General bin packing problem. Instead of checking if the pair of people "fit", however, you test against your own constraints - they are not SO. If not, pair them, move the pair into the bin, and move on with the remaining people.

Some pseudocode

global results = ();
function match (people) {
  if (people.empty) {
    return SUCCESS
  }
  $x = people.pop;
  foreach $y (people) {
    if (validpair($x, $y) {
      if (match(people.remove($y)) == SUCCESS) {
        results.push( {$x, $y} );
        return SUCCESS;
      }
    }
  }
  return FAILURE;
}

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--MidLifeXis

In reply to Re: Gift Exchange Code by MidLifeXis
in thread Gift Exchange Code by agianni

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