Bob has the collection of coins. Each of them weights an integer number of grams, and their total weight is equal to 300 grams.
Find the smallest possible value of for which Bob always (independently of coin's weights) can partition his collection into three groups so that the total weight the coins in each of the groups is equal to 100 grams.
Solution
Answer: 201.
Let be the weights of the coins in Bob's collection. If there exists an such that , and , then obviously Bob
Then , and, on the other hand, . It follows that . Therefore, , and the corresponding coins combine into the second group. The remaining coins combine into the third group.
If one of these sums is equal to , then the corresponding coins combine into the third group, and the remaining coins combine into the second group with the weight equaled . Otherwise, there exists an , such that and . In particular, , i. e. . This means that among the numbers , , ..., there are no 1's. Moreover, this means that . So
and the corresponding coins combine into the third group. The remaining coins combine into the second group with weight equaled .