The exact gossiping problem

Abstract

This paper studies a variation of the gossiping problem, where there are n persons, each of whom initially has a message. A pair of persons can pass all messages they have by making one telephone call. The exact gossiping problem is to determine the minimum number of calls for each person to know exactly k messages. This paper gives solution to the problem for k less than or equal to 4 or i + 2(k - i - 2) less than or equal to n less than or equal to i - 2 + 2(k - i - 1) with k/2 - 1 less than or equal to i less than or equal to k - 4.