Thread: Need a solution to a number problem.

Hi All,
Not sure I am in the right place.
The problem I have is that I need to group numbers 1 through 24 into 12 groups of 4 then change each combination of 4 numbers so as they do not meet each other again.
As an example once 1,2,3 & 4 have been grouped together they can then not appear together again in the same group.

Any help or solution suggestions would be appreciated.

Rob

Originally Posted by bowlrig

Hi All,
Not sure I am in the right place.
The problem I have is that I need to group numbers 1 through 24 into 12 groups of 4 then change each combination of 4 numbers so as they do not meet each other again.
As an example once 1,2,3 & 4 have been grouped together they can then not appear together again in the same group.

It is impossible to "group numbers 1 through 24 into 12 groups of 4" unless some numbers appear in more than one group. Is that what you mean? If so, how do you rearrange the groups?

Sorry, I should have re-read before I posted.
It should read "group numbers 1 through 24 into 6 groups of 4"

Rob

Can anyone recommend someone on here to help me solve this?

Rob

Originally Posted by bowlrig

Sorry, I should have re-read before I posted.
It should read "group numbers 1 through 24 into 6 groups of 4"

The problem I have is that I need to group numbers 1 through 24 into 6 groups of 4 then change each combination of 4 numbers so as they do not meet each other again.
As an example once 1,2,3 & 4 have been grouped together they can then not appear together again in the same group.

6 groups of 4 ...

1, 2, 3, 4

5, 6, 7, 8

9, 10, 11, 12

and so on ...


then, so they don't meet again ...

1, 5, 9, 13

2, 6, 10, 14

3, 7, 11, 15

and so on ...

Hi Skeeter,
That is the concept but I am trying to get all numbers to be together at least once.

Hard to know what you mean...
What do you expect to see using 1 to 9, 3 groups of 3?
List them; shouldn't be too many...

Originally Posted by bowlrig

That is the concept but I am trying to get all numbers to be together at least once.

Put another way, you have 24 people and 6 cars. Each day, the people pick a car to ride in that day.
This repeats as long as possible (a week, for example) such that no 2 people share a car on 2 different days.

Is this the kind of problem you are trying to solve?

Just one observation.
Person number 1 has 23 different people he could potentially share a car with. Each day, he shares a car with three (four people per car).
Since 23 is not divisible by 3, he can't share a car with everyone else exactly once.