NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ970050
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jan
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0746-8342
EISSN: N/A
Mad Tea Party Cyclic Partitions
Bekes, Robert; Pedersen, Jean; Shao, Bin
College Mathematics Journal, v43 n1 p25-36 Jan 2012
Martin Gardner's "The Annotated Alice," and Robin Wilson's "Lewis Carroll in Numberland" led the authors to put this article in a fantasy setting. Alice, the March Hare, the Hatter, and the Dormouse describe a straightforward, elementary algorithm for counting the number of ways to fit "n" identical objects into "k" cups arranged in a circle. The authors call these cyclic arrangements Mad Tea Party ("MTP") partitions. Our algorithm enumerates "MTP" partitions (in sets of odd and even entries), then, by ordering them and striking out duplicates, one obtains the ordinary partitions for any positive integer "n."
Mathematical Association of America. 1529 Eighteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-741-9415; Tel: 202-387-5200; Fax: 202-387-1208; e-mail: maahq@maa.org; Web site: http://www.maa.org/pubs/cmj.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A