Re:Counterintuitive problem: People in a room keep giving do...
by jordigh on Sunday July 09, 2017 @11:39AM
(#14730209)
I guess what sounds authoritative is that I'm using jargon while trying to explain the jargon at the same time, as if I knew what I was talking about. I've since edited my comment. I know it's stars and bars, but I keep messing up the count. Anyway, it's a finite amount, it's not huge, and your count is wrong too by a sister comment. :-)
Re:Counterintuitive problem: People in a room keep giving do...
by gragas on Sunday July 09, 2017 @11:44AM
(#14730246)
I agree with your point. :-)
Why is my solution incorrect, though?
* Oh, I see why my solution is wrong. It's never the case that one person has all the money. I should take some of my own advice.
Not true. The problem is in one-to-one correspondence with the non-negative solutions to
a + b + c + d + e = 25
which is in one-to-one correspondence with the positive solutions to
a + b + c + d + e = 30
which is a simple counting problem---(29 choose 4) = 23751.
In my opinion, you should really try to prove your math to yourself before answering with such an authoritative tone.