Found problems: 67
2020 Australian Maths Olympiad, 2
Amy and Bec play the following game. Initially, there are three piles, each containing $2020$ stones. The players take turns to make a move, with Amy going first. Each move consists of choosing one of the piles available, removing the unchosen pile(s) from the game, and then dividing the chosen pile into $2$ or $3$ non-empty piles. A player loses the game if he/she is unable to make a move.
Prove that Bec can always win the game, no matter how Amy plays.
2018 Brazil National Olympiad, 3
Let $k$, $n$ be fixed positive integers. In a circular table, there are placed pins numbered successively with the numbers $1, 2 \dots, n$, with $1$ and $n$ neighbors. It is known that pin $1$ is golden and the others are white. Arnaldo and Bernaldo play a game, in which a ring is placed initially on one of the pins and at each step it changes position. The game begins with Bernaldo choosing a starting pin for the ring, and the first step consists of the following: Arnaldo chooses a positive integer $d$ any and Bernaldo moves the ring $d$ pins clockwise or counterclockwise (positions are considered modulo $n$, i.e., pins $x$, $y$ equal if and only if $n$ divides $x-y$). After that, the ring changes its position according to one of the following rules, to be chosen at every step by Arnaldo:
[b]Rule 1:[/b] Arnaldo chooses a positive integer $d$ and Bernaldo moves the ring $d$ pins clockwise or counterclockwise.
[b]Rule 2:[/b] Arnaldo chooses a direction (clockwise or counterclockwise), and Bernaldo moves the ring in the chosen direction in $d$ or $kd$ pins, where $d$ is the size of the last displacement performed.
Arnaldo wins if, after a finite number of steps, the ring is moved to the golden pin. Determine, as a function of $k$, the values of $n$ for which Arnaldo has a strategy that guarantees his victory, no matter how Bernaldo plays.
1998 Brazil National Olympiad, 1
Two players play a game as follows. The first player chooses two non-zero integers A and B. The second player forms a quadratic with A, B and 1998 as coefficients (in any order). The first player wins iff the equation has two distinct rational roots. Show that the first player can always win.
2020 Thailand TST, 6
There are 60 empty boxes $B_1,\ldots,B_{60}$ in a row on a table and an unlimited supply of pebbles. Given a positive integer $n$, Alice and Bob play the following game.
In the first round, Alice takes $n$ pebbles and distributes them into the 60 boxes as she wishes. Each subsequent round consists of two steps:
(a) Bob chooses an integer $k$ with $1\leq k\leq 59$ and splits the boxes into the two groups $B_1,\ldots,B_k$ and $B_{k+1},\ldots,B_{60}$.
(b) Alice picks one of these two groups, adds one pebble to each box in that group, and removes one pebble from each box in the other group.
Bob wins if, at the end of any round, some box contains no pebbles. Find the smallest $n$ such that Alice can prevent Bob from winning.
[i]Czech Republic[/i]
2019 Kosovo Team Selection Test, 1
There are 2019 cards in a box. Each card has a number written on one of its sides and a letter on the other side. Amy and Ben play the following game: in the beginning Amy takes all the cards, places them on a line and then she flips as many cards as she wishes. Each time Ben touches a card he has to flip it and its neighboring cards. Ben is allowed to have as many as 2019 touches. Ben wins if all the cards are on the numbers' side, otherwise Amy wins. Determine who has a winning strategy.
2021 Israel TST, 3
A game is played on a $n \times n$ chessboard. In the beginning Bars the cat occupies any cell according to his choice. The $d$ sparrows land on certain cells according to their choice (several sparrows may land in the same cell). Bars and the sparrows play in turns. In each turn of Bars, he moves to a cell adjacent by a side or a vertex (like a king in chess). In each turn of the sparrows, precisely one of the sparrows flies from its current cell to any other cell of his choice. The goal of Bars is to get to a cell containing a sparrow. Can Bars achieve his goal
a) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{25}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
b) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{19}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
c) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{14}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
2001 Saint Petersburg Mathematical Olympiad, 9.1
All the cells of a $10\times10$ board are colored white initially. Two players are playing a game with alternating moves. A move consists of coloring any un-colored cell black. A player is considered to loose, if after his move no white domino is left. Which of the players has a winning strategy?
[I]Proposed by A. Khrabrov[/i]
2019 ELMO Shortlist, C4
Let $n \ge 3$ be a fixed integer. A game is played by $n$ players sitting in a circle. Initially, each player draws three cards from a shuffled deck of $3n$ cards numbered $1, 2, \dots, 3n$. Then, on each turn, every player simultaneously passes the smallest-numbered card in their hand one place clockwise and the largest-numbered card in their hand one place counterclockwise, while keeping the middle card.
Let $T_r$ denote the configuration after $r$ turns (so $T_0$ is the initial configuration). Show that $T_r$ is eventually periodic with period $n$, and find the smallest integer $m$ for which, regardless of the initial configuration, $T_m=T_{m+n}$.
[i]Proposed by Carl Schildkraut and Colin Tang[/i]
1995 Belarus National Olympiad, Problem 7
The expression $1\oplus2\oplus3\oplus4\oplus5\oplus6\oplus7\oplus8\oplus9$ is written on a blackboard. Bill and Peter play the following game. They replace $\oplus$ by $+$ or $\cdot$, making their moves in turn, and one of them can use only $+$, while the other one can use only $\cdot$. At the beginning, Bill selects the sign he will use, and he tries to make the result an even number. Peter tries to make the result an odd number. Prove that Peter can always win.
[hide=Original Wording]The expression $1*2*3*4*5*6*7*8*9$ is written on a blackboard. Bill and Peter play the following game. They replace $*$ by $+$ or $\cdot$, making their moves in turn, and one of them can use only $+$, while the other one can use only $\cdot$. At the beginning Bill selects the sign he will use, and he tries to make the result an even number. Peter tries to make the result an odd number. Prove that Peter can always win.[/hide]
2021 Cono Sur Olympiad, 4
In a heap there are $2021$ stones. Two players $A$ and $B$ play removing stones of the pile, alternately starting with $A$. A valid move for $A$ consists of remove $1, 2$ or $7$ stones. A valid move for B is to remove $1, 3, 4$ or $6$ stones. The player who leaves the pile empty after making a valid move wins. Determine if some of the players have a winning strategy. If such a strategy exists, explain it.
Kvant 2020, M2612
Peter and Basil play the following game on a horizontal table $1\times{2019}$. Initially Peter chooses $n$ positive integers and writes them on a board. After that Basil puts a coin in one of the cells. Then at each move, Peter announces a number s among the numbers written on the board, and Basil needs to shift the coin by $s$ cells, if it is possible: either to the left, or to the right, by his decision. In case it is not possible to shift the coin by $s$ cells neither to the left, nor to the right, the coin stays in the current cell. Find the least $n$ such that Peter can play so that the coin will visit all the cells, regardless of the way Basil plays.
2018 Turkey Junior National Olympiad, 2
We are placing rooks on a $n \cdot n$ chess table that providing this condition:
Every two rooks will threaten an empty square at least.
What is the most number of rooks?
Russian TST 2020, P3
There are 60 empty boxes $B_1,\ldots,B_{60}$ in a row on a table and an unlimited supply of pebbles. Given a positive integer $n$, Alice and Bob play the following game.
In the first round, Alice takes $n$ pebbles and distributes them into the 60 boxes as she wishes. Each subsequent round consists of two steps:
(a) Bob chooses an integer $k$ with $1\leq k\leq 59$ and splits the boxes into the two groups $B_1,\ldots,B_k$ and $B_{k+1},\ldots,B_{60}$.
(b) Alice picks one of these two groups, adds one pebble to each box in that group, and removes one pebble from each box in the other group.
Bob wins if, at the end of any round, some box contains no pebbles. Find the smallest $n$ such that Alice can prevent Bob from winning.
[i]Czech Republic[/i]
2019 Canada National Olympiad, 5
A 2-player game is played on $n\geq 3$ points, where no 3 points are collinear. Each move consists of selecting 2 of the points and drawing a new line segment connecting them. The first player to draw a line segment that creates an odd cycle loses. (An odd cycle must have all its vertices among the $n$ points from the start, so the vertices of the cycle cannot be the intersections of the lines drawn.) Find all $n$ such that the player to move first wins.
2020 IMO Shortlist, C8
Players $A$ and $B$ play a game on a blackboard that initially contains 2020 copies of the number 1 . In every round, player $A$ erases two numbers $x$ and $y$ from the blackboard, and then player $B$ writes one of the numbers $x+y$ and $|x-y|$ on the blackboard. The game terminates as soon as, at the end of some round, one of the following holds:
[list]
[*] $(1)$ one of the numbers on the blackboard is larger than the sum of all other numbers;
[*] $(2)$ there are only zeros on the blackboard.
[/list]
Player $B$ must then give as many cookies to player $A$ as there are numbers on the blackboard. Player $A$ wants to get as many cookies as possible, whereas player $B$ wants to give as few as possible. Determine the number of cookies that $A$ receives if both players play optimally.
2020 Brazil Undergrad MO, Problem 5
Let $N$ a positive integer.
In a spaceship there are $2 \cdot N$ people, and each two of them are friends or foes (both relationships are symmetric). Two aliens play a game as follows:
1) The first alien chooses any person as she wishes.
2) Thenceforth, alternately, each alien chooses one person not chosen before such that the person chosen on each turn be a friend of the person chosen on the previous turn.
3) The alien that can't play in her turn loses.
Prove that second player has a winning strategy [i]if, and only if[/i], the $2 \cdot N$ people can be divided in $N$ pairs in such a way that two people in the same pair are friends.
2015 USA TSTST, 6
A [i]Nim-style game[/i] is defined as follows. Two positive integers $k$ and $n$ are specified, along with a finite set $S$ of $k$-tuples of integers (not necessarily positive). At the start of the game, the $k$-tuple $(n, 0, 0, ..., 0)$ is written on the blackboard.
A legal move consists of erasing the tuple $(a_1,a_2,...,a_k)$ which is written on the blackboard and replacing it with $(a_1+b_1, a_2+b_2, ..., a_k+b_k)$, where $(b_1, b_2, ..., b_k)$ is an element of the set $S$. Two players take turns making legal moves, and the first to write a negative integer loses. In the event that neither player is ever forced to write a negative integer, the game is a draw.
Prove that there is a choice of $k$ and $S$ with the following property: the first player has a winning strategy if $n$ is a power of 2, and otherwise the second player has a winning strategy.
[i]Proposed by Linus Hamilton[/i]
2017 Australian MO, 3
Anna and Berta play a game in which they take turns in removing marbles from a table. Anna takes the first turn. When at the beginning of the turn there are $n\geq 1$ marbles on the table, then the player whose turn it is removes $k$ marbles, where $k\geq 1$ either is an even number with $k\leq \frac{n}{2}$ or an odd number with $\frac{n}{2}\leq k\leq n$. A player win the game if she removes the last marble from the table.
Determine the smallest number $N\geq 100000$ such that Berta can enforce a victory if there are exactly $N$ marbles on the tale in the beginning.
2016 Brazil National Olympiad, 3
Let it \(k\) be a fixed positive integer. Alberto and Beralto play the following game:
Given an initial number \(N_0\) and starting with Alberto, they alternately do the following operation: change the number \(n\) for a number \(m\) such that \(m < n\) and \(m\) and \(n\) differ, in its base-2 representation, in exactly \(l\) consecutive digits for some \(l\) such that \(1 \leq l \leq k\).
If someone can't play, he loses.
We say a non-negative integer \(t\) is a [i]winner[/i] number when the gamer who receives the number \(t\) has a winning strategy, that is, he can choose the next numbers in order to guarrantee his own victory, regardless the options of the other player.
Else, we call it [i]loser[/i].
Prove that, for every positive integer \(N\), the total of non-negative loser integers lesser than \(2^N\) is \(2^{N-\lfloor \frac{log(min\{N,k\})}{log 2} \rfloor}\)
2019 South East Mathematical Olympiad, 7
Amy and Bob choose numbers from $0,1,2,\cdots,81$ in turn and Amy choose the number first. Every time the one who choose number chooses one number from the remaining numbers. When all $82$ numbers are chosen, let $A$ be the sum of all the numbers Amy chooses, and let $B$ be the sum of all the numbers Bob chooses. During the process, Amy tries to make $\gcd(A,B)$ as great as possible, and Bob tries to make $\gcd(A,B)$ as little as possible. Suppose Amy and Bob take the best strategy of each one, respectively, determine $\gcd(A,B)$ when all $82$ numbers are chosen.
JOM 2015 Shortlist, C7
Navi and Ozna are playing a game where Ozna starts first and the two take turn making moves. A positive integer is written on the waord. A move is to (i) subtract any positive integer at most 2015 from it or (ii) given that the integer on the board is divisible by $2014$, divide by $2014$. The first person to make the integer $0$ wins. To make Navi's condition worse, Ozna gets to pick integers $a$ and $b$, $a\ge 2015$ such that all numbers of the form $an+b$ will not be the starting integer, where $n$ is any positive integer.
Find the minimum number of starting integer where Navi wins.
2017 German National Olympiad, 3
General Tilly and the Duke of Wallenstein play "Divide and rule!" (Divide et impera!).
To this end, they arrange $N$ tin soldiers in $M$ companies and command them by turns.
Both of them must give a command and execute it in their turn.
Only two commands are possible: The command "[i]Divide![/i]" chooses one company and divides it into two companies, where the commander is free to choose their size, the only condition being that both companies must contain at least one tin soldier.
On the other hand, the command "[i]Rule![/i]" removes exactly one tin soldier from each company.
The game is lost if in your turn you can't give a command without losing a company. Wallenstein starts to command.
a) Can he force Tilly to lose if they start with $7$ companies of $7$ tin soldiers each?
b) Who loses if they start with $M \ge 1$ companies consisting of $n_1 \ge 1, n_2 \ge 1, \dotsc, n_M \ge 1$ $(n_1+n_2+\dotsc+n_M=N)$ tin soldiers?
2021 Israel TST, 3
A game is played on a $n \times n$ chessboard. In the beginning Bars the cat occupies any cell according to his choice. The $d$ sparrows land on certain cells according to their choice (several sparrows may land in the same cell). Bars and the sparrows play in turns. In each turn of Bars, he moves to a cell adjacent by a side or a vertex (like a king in chess). In each turn of the sparrows, precisely one of the sparrows flies from its current cell to any other cell of his choice. The goal of Bars is to get to a cell containing a sparrow. Can Bars achieve his goal
a) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{25}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
b) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{19}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
c) if $d=\lfloor \frac{3\cdot n^2}{14}\rfloor$, assuming $n$ is large enough?
1998 Brazil National Olympiad, 3
Two players play a game as follows: there $n > 1$ rounds and $d \geq 1$ is fixed. In the first round A picks a positive integer $m_1$, then B picks a positive integer $n_1 \not = m_1$. In round $k$ (for $k = 2, \ldots , n$), A picks an integer $m_k$ such that $m_{k-1} < m_k \leq m_{k-1} + d$. Then B picks an integer $n_k$ such that $n_{k-1} < n_k \leq n_{k-1} + d$. A gets $\gcd(m_k,n_{k-1})$ points and B gets $\gcd(m_k,n_k)$ points. After $n$ rounds, A wins if he has at least as many points as B, otherwise he loses.
For each $(n, d)$ which player has a winning strategy?
2020 Kosovo National Mathematical Olympiad, 1
Two players, Agon and Besa, choose a number from the set $\{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8\}$, in turns, until no number is left. Then, each player sums all the numbers that he has chosen. We say that a player wins if the sum of his chosen numbers is a prime and the sum of the numbers that his opponent has chosen is composite. In the contrary, the game ends in a draw. Agon starts first. Does there exist a winning strategy for any of the players?