On the generalized Josephus problem (Q1881433)

The paper deals with the mathematics of dipping rhymes better known as the generalised Josephus problem. The problem is to determine the \(k\)th point to be removed if given a circular ordering of the points \(1,\dots, n\) one starts counting and removes every \(m\)th point. In the first four sections the author lists and proves a number of existing general results. He claims that his proofs are somewhat simpler than the original ones. Section 5 focusses on the special case of determining the last point to be removed (given the other parameters). In Section 6 some examples of this special case are examined somewhat further. The last section is devoted to so called limitative numbers i.e. the numbers \(n\) such that for given \(m\) the last number to be removed is 1.