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Fri 25 Aug, 2006 02:59 pm
How many products has been sold at least once, by this supermarket in its first 2 weeks?
Additional Information:
it has 1024 products in total.
There are around 405 potential customers in the neighborhood
Not everyone has visit the new Supermarket, and I know that in a group
of around 25 just 1 has gone and he has purchased 58 different products
(it does not matter how many of each of those products he purchased)
I also know that other supermarket in the area, which has been in
business for 3 years, has sold around 488 products during that time.
There is a correct answer to this question, but I am looking for your best guess.
The answer that I need it is the quantity of products that has been sold at least once (it does not matter that if the same product has been solved 100 times, it is just count as 1).
I think that there should be some or a lot overlapping in the purchases made by the customers (for example:, I think that everybody has purchased milk), so I consider that it is unlikely that all products has been sold at least once
This isn't a riddle. Consult your textbook, I'm sure it has some similar examples to prepare you for this homework problem.
I think the correct answer is 3. But I was never very good at math.
3 unique items? No. We must assume that there will be 405/25 = 16.2 customers. After the first customer there are already 58 unique items.
I don't exactly know how to solve this elegantly but I think the following recursive equation is close:
U(0) = 0
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(U(i-1)/1024)
where U(i) is the number of unique items sold by the time the ith customer has shopped there
it seems to me that half the problem is missing....
Quote:How many products has been sold at least once, by this supermarket in its first 2 weeks?
the 'this' is referring to the supermarket as if it was already previously mentioned
stuh505 wrote:U(0) = 0
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(U(i-1)/1024)
U(i) = 0 for all i.
How about
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(1 - U(i-1)/1024)
markr wrote:stuh505 wrote:U(0) = 0
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(U(i-1)/1024)
U(i) = 0 for all i.
How about
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(1 - U(i-1)/1024)
Oops, yeah, that's what I meant to write.
Does the checkout girl fluttering her eyelashes to good effect at the well dressed gentleman with the 50 tins of Heinz soup in his trolley count as a sale.
Quote:soup in his trolley
Better visit the "Depends" isle!
Quote:I think that everybody has purchased milk),
Why would you think this. Have you not heard of lactose intolerance?
Quote:I know that in a group
of around 25 just 1 has gone and he has purchased 58 different products
Was this over a period of 2 weeks (14 days ) or one day?
The answer I come up with is 2-3.
stuh505 wrote:markr wrote:stuh505 wrote:U(0) = 0
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(U(i-1)/1024)
U(i) = 0 for all i.
How about
U(i) = U(i-1) + 58*(1 - U(i-1)/1024)
Oops, yeah, that's what I meant to write.
How's about an answer, then?
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