My pills, which I buy 31 at a time, come in an airtight canister. Last month (December), I opened the canister 31 times, removing (and swallowing) one pill every day. The problem is that the last pill I took on December 31 was exposed to the air 31 times, which diminishes its potency. The December 1 pill was only exposed to air once. On average, the pills that I took were exposed to the air 16 times, calculated as (1 + 31)/2.

But I can do better in January, because now I have an empty canister!

On January 1, I could swallow one pill and transfer 15 to the empty canister. If I make no more transfers, the remaining 30 pills will be exposed an additional 8 times on average, i.e (15+1)/2, in addition to the once that they have already been exposed. Average time exposed for all 31 pills is (1 + 30*(8+1))/31 = 271/31 = 8.742. A significant improvement from 16! I feel healthier already!

I think that I can do better if I transfer pills between my two canisters more frequently. What is the best I can do? How?

I don't have time to share the details or even check my solution actually works right now but I found a recursive way for N pills.

Edited on November 20, 2015, 3:33 pm

Posted by Jer on 2015-11-20 14:12:58