Are you smarter than an 11 year old, Q1?

[AlanW]

Five friends meet to play tennis.
There is only one court, and they want it to be as fair as possible.
Can you arrange a playing schedule so that they can each play exactly three other opponents?

 

[thomas]

The answer is no to at least one of your two questions. Either it isn't possible, or I'm not as smart as an 11 year old

 

[ttcycle]

I think this is correct- if they play two players:

A B C D E are the players:

A vs B
C vs D
E vs A
B vs C
D vs E
D vs B
A vs C
E vs B

 

[ttcycle]

scrap that - there's a repeat there...no stumped

 

[summerdays]

What about each person plays one game of singles and one game of doubles ...? Then they have all played 3 opponents?

Edit : no I dont' think that works....

What about that game we played as a kid where we ran around the court from end to end taking it in turns....

 

[thomas]

I think this is correct- if they play two players:

A B C D E are the players:

A vs B
C vs D
E vs A
B vs C
D vs E
D vs B
A vs C
E vs B

B plays too many times.

 

[ttcycle]

Yep Thomas I noticed when I posted it so that doesn't work

Summerdays might have the right answer

 

[vernon]

I don't have the patience of an eleven year old to so I won't bother trying

 

[661-Pete]

No.
5 x 3 = 15, and you need two people per match, so in the schedule there are 15 half-matches. So one player will be unpaired.

Why can't they do as in the Monty Python sketch*, play doubles with three players on one side? Pace John Cleese...

*at about 1:40

 

[thomas]

Yep Thomas I noticed when I posted it so that doesn't work

Summerdays might have the right answer

I don't think so... i swear someone has to get left out because of odd and even numbers???

 

[ttcycle]

That's right- I'm lost - I was actually speaking to a CCer about maths being the subject I disliked the most today- quite a logical thinker but not in the maths sense - I don't remember learning any of this stuff at school...!!

I know some really good visual questions that I'm much better at- just don't know where to find the images- might draw it out and take a photo and post up instead.

 

[potsy]

What about each person plays one game of singles and one game of doubles ...? Then they have all played 3 opponents?

Edit : no I dont' think that works....

What about that game we played as a kid where we ran around the court from end to end taking it in turns....

Sounds right to me SD,1 game of doubles so each person is playing against 2 opponents,then 2 games of singles where each player plays their doubles partner=3 opponents all in.

 

[AlanW]

The answer is no to at least one of your two questions. Either it isn't possible, or I'm not as smart as an 11 year old

Well I have spent over an hour trying to figure it out before I asked on here, and I don't think that it can be done either.

In case you had not guessed, this is my daughters homework!

 

[rich p]

Well I have spent over an hour trying to figure it out before I asked on here, and I don't think that it can be done either.

In case you had not guessed, this is my daughters homework!

I read there was a lot of cheating going on in exams these days. I feel implicated now!

 

[Bman]

How about:

Play 5 games of doubles. 1 person sits out each game.

2&3vs4&5 1 sits out
1&3vs4&5 2 sits out
1&2vs4&5 3 sits out
1&2vs3&5 4 sits out
1&2vs3&4 5 sits out