For All Math Geniuses

I thought of this question a few years ago and have periodically tried to solve it but have been unable too. I believe it may be unsolvable due to the mystery of prime numbers.

"What is number of ways irrespective of order and represented in a single formula of adding non-negative integers to equal a positive integer"? For example, there are 7 ways of adding to 5:

1) 5+0
2) 4+1
3) 3+2
4) 3+1+1
5) 2+2+1
6) 2+1+1+1
7) 1+1+1+1+1

This has Infinite real-world applications as does all sound mathematics. For example, should surgeons perform 5 surgeries in the same time segment, or should they perform them in different time segments, say one at a time.

33 views and no replies.

Is the answer to the question in the original post obvious and therefore deserves no reply? Or is the answer non-obvious but unimportant?

I believe the answer is non-obvious and important.

Anybody worked on the problem posed in the original post prior to my post or after? I am interested in any and all solutions.

Or are there no math geniuses or non-math geniuses? Or is everybody an idiot like myself?

I forwarded the problem to a friend of mine who has a Master's degree in Mathematics.

If he gives me a solution, I'll post it here.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I forwarded the problem to a friend of mine who has a Master's degree in Mathematics.

If he gives me a solution, I'll post it here.

Thank you for the response. This problem strikes my head every so often and I am very interested in a solution(s), or partial solutions.

This is what I found out.

The solution is a partition function, here's a link that explains it (if you can understand it, it looks pretty scary to me ):

mathworld.wolfram.com...

Originally posted by djohnsto77
This is what I found out.

The solution is a partition function, here's a link that explains it (if you can understand it, it looks pretty scary to me

):

mathworld.wolfram.com...

djohnsto77, I am good in math but not that good in math!!! I voted for you for way above top secret for the month for the effort you made in finding a reference!!!