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Seminar Details

A Dentist Glove Problem

  • Start Date: February 7, 2024
  • Event Start Time: 12:15 PM
  • Event End Time: 1:15 PM
  • Seminar Series: Graduate Combinatorics Seminar
  • Presenter(s): Brian Pinsky - Rutgers University
  • Event Location: Mathematics Graduate Student Lounge -- 7th Floor | Rutgers University | Hill Center | Mathematics Department
  • Event Additional Info: <p>See:&nbsp;<a href="https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~kmg326/GCS/GCS.html">https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~kmg326/GCS/GCS.html</a></p>
  • Presentation Type: Stand Alone Presentation
  • Abstract:

    This is a cute problem me and some friends overanalyzed a while back. Suppose there is a dentist who wants to examine 3 patients, but only has 2 pairs of gloves. The gloves can be stacked and inverted however you want, but once one surface of the glove touches a patient, that surface is contaminated and will contaminate any surface it touches. No patient can be examined with a glove contaminated by another patient.

    I'm going to talk about the generalizations we asked about.