Math Is Fun Forum

Howdy,

I'm trying to solve this problem, but can't seem to make much progress.

Given a set of positive numbers, divide it into 2 sets (which differ in size by 1, at max) so that the difference of their sums is minimum.

So, for e.g., given the following set: [8, 4, 25, 17], the possible combinations are:

1. [8,4] & [25,17] - 30
2. [8,25] & [4,17] - 12
3. [8,17] & [4,25] - 4

Clearly, the answer is 3: [4, 25] & [8, 17].

Thanks.