• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 10:57
CET 16:57
KST 00:57
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT28Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0258LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2
StarCraft 2
General
Terran AddOns placement How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SEL Doubles (SC Evo Bimonthly) WardiTV Team League Season 10 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare Mutation # 512 Overclocked
Brood War
General
Soma Explains: JD's Unrelenting Aggro vs FlaSh Recent recommended BW games TvZ is the most complete match up BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/02
Tourneys
The Casual Games of the Week Thread [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [LIVE] [S:21] ASL Season Open Day 1 ASL Season 21 Qualifiers March 7-8
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Path of Exile Beyond All Reason New broswer game : STG-World
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Mexico's Drug War
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
YOUTUBE VIDEO
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2458 users

Math Problem

Blogs > motbob
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 15:06:49
February 06 2009 13:49 GMT
#1
So I've got this set "S" of non-negative integers. I can add two numbers from this set "S" in order to get every integer 0-100 (I can add numbers to themselves, for example 9+9 to get 18). For example, my set "S" has both 99 and 1, so the number 100 is covered. So is the number 98 since my set has the numbers 89 and 9. My set has 19 elements in it. Is there a set that I can come up with that has fewer elements?

My set:
+ Show Spoiler +
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99



*
ModeratorGood content always wins.
ninjafetus
Profile Joined December 2008
United States231 Posts
February 06 2009 14:15 GMT
#2
Hmmm... interesting question! That set seems minimal to me, but I'm note sure how to show it. I'll think about it.
minus_human
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
4784 Posts
February 06 2009 14:50 GMT
#3
I don't understand your problem
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
February 06 2009 15:07 GMT
#4
On February 06 2009 23:50 minus_human wrote:
I don't understand your problem

OK, I tried to clarify it.
ModeratorGood content always wins.
o3.power91
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Bahrain5288 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 15:27:01
February 06 2009 15:26 GMT
#5
hmm... interesting question.

edit: i just noticed i have the exact same comment as the first reply XD
Saracen
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
February 06 2009 15:49 GMT
#6
no
my set:
S{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}
and 10n+a from n=1 to n=9 where a is an integer between -1 and 10
FaCE_1
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
Canada6184 Posts
February 06 2009 16:20 GMT
#7
^ I don't think this fallow the ops rules O_o
n_n
Saracen
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
February 06 2009 16:28 GMT
#8
how so...
Divinek
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
Canada4045 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 16:35:27
February 06 2009 16:30 GMT
#9
On February 07 2009 01:28 Saracen wrote:
how so...


because his set has to be able to add every number to get 1-100, not multiply it afterwards to do so.

er right, you need 0 for 1, duh.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Oh goodness me, FOX tv where do you get your sight? Can't you keep track, the puck is black. That's why the ice is white.
huameng
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States1133 Posts
February 06 2009 16:34 GMT
#10
Yeah, he needs the 0 to be able to make 1, 19, 29, etc.

To the OP: I think you have the correct solution
skating
Saracen
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
February 06 2009 16:35 GMT
#11
On February 07 2009 01:30 Divinek wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 07 2009 01:28 Saracen wrote:
how so...


because his set has to be able to add every number to get 1-100, not multiply it afterwards to do so.

also op why do you have 0 in your set, is that required?

which is what my set does
{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90}
or
{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,21,31,41,51,61,71,81,91}
or
{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,22,32,42,52,62,72,82,92}
...
and yes, 0 is required
LTT
Profile Blog Joined March 2003
Shakuras1095 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 16:42:23
February 06 2009 16:41 GMT
#12
There is more than 1 solution. You can also get it with

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 26, 35, 44, 53, 62, 71, 80, 89, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 32, 43, 54, 65, 76, 87, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, 38, 51, 64, 77, 90

There are also variations of those. Take his example using 0-9 as his "base".
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90

All of the above have 19 terms.

The total possible summations for a set S(n) containing n elements is C(n,2) + n. From this we can gather tht the absolute minimum of terms to even get 100 summations is 14.

C(14,2) + 14 = 105

You will need at least 14 elements to even have a chance of covering 0-100. Whether any below 19 elements can actually cover...dunno.
blapsd
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
England121 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 16:54:13
February 06 2009 16:42 GMT
#13
Ok, look at how many numbers you get in your set:

First im going to split the set up into 2 subsets the 1st subset consists of the consecutive numbers 0 - 9 and the second subset consists of the rest.

We can change the number of integers in our first set and this directly affects how many integers we need in our second. I'm going to call the number we go up to in our first set x (in your case this is 9)

ok now lets count how many numbers we have

x + 1 in the first subset (the +1 is because of the 0)

Now we need to make 101 numbers in total (101 because of the 0 remember) and we now have 101 - x numbers left to make. Now we need a number in our second subset for every x+1th number from x to 100.....for example you needed a number every 9+1 times in your 2nd subset.

Now we add up the total number of integers we have:

x+1 (from the first subset) + (100 - x)/(x + 1) (from the second subset)

now form the equation :

y = x + 1 + (100-x)/(x+1) This is the equation for the number of integers in our set. we need to MINIMISE this

To do this we simply differentiate to get (TIP: USE THE QUOTIENT RULE)

dy/dx = 1 + (-101)/((x+1)^2)

put this equal to zero and you finally get x is around 9.05 rounded up a little.

This therefore means for the number of integers in your set to be minimum you need x = 9

NOTE: we are only working in integers and you are allowed to round down due to there being remainders when you divide 101-x by x+1. If you're not convinced just test it for x = 9 and x=10 because i've proved the answer lies between 9 and 10

so you were right x = 9 or putting it back into the equation for y, y = 19.1 (which we are allowed to round down to the nearest integer also) so the minimum number of integers is 19.

which means your set is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99

also note theres other sets that allow 19 numbers but no sets that contain less than 19

Hope that wasnt too hard to follow.
Saracen
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
February 06 2009 16:46 GMT
#14
On February 07 2009 01:41 LTT wrote:
There is more than 1 solution. You can also get it with

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 26, 35, 44, 53, 62, 71, 80, 89, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 32, 43, 54, 65, 76, 87, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, 38, 51, 64, 77, 90

no you can't
unless you can repeat numbers, but then you wouldn't need 0
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
February 06 2009 16:54 GMT
#15
Thanks everyone. I think if no one came up with a set of fewer elements then there probably isn't one. I knew about the other solutions using 19 elements, but I wasn't sure if there was some crazy outside-the-box way of doing it that I hadn't thought of.
ModeratorGood content always wins.
motbob
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States12546 Posts
February 06 2009 16:55 GMT
#16
On February 07 2009 01:46 Saracen wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 07 2009 01:41 LTT wrote:
There is more than 1 solution. You can also get it with

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 26, 35, 44, 53, 62, 71, 80, 89, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 32, 43, 54, 65, 76, 87, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, 38, 51, 64, 77, 90

no you can't
unless you can repeat numbers, but then you wouldn't need 0

One, you can repeat numbers (it's in the OP) and two, you need zero for 1 (0+1).
ModeratorGood content always wins.
Saracen
Profile Blog Joined December 2007
United States5139 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 16:58:27
February 06 2009 16:55 GMT
#17
Cooler constraint: pick three numbers from the set to add up to any integer between 1 and 100
the numbers don't have to be non-negative

!

On February 07 2009 01:55 motbob wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 07 2009 01:46 Saracen wrote:
On February 07 2009 01:41 LTT wrote:
There is more than 1 solution. You can also get it with

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, 26, 35, 44, 53, 62, 71, 80, 89, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 32, 43, 54, 65, 76, 87, 98
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, 38, 51, 64, 77, 90

no you can't
unless you can repeat numbers, but then you wouldn't need 0

One, you can repeat numbers (it's in the OP) and two, you need zero for 1 (0+1).


missed that sorry :\
StRyKeR
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
United States1739 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-02-06 17:01:50
February 06 2009 17:00 GMT
#18
On February 07 2009 01:42 blapsd wrote:
Ok, look at how many numbers you get in your set:

First im going to split the set up into 2 subsets the 1st subset consists of the consecutive numbers 0 - 9 and the second subset consists of the rest.

We can change the number of integers in our first set and this directly affects how many integers we need in our second. I'm going to call the number we go up to in our first set x (in your case this is 9)

ok now lets count how many numbers we have

x + 1 in the first subset (the +1 is because of the 0)

Now we need to make 101 numbers in total (101 because of the 0 remember) and we now have 101 - x numbers left to make.


This isn't true because the (x+1) numbers in the first subset account for more than x+1 numbers from 0 to 101. For example, having {0, 1, 4, 6} hits the set {0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12}, since you are allowed to double numbers and also take pairs of numbers. In this case, while you have 4 elements from 0 to 9, you actually need to cover only 101 - 10 = 91 numbers now.

There are issues with the rest of your argument because of this fact -- a set of numbers can generate more than its own size.
Ars longa, vita brevis, principia aeturna.
StRyKeR
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
United States1739 Posts
February 06 2009 17:03 GMT
#19
You can show that you need at least 14, but it's still up in the air as to whether 19 is minimal.
Ars longa, vita brevis, principia aeturna.
blapsd
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
England121 Posts
February 06 2009 17:08 GMT
#20
+ Show Spoiler +
This isn't true because the (x+1) numbers in the first subset account for more than x+1 numbers from 0 to 101. For example, having {0, 1, 4, 6} hits the set {0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12}, since you are allowed to double numbers and also take pairs of numbers.

Now we need a number in our second subset for every x+1th number from x to 100.....for example you needed a number every 9+1 times in your 2nd subset.

There are other issues with the rest of the argument because of this fact -- a set of numbers can generate more than its own size.


yes but remember you are only allowed to make one addition. If you doubled 6 to get 12 for example, you could never add 12 to any other numbers since we've used our 1 addition already. The first subset needs to be a list of numbers you can still add to the others in the 2nd subset, and hence cant be made by doubling or adding.

1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
15:00
Monthly #3 - March
Serral1096
WardiTV575
uThermal428
IndyStarCraft 175
SteadfastSC113
StrangeGG68
MindelVK25
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Serral 1259
uThermal 385
IndyStarCraft 175
Liquid`TLO 89
SteadfastSC 86
BRAT_OK 66
MindelVK 25
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 47097
Britney 35701
Rain 1957
Shuttle 635
Hyuk 442
JYJ 96
Sea.KH 89
Backho 78
ToSsGirL 39
Free 24
[ Show more ]
Rock 24
JulyZerg 23
NaDa 10
Dota 2
Gorgc5890
qojqva1493
Counter-Strike
fl0m3360
allub166
oskar92
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor526
Liquid`Hasu324
Other Games
B2W.Neo1111
Liquid`RaSZi1063
Beastyqt235
Fuzer 176
mouzStarbuck143
Hui .132
QueenE121
ArmadaUGS97
Mew2King69
KnowMe23
JuggernautJason16
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL179
Other Games
BasetradeTV116
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• HeavenSC 30
• poizon28 1
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1472
League of Legends
• Jankos2905
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
17h 3m
Wardi Open
20h 3m
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 1h
Replay Cast
1d 8h
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
[ Show More ]
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.