Some days ago i was playing "Settlers of Catan", an homemade version. In this game there is an event where a players pick, randomly, a card from another player. So here is the problem: can we use the dice (six faces) to pick the card randomly?
Until the opposite player has less than seven cards, there are no problems. Even with an even number of cards there is no problem since we can split the set of cards in several rows (up to six 1) of same length. For example 16 cards will be split in four rows with four cards each, then we throw the dice once to pick a row, and then again to pick a card (of course if the dice shows five, we must throw again the dice). All of these cards have the same probability to be picked, but there are issues with an odd number of cards.
For example seven. We do two rows, one with three and the other with four cards. These cards don't have the same probability.
I thought about it for a while but i didn't see any solution (involving: the disposition of the cards, a dice of six faces and only simple maths [no calculators] such as modulo and so on), but i know that there are here people way more skilled than me.
Then, can someone tell me if the problem is solvable? Thanks a lot in advance.
PS: sorry for syntax mistakes, i know that i should improve my english. PPS: my "pratical" solution is - pick a dice with 20 faces to solve almost all real scenarios, but is not a mathematical solution.
1 assuming that the maximum number of cards in the hands of a player is 36.
edit: sorry for bouncing the "answer chosen" but i was unsure ^_^
edit2: i just acquired the "vote up" privilege, so i grant i vote and i can delete my "thanks/whoa" comments as the guide suggest.