Posted by Denis Borris on October 31, 2002 at 23:41:08:
In Reply to: Re: MathBard's bags posted by Joel on October 31, 2002 at 19:17:38:
: Sorry - no unnerstand problem. He expects to count 500 less than what?
With his 4 bags in the total, he'd EXPECT to count
X-1 bags before his 4th bag appears, it being the
Xth bag...or his 4th bag would be the Xth bag
coming down the carousel (or whatever you call
that rolling thing!).
But he's only got 3 bags; so the 3rd bag is now
EXPECTed to be the Yth bag; X - Y = 500
Btw, there's a simple formula for this:
m(n+1) / m+1
m = your bags
n = total number of bags