IBM Ponder This #169 · May 2012

This month's challenge is based on a puzzle by Barry Cipra, presented at the tenth Gathering for Gardner conference at Atlanta.

There are six sets of jobs. Each set is performed on a different server and each set contains jobs that take 1,2,3,...,10 minutes to run.

Obviously, all six sets would end up in 55 minutes.

Schedule all the sets such that if all six servers start together, on minute 0, a job would end on every minute from 1 to 54, and all six servers would end on minute 55 together.

Please supply the solution as six lines of ten numbers.

A solution for a smaller problem of four sets of six jobs ending every minute from 1 to 20 is:

2 1 5 4 6 3
1 3 6 4 5 2
5 2 4 6 3 1
6 3 4 2 1 5

Solution

Best opened after a real attempt

To be added.