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Confirming the Labels of Coins in One Weighing

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arxiv 2006.16797 v1 pith:DVBMYPLY submitted 2020-06-30 math.HO math.CO

Confirming the Labels of Coins in One Weighing

classification math.HO math.CO
keywords coinsbagslabelssameweighingdownhillfindnumber
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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There are $n$ bags with coins that look the same. Each bag has an infinite number of coins and all coins in the same bag weigh the same amount. Coins in different bags weigh 1, 2, 3, and so on to $n$ grams exactly. There is a unique label from the set 1 through $n$ attached to each bag that is supposed to correspond to the weight of the coins in that bag. The task is to confirm all the labels by using a balance scale once. We study weighings that we call downhill: they use the numbers of coins from the bags that are in a decreasing order. We show the importance of such weighings. We find the smallest possible total weight of coins in a downhill weighing that confirms the labels on the bags. We also find bounds on the smallest number of coins needed for such a weighing.

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