty urns.






              share|cite|improve this answer

























                up vote
                3
                down vote













                It is possible in 4 days:



                First day you reduce the number of balls by 8 in urns with at least 8 balls. So now each urn has at most 7 balls.



                Second day you reduce the number of balls by 4 in urns with at least 4 balls. So now each urn has at most 3 balls.



                Third day you reduce the number of balls by 2 in urns with at least 2 balls. So now each urn has at most 1 ball.



                Last day you took balls from all the nonemty urns.






                share|cite|improve this answer























                  up vote
                  3
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  3
                  down vote









                  It is possible in 4 days:



                  First day you reduce the number of balls by 8 in urns with at least 8 balls. So now each urn has at most 7 balls.



                  Second day you reduce the number of balls by 4 in urns with at least 4 balls. So now each urn has at most 3 balls.



                  Third day you reduce the number of balls by 2 in urns with at least 2 balls. So now each urn has at most 1 ball.



                  Last day you took balls from all the nonemty urns.






                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  It is possible in 4 days:



                  First day you reduce the number of balls by 8 in urns with at least 8 balls. So now each urn has at most 7 balls.



                  Second day you reduce the number of balls by 4 in urns with at least 4 balls. So now each urn has at most 3 balls.



                  Third day you reduce the number of balls by 2 in urns with at least 2 balls. So now each urn has at most 1 ball.



                  Last day you took balls from all the nonemty urns.







                  share|cite|improve this answer












                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer










                  answered 11 hours ago









                  greedoid

                  34.8k114489




                  34.8k114489






























                       

                      draft saved


                      draft discarded



















































                       


                      draft saved


                      draft discarded














                      StackExchange.ready(
                      function () {
                      StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3015813%2fpicking-marbles%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                      }
                      );

                      Post as a guest















                      Required, but never shown





















































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown

































                      Required, but never shown














                      Required, but never shown












                      Required, but never shown







                      Required, but never shown







                      Popular posts from this blog

                      Entries order in /etc/network/interfaces

                      新発田市

                      Grub takes very long (several minutes) to open Menu (in Multi-Boot-System)