Interesting discussion. I gained something today by remembering you.

I wouldn't call it a coincidence since to me the pseudocode problem is basically a reformulation of the original problem in terms of the recurrence relation.

But the way to solve it is quite neat. Especially the combinatoric argument.

Notya Bisnes, I think the story is that they both came up with reformulations of the same problem and asked them to each other over the same lunch. I for one find that quite amusing.

Whirligig, Now that you mention it, that's pretty much the case. I don't know why I got hung on the "coincidence" thing. How dumb can I be, haha.