Question

Testing one two three. A professor wishes to distribute one examination to each student in the class. What is the most efficient way for her to determine whether she has more students than exams: Pass out the exams or count?

Answer 1

The professor would want to know whether she has more students than tests because if students are more then she has to get more copies of tests but if tests are more in number she would have any problem and can give 1 test to each student. So in this situation the final aim is to distribute the test and to ensure that each student gets one.

So, it will be efficient if she passes out the tests and if the count falls short then get more copies. If she first takes the count of students, then also she has to distribute those tests. So counting students will be a futile exercise.