If as few of the eight machines as possible were bought in 1987, then what is the exact number of machines that were ...

JohnSummers February 22, 2024

I only slighlty understand the answer.

I get that it is possible to not buy any 87 devices, but if the question is asking "how few can be bought?", does this not imply that at least one is purchased? The problem makes sense to me and the game is simple, but I don't understand how you can have 0 of something you've bought.

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Emil-Kunkin February 26, 2024

I think that "as few as possible" includes zero. If we say that we are trying to have a few cases of polio as possible, we certainly aren't saying we want to get to only one case of polio! Rather I think it's saying that we want to get to the minimum, but acknowledging that getting to zero is not necessarily the only way to achieve that goal.

JohnSummers March 5, 2024

How can I tell the difference if it is asking for 0 or 1?

Emil-Kunkin March 6, 2024

I would assume that the minimum or the maximum is the greatest or smallest possible one can have. That is if there are only six elements in a game then the max is six and the minimum would be zero. The only exception is if the game tells us otherwise. That is, if we know that at least one person goes on each day, then the minimum that could go on day 1 is one, not zero.