Splitting values into groups evenly

Question

Let me try to explain the situation the best I can.

Lets say I have 3 values

1, 2, 3

I tell an algorithm to split this values into

Answer 1

I would do it like this:

• add all the values, let's call this S
• divide S by the number of columns, let's call this M.
• find a set of values of which the sum is M or as close as possible to M, using a knapsack algorithm (e.g. http://search.cpan.org/~andale/Algorithm-Knapsack-0.02/lib/Algorithm/Knapsack.pm (just a quick Google on knapsack))
• take the sum of the set of values and subtract it from S, let's call it T.
• divide T by the number of columns minus 1
• and repeat the algorithm