4 ms·
Every year, when my extended family (13 cousins) does Secret Santa, I complain “There are likely multiple cyclic graphs in this space!” But rather than engage m
by Uehreka 6y ago
Every year, when my extended family (13 cousins) does Secret Santa, I complain “There are likely multiple cyclic graphs in this space!” But rather than engage my criticism with the mathematical rigor it clearly deserves, they just choose to restart with a random cousin who hasn’t given a gift yet when they discover the cycle. This is clearly a sub-optimal solution, and I am glad that when the ritual recurs next year, I will have groundbreaking research to present to them to solve this conundrum once and for all!
In other news, at this past Secret Santa I got a desk-mounted boom for my Blue Yeti, which I use every day and am thankful for.
- ReaLNero 6y agoWhat if you could show people the secret santa graph with names removed, then they could modify it to look more fun, and then show the assignments?
- jstanley 6y agoWhy is it a problem if there is more than one cycle? Surely it would be more of a problem if you knew everyone was in a single cycle because then you'd have more information about which assignments can't exist.
- teawrecks 6y agoI would argue that allowing multiple cycles is superior because it dramatically increases the possible number of cases you're randomly choosing from.