Terry Fidablood

I need to calculate how you do the best assortment when the quantities are uneven.

If you have:

5,000 of item A

7000 of B

10000 of C

11000 of D

3000 of E

and you have to put 6 in a box with the most even split possible.

I understand that first you add them all up and divide by 6 to get how many boxes you can fill. in this case 6000 boxes, and obviously there should be more of C and D, but I have a block as to the exact formula. ideally I would love to be able to calculate x boxes with split 1 then y boxes with split 2, but without too many changes needed, because this is for a practical application.

The problem is that there are several sizes of outer boxes available, and I need to find the best one that leaves the smallest void space. If, for instance the product is 160 x 120 x 110 and I could use a BDCM1 which is 595 x 295 x 388 or a BDCM2 which is 400 x 300 x 400 or a BDCM3 which is 595 x 295 x 188 or a BDCM4 which is 394 x 293 x 190. I would like a formula to calculate which on would fit the products best. Not easy, but it must be possible. I just need the help of a genius.

Thanks in advance.

Serious answers only please, not Ben & Jerry's.

The UK is now borrowing so much money every day, that we will never be able to pay it off. There are no political parties that put forward paying anything off it at all, and it is seen that it would bankrupt the country to attempt to manage without borrowing. Should we therefore take the borrowing up a level, give more to India and China and then we can claim that it is unfair and have it all written off?

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I heard it's the duck joke, but I don't believe it.

For anyone that doesn't know it.

A little boy goes to the door and shouts to his Dad " Dad there's a man at the door with a bill" to which his Dad replies "Don't be stupid, it must be a duck with a hat on"

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Is there a simple way of doing it?

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I keep looking at it and trying to work it out, and it's doing my head in!!

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Why don't they just say "stop" or "go"?

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I would be interested to hear peoples suggestions, and if you know any hidden gems out of the Euro zone, even better!

This aid is given to countries like India where there are hundreds of billionaires living who don't even have to pay tax. The lifeboat service in the UK relies on volunteers and charity to keep running, surely this would be a better way of spending this money rather than helping over-populated countries to eat more food and burn more fuel.

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/aboutdfid/faq_2.asp