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A Cure for the Telephone Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

A. Hajnal ,
E. C. Milner  and
E. Szemerédi
A. Hajnal
Affiliation:
The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
E. C. Milner
Affiliation:
The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
E. Szemerédi
Affiliation:
The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
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Extract

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The following problem due to A. Boyd, has enjoyed a certain popularity in recent months with several mathematicians. A different solution to the one given here has been given independently by R. T. Bumby and J. Spencer.

The Problem, There are n ladies, and each one of them knows an item of scandal which is not known to any of the others. They communicate by telephone, and whenever two ladies make a call, they pass on to each other, as much scandal as they know at that time. How many calls are needed before all the ladies know all the scandal?

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Mathematical Bulletin , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , September 1972 , pp. 447 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Mathematical Society 1972

References

Note

(2) Since this paper was written we have received another solution from R. Tijdeman. His paper will appear in Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde.