Problem: At a dance party a group of boys and girls exchange dances as follows: one boy dances with 5 girls, a second boy dances with 6 girls, and so on, the last boy dancing with all the girls. If b represents the number of boys and g , the number of girls, then:
Answer Choices:
A. b=g
B. b=g/5
C. b=gβ4
D. b=gβ5
E. It is impossi- ble to determine a relation between b and g without knowing the total number of boys and girls.
Solution:
Set up the following table, a one-to-one cuirespondence between the elements of the boy set and the girl set:
Boy number Girls danced with β15β26β37ββ¦β¦βbb+4β
therefore g=b+4 ; b=gβ4
5,6,7,β¦,g
1=a+(nβ1)d
g=5+(bβ1)(1);b=gβ4