Mixed Telephone Problems

R. Labahn1
1Wilhelm-Pieck-Universitét Rostock Sektion Mathematik Universitatsplatz 1, Rostock, DDR-2500 GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

Abstract

We consider a generalization of the well-known gossip problem: Let the information of each point of a set \(X\) be conveyed to each point of a set \(Y\) by \(k\)-party conference calls. These calls are organized step-wisely, such that each point takes part in at most one call per step. During a call all the \(k\) participants exchange all the information they already know. We investigate the mutual dependence of the number \(L\) of calls and the number \(T\) of steps of such an information exchange. At first a general lower bound for \(L.k^T\) is proved. For the case that \(X\) and \(Y\) equal the set of all participants, we give lower bounds for \(L\) or \(T\), if \(T\) resp. \(L\) is as small as possible. Using these results the existence of information exchanges with minimum \(L\) and \(T\) is investigated. For \(k = 2\) we prove that for even \(n\), there is one of this kind if \(n \leq 8\).