ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Fair subset sum problem

Okay kiddo, imagine you have a bunch of toys that cost different numbers of coins. You want to split them up fairly with your friend so that you both get toys that add up to the same number of coins. The Fair Subset Sum Problem is like that but with a bunch of numbers instead of toys.

Let's say you have a list of numbers like [2, 4, 6, 8]. To solve this problem, you need to figure out if it's possible to split the list into two subsets where the sum of the numbers in each subset is equal.

So, can we split [2, 4, 6, 8] into two parts where one adds up to the same number as the other?

One way to solve this problem is to try all possible subsets and see if the sum of the numbers in one subset equals the sum of the numbers in the other. But that takes a really long time, especially if there are a lot of numbers in the list.

Scientists have come up with smarter ways to solve this problem quickly, but it's still a tricky problem to figure out.

So in summary, the Fair Subset Sum Problem is trying to split up a list of numbers into two subsets where the sum of each subset is equal. It's like trying to divide your toys fairly with your friend so you both get the same number of coins worth of toys.