Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Speed Dating

You reserved a club space for two hours to hold a speed dating event.
Assuming that you would need 20 mins for setup, 10 mins for cleanup, 13 mins for introduction and you are planning to give each couple 5 mins to interact and 3 mins to switch places, what is the maximum number of people of each gender that you could invite?

3 comments:

Maria said...

This sounds wonderful, but it does not solve our speed dating challenge.

rachel_t said...

too funny...

Is this a trick question? I don't think there would be a maximum number of people that you could invite based on the information given. There would be a minimum number of people that you'd want to come so that each person could go on as many dates as time would allow...

120 minutes (total avail time)

minus

20 min for setup
10 min cleanup
13 min intro
-----
43 min


= 77 min available for dating

first date is 5 min and each date after would have 3 min switching time and a 5 min date. n = number of dates after the first date
5 + (3 + 5)n = 77
8 n = 72
n=9

There would be enough time for 10 dates.

Maria said...

Absolutely right.
However I do not understand your comment about 10 couples being the minimum. It seems to me that if we invite more than 10 couples, then each participant will still have time for only 10 dates and may get angry for missing on this cute opportunity #11.
I would need to call you to consult before setting up Speed Dating club "for real."

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