By: Ahmed Ahmedov

Ahmed Ahmedov — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:27:55 +0000

I have a question.
24 diplomats are invited to a round table discussion. Each chair is designated to a specific diplomat with his name on it. But, unfortunately nobody sits to his designated sit. Then one wise man among them gives the following suggestion:
“If we switch our chair in this direction, then at least X number of diplomats will be seated correctly”.
What is X and how the wise man came up with this number? When you switch chairs around the table, you must switch so that this number is maximum. Obviously, nobody’s neighbor changes. And you don’t know the diplomats’ names

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:51:00 +0000

Thanks for this interesting post. This type of topological/asymmetric analysis also occurs frequently when designing inorganic (non-carbon based)molecules.

Comments on: Seating strategy: how many ways can a group sit around a table?

By: Ahmed Ahmedov

By: Joe