Talk:Josephus problem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Near the end, the article says "Therefore, if we represent n as 2m + l, where 0 < = l < 2m, then f(n) = 2 * l + 1." I think the m's should be n's; there's no m in the problem. --ngb

You are correct that there is no m in the statement of the problem. The variables m and l are being defined in the sentence: "if we represent n as 2^m + l, where 0 < = l < 2^m, then f(n) = 2 * l + 1." Since m does not appear in the solution, we could also say, "let l be the result when we subtract from n the largest power of 2 no greater than n." Ptrillian 11:19, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

It seems like a good idea to merge the Josephus_permutation article into this article. If no one objects, I will plan to do it within a few days. Ptrillian 12:42, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Yea this should be merged.Styracosaurus 00:30, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Josephus

The setting of this problem is legendary at best. In Josephus' own account (The Jewish War, III.8.viii), the order of executions is by lot, not skipping around the circle. This ought to be mentioned somewhere in the article. Willy Logan 01:10, 22 January 2007 (UTC)