Talk:Josephus problem

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Mathematics rating:	Start Class	Low Priority	Field: Applied mathematics (historical)
Please update this rating as the article progresses, or if the rating is inaccurate. Click to show/hide comments. Please add to or update the comments to suggest improvements to the article. Geometry guy 22:29, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

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)

Somebody changed it that way, however, the article is currently quite nonsensical, since the History part has nothing in common whatsoever with the problem. We need to find out why the name, who named it like that (if the real history does not contain anything similar), or something. --Mormegil (talk) 14:44, 15 January 2008 (UTC)