Mathematics Master Lecture Series

Mathematics Master Lecture Series

The Art of Apportion

Professor Siu Man Keung

University of Hong Kong

The content of the lecture is summarized in the following file:

Allotment_Siu Man Keung

 

Games in Mathematics

Professor Ng Kwok Po

Hong Kong Baptist University

Step 1:  Choose 1 card from the 21 card.

(In the example: 5 of Spades is the chosen card.)

Step 2:  Move the row with the chosen card to the middle.

Step 3: Rearrange the card by the following method.

1

8 15 1 2 3

2

9 16 4 5 6

3

10 17 7 8 9

4

11 18 =>

10

11

12

5 12 19 13 14

15

6 13 20 16 17

18

7 14 21 19 20

21

Step 4: Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 twice.

Step 5: The chosen card is now at the middle!

Example:

Challenging Questions:

  1. If there are 999 x 999 distinct cards, how many rearrangements is required for the chosen card to be at the middle?
  2. If there are p x q distinct cards, where p and q are odd numbers, how many rearrangements is required for the chosen card to be at the middle?

3.  If p or q is even, will the same results happen?