  We address a well-known problem in combinatorics involving the identification
of counterfeit coins with a systematic approach. The methodology can be applied
to cases where the total number of coins is exceedingly large such that brute
force or enumerative comparisons become impractical. Based on the principle
behind this approach, the minimum effort necessary for identification of the
counterfeit coin can be determined and expressed as a simple relation. We
further suggest a possible application of this methodology to error detection
in quantum information processing.
