trivia question- moving marbles from jars in a few a moves as possible! :)

**gstraw** · 08-09-2016, 09:12 AM

Hello

Im currently trying to use excel with a trivia question.

I have 7 jars with a random but known quantity of marbles in them. I also know the total number of marbles in all the jars. Now, im trying to find a way that with one move per jar (or less), I can ensure an equal number of marbles in each jar.

for example,

Jar A, B, C, D, E, F, G have the respective number of marbles: 10, 30, 50, 5, 30, 105, 225 meaning the total number of marbles are 455. This means each jar should have 65 marbles in them.
Is there any way I can ensure this, with 7 or less moves. the number of marbles, and jars can also change so trying to find an equation that will work for a variety of options

ideally something like, Move 50 marbles from jar A to C, move 2 marbles from jar D to A, move 20 from F to A etc. looking for the calculation that I could use to help with the scenarios. I don't have the number of jars or final marbles yet, just trying to get prepared

thanks in advance!!

**Richard Buttrey** · 08-09-2016, 10:20 AM

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Does the following macro (also attached) help?

Sub MoveMarbles()
    Dim lJars As Long, arJars() As Variant, st As String, st2 As String, lOrig As Long
    Dim  lTotal As Long, lAverage As Long, x As Long, y As Long, lPot As Long

    arJars = Sheet1.Range("A1").CurrentRegion
    lJars = UBound(arJars)

    For x = 1 To lJars
        lTotal = lTotal + arJars(x, 1)
    Next x

    lAverage = lTotal / lJars


    For x = lJars To 1 Step -1
        If arJars(x, 1) > lAverage Then
            lOrig = arJars(x, 1)
            lPot = lPot + arJars(x, 1) - lAverage
            st = st & " Take " & arJars(x, 1) - lAverage & " marbles from the pot with " & lOrig & " marbles,"
            arJars(x, 1) = lAverage

        Else
            lOrig = arJars(x, 1)
            lPot = lPot - arJars(x, 1)
            st2 = st2 & " put " & lAverage - arJars(x, 1) & " in the pot with " & lOrig & " marbles,"
            arJars(x, 1) = lAverage
        End If

    Next x
    Range("c1") = st & " " & st2

End Sub