TransWikia.com

Largest range of consecutive integers that can be formed

Puzzling Asked by user71097 on December 15, 2020

Using a subset of a choice with 10 pieces from ${1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100}$, what’s the largest range of consecutive integer values that can be produced (note that $0$ isn’t counted)?

For example, I could take ten ones to get a range of $1$ to $10$, which would give me an answer of $10 – 1 = 9$. I can’t seem to do any better than $9$. Can someone please help me with this problem? I don’t think that ten ones is the answer because it seems too simple.

2 Answers

I'm pretty sure this is the maximum, but without proof:

Answered by Jeremy Dover on December 15, 2020

1~9: at most 3 pieces. 8, 9 need 3.

10~90: at most 3 pieces. 80, 90 need 3.

so you can get from 1 to 499 without a problem. because at most 4 x 100, 3 for 10~90, and 3 for 1~9.

But above 500, you need 5 x 100. you have 5 left for the rest. with 5, you can get from 1 to 87. so the range of the consecutive number is 1 ~ 587. You can't get 588 because 80 needs 3, 8 needs 3.

Edit: As people suggested in the comments, this method doesn't use a fixed set of pieces. Instead, it gets a separate set for each number.

Answered by Albert Chen on December 15, 2020

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP