The 97 rational numbers 49/1, 49/2, 49/3, ..., 49/97 are written on a blackboard.
Two of the above numbers X and Y are chosen and replaced by X*Y-X-Y+1.
The procedure is repeated until a single number Z(say) remains on the board.
Determine the possible values of Z.
(In reply to
cardinality of solution set by Charlie)
The sequence is Sloane's A001147, Double factorial of odd numbers:
a(n) is the number of distinct products of n+1 variables with commutative, nonassociative multiplication. - Andrew Walters (awalters3(AT)yahoo.com), Jan 17 2004. For example, a(3)=15 because the product of the four variables w, x, y and z can be constructed in exactly 15 ways, assuming commutativity but not associativity: 1. w(x(yz)) 2. w(y(xz)) 3. w(z(xy)) 4. x(w(yz)) 5. x(y(wz)) 6. x(z(wy)) 7. y(w(xz)) 8. y(x(wz)) 9. y(z(wx)) 10. z(w(xy)) 11. z(x(wy)) 12. z(y(wx)) 13. (wx)(yz) 14. (wy)(xz) 15. (wz)(xy).
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Posted by Charlie
on 2016-03-21 10:14:55 |
re: cardinality of solution set
