Scotty O
02-05-2005, 08:56 PM
A friend an I were talking about shuffling chips. He brought up a cool observation:
2 stacks of 2, 2 Reds 2 Green. Shuffle them perfectly with your hands and in 2 turns you will have 2 of the same colored stack.
Now 3 and 3, it takes 3 turns of a perfect shuffle to get the full colors back
Now 4 and 4, it takes 3 times.
Now 5 and 5, it seems you can never get them back? or Can you?
Just a visual:
G R
G R
shuffle to make
G
R
G
R
Split the pile
G G
R R
Shuffle
G
G
R
R
Split
G R
G R
Thoughts for math wiz's out there.
2 stacks of 2, 2 Reds 2 Green. Shuffle them perfectly with your hands and in 2 turns you will have 2 of the same colored stack.
Now 3 and 3, it takes 3 turns of a perfect shuffle to get the full colors back
Now 4 and 4, it takes 3 times.
Now 5 and 5, it seems you can never get them back? or Can you?
Just a visual:
G R
G R
shuffle to make
G
R
G
R
Split the pile
G G
R R
Shuffle
G
G
R
R
Split
G R
G R
Thoughts for math wiz's out there.