A circular centrifuge has 30 slots spaced evenly around its circumference. Thirty samples need to be spun in the centrifuge, their masses being 1g, 2g, 3g, . . . 29g, 30g. How can all the samples be placed in the centrifuge at once while keeping it balanced properly?
For what other values of N is it possible to balance an N slot centrifuge with samples weighing 1g, 2g, 3g, . . . (N-1)g, Ng?
Because the sum of all the samples equals to 465, it's clear we have to divide the cicumference into three 12-slot parts, and each slot has to get 155g of samples. Knowing that, we put them in this order:
1st part - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 = 155g
2nd part - 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29 = 155g
3rd part - 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28 = 155g
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Posted by Vuksa
on 2006-04-05 11:12:57 |