All about flooble | fun stuff | Get a free chatterbox | Free JavaScript | Avatars    
perplexus dot info

Home > General
Open By Majority (Posted on 2004-03-03) Difficulty: 3 of 5
A group of five people want to put a set of locks on a chest and distribute keys to the locks amongst themselves in such a way that all the locks on the chest could be opened only when at least three of them were present to open it.

How many locks would be needed, and how many keys?

See The Solution Submitted by Brian Smith    
Rating: 4.1429 (7 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
re: 2 for all but 1 | Comment 38 of 45 |
(In reply to 2 for all but 1 by brianjn)

Brian,

How is distribution obeyed?

Many pairs, together, have all three keys.  So if I remove (as you suggest) E1, then Person A and B (or B&C, or C&D, or B&D, etc.) together have all three keys and can open the chest.

But the problem says only when at least three are present.



  Posted by SilverKnight on 2004-03-04 17:15:58

Please log in:
Login:
Password:
Remember me:
Sign up! | Forgot password


Search:
Search body:
Forums (0)
Newest Problems
Random Problem
FAQ | About This Site
Site Statistics
New Comments (8)
Unsolved Problems
Top Rated Problems
This month's top
Most Commented On

Chatterbox:
Copyright © 2002 - 2024 by Animus Pactum Consulting. All rights reserved. Privacy Information