On Jul 29, 11:35 pm, Tim Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > John DeRosa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:19:02 -0700, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>For example, how many ways can you put 492 marbles into > >>264 ordered bins such that each bin has at least 1 marble? > > >>The answer > > >>66189415264331559482776409694993032407028709677550 > >>59629130019289014193777349831417543311612293951363 > >>4124491233746912456893016976209252459301489030 > > >You missed that blue one in the corner...
Actually, the blue one in the corner wasn't missed, it was deliberately omitted. When you add the restriction that each bin must contain at least one marble, the number of partitions of depth items into width bins is comb(depth-1,width-1). So comb(491,263) IS, in fact, the correct answer even though the marble count seems to be wanting. > > He lost that one to a talented 12-year-old with a keen eye and a > well-balanced steelie... > -- > Tim Roberts, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
