MHB Can 16 Players Have 6 Partners Each in a Circular Interaction?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aavar
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Prediction
Click For Summary
The discussion revolves around organizing 16 players in a circular interaction where each player has 6 partners—3 on their "plus side" and 3 on their "minus side." The original poster, Thijs, is uncertain if 16 players is sufficient to meet this requirement without overlaps. A suggestion is made to visualize the players in a circle, allowing each player to interact with three players on either side, which simplifies the arrangement. It is noted that with this circular setup, a minimum of 7 players can achieve the desired interactions. Ultimately, Thijs may need to reconsider the number of players based on this circular model to ensure each player has the required partners.
Aavar
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hello all! For an activity I'm organizing, I have about 16 players. Each player have interaction with 6 others - 3 which on his plus side, 3 which on his minus side (he can't have a partner that's on both sides).
Basically, what I'd love to know is if the number matches and in the end each player would have 6 partners. I have no real knowledge on math, so I'm sorry if it's a dumb or obvious question. I tried arranging that with tables, thinking that it would probably need 18 players, but I always seem to need more players, to a never ending amount.

Just to clarify, I'm talking about something like that:
Let's look at the 7 first players: Matt, Andrew, Beth, Robb, Zoey, Sean and Daisy. Another note, the 1st player could have interaction with all of the others, potentially, including even the 16th player. I just write it as a follow up for your convenient.

Matt
Plus side: Andrew, Beth, Robb.
Minus Side: Zoey, Sean, Daisy.

Andrew
Plus side: Matt (predetermined because it was decided on Matt's list), Beth, Robb.
Minus side: Zoey, Sean, Daisy.

Beth:
Plus: Matt, Andrew (predetermined), Robb.
Minus: Zoey, Sean, Daisy.

Now we've reached a point where Zoey, Sean and Daisy (Numbers 5, 6 and 7) has no more people on their minus side, so we have to "jump" with Robb to numbers 8, 9 and 10 to continue the count.

Robb:
Plus: Matt, Andrew, Beth (predetermined).
Minus: N8, N9, N10.

When we reach Zoey (N5), her plus side is open, so we can still use N8, N9 and N10 (either on the plus or minus side, both are alright as it's still open).

Zoey:
Plus: N8, N9, N10 OR N11, N12, N13.
Minus: Matt, Andrew, Beth (predetermined).

And so on...
So, I hoped I made myself clear, as English is not my native language. Will every player have 6 others (3 plus, 3 minus) or do I need to add/subtract players?

Thank you so much ahead,
Thijs :)
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
I'm not clear what you mean by "on his plus side" and "on his minus side". Are you thinking of the players as ordered along a line? But then what about those that are less than three players from an end of the line? In what you write you seem to be saying that you will "jump" to the other end of the line. If that is correct then you might find it better to visualize this as people standing in a circle, all facing inward and "interacting" with three on their left and three on their right. In that case the minimum number of people you need is 7 and in that case every person "interacts" with every other person.