Found problems: 1385
The Devil and the Man play a game. Initially, the Man pays some cash $s$ to the Devil. Then he lists some $97$ triples $\{i,j,k\}$ consisting of positive integers not exceeding $100$. After that, the Devil draws some convex polygon $A_1A_2...A_{100}$ with area $100$ and pays to the Man, the sum of areas of all triangles $A_iA_jA_k$. Determine the maximal value of $s$ which guarantees that the Man receives at least as much cash as he paid.
[i]Proposed by Nikolai Beluhov, Bulgaria[/i]
The numbers from $1$ to $2017$ are written on a board. Deka and Farid play the following game :
each of them, on his turn, erases one of the numbers. Anyone who erases a multiple of $2, 3$ or $5$ loses and the game is over. Is there a winning strategy for Deka ?
Let $n\ge3$ be an integer. A circle is divided into $2n$ arcs by $2n$ points. Each arc has one of three possible lengths, and no two adjacent arcs have the same lengths. The $2n$ points are colored alternately red and blue. Prove that the $n$-gon with red vertices and the $n$-gon with blue vertices have the same perimeter and the same area.
Two players $A$ and $B$ play the following game. An even number of cells are placed on a circle. $A$ begins and $A$ and $B$ play alternately, where each move consists of choosing a free cell and writing either $O$ or $M$ in it. The player after whose move the word $OMO$ (OMO = [i]Osterreichische Mathematik Olympiade[/i]) occurs for the first time in three successive cells wins the game. If no such word occurs, then the game is a draw. Prove that if player $B$ plays correctly, then player $A$ cannot win.
The game of Penta is played with teams of five players each, and there are five roles the players can play. Each of the five players chooses two of five roles they wish to play. If each player chooses their roles randomly, what is the probability that each role will have exactly two players?
Azambuja writes a rational number $q$ on a blackboard. One operation is to delete $q$ and replace it by $q+1$; or by $q-1$; or by $\frac{q-1}{2q-1}$ if $q \neq \frac{1}{2}$. The final goal of Azambuja is to write the number $\frac{1}{2018}$ after performing a finite number of operations.
[b]a)[/b] Show that if the initial number written is $0$, then Azambuja cannot reach his goal.
[b]b)[/b] Find all initial numbers for which Azambuja can achieve his goal.
Two players play the following game starting with one pile of at least two stones. A player in turn chooses one of the piles and divides it into two or three nonempty piles. The player who cannot make a legal move loses the game. Which player has a winning strategy?
Anja and Bernd take turns in removing stones from a heap, initially consisting of $n$ stones ($n \ge 2$). Anja begins, removing at least one but not all the stones. Afterwards, in each turn the player has to remove at least one stone and at most as many stones as removed in the preceding move. The player removing the last stone wins.
Depending on the value of $n$, which player can ensure a win?
Alexandre and Bernado are playing the following game. At the beginning, there are $n$ balls in a bag. At first turn, Alexandre can take one ball from the bag; at second turn, Bernado can take one or two balls from the bag, and so on. So they take turns and in $k$ turn, they can take a number of balls from $1$ to $k$. Wins the one who makes the bag empty.
For each value of $n$, find who has the winning strategy.
The King called two wizards. He ordered First Wizard to write down $100$ positive integers (not necessarily distinct) on cards without revealing them to Second Wizard. Second Wizard must correctly determine all these integers, otherwise both wizards will lose their heads. First Wizard is allowed to provide Second Wizard with a list of distinct integers, each of which is either one of the integers on the cards or a sum of some of these integers. He is not allowed to tell which integers are on the cards and which integers are their sums. If Second Wizard correctly determines all $100$ integers
the King tears as many hairs from each wizard's beard as the number of integers in the list given to Second Wizard. What is the minimal number of hairs each wizard should sacri ce to stay alive?
Let $n$ be a positive integer. Two players $A$ and $B$ play a game in which they take turns choosing positive integers $k \le n$. The rules of the game are:
(i) A player cannot choose a number that has been chosen by either player on any previous turn.
(ii) A player cannot choose a number consecutive to any of those the player has already chosen on any previous turn.
(iii) The game is a draw if all numbers have been chosen; otherwise the player who cannot choose a number anymore loses the game.
The player $A$ takes the first turn. Determine the outcome of the game, assuming that both players use optimal strategies.
[i]Proposed by Finland[/i]
A circular game board is divided into $n \ge 3$ sectors. Each sector is either empty or occupied by a marker. In each step one chooses an occupied sector, removes its marker and then switches each of the two adjacent sectors from occupied to empty or vice-versa. Starting with a single occupied sector, for which $n$ is it possible to end up with all empty sectors after finitely many steps?
Let $ p \geq 2$ be a prime number. Eduardo and Fernando play the following game making moves alternately: in each move, the current player chooses an index $i$ in the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots, p-1 \}$ that was not chosen before by either of the two players and then chooses an element $a_i$ from the set $\{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9\}$. Eduardo has the first move. The game ends after all the indices have been chosen .Then the following number is computed:
$$M=a_0+a_110+a_210^2+\cdots+a_{p-1}10^{p-1}= \sum_{i=0}^{p-1}a_i.10^i$$.
The goal of Eduardo is to make $M$ divisible by $p$, and the goal of Fernando is to prevent this.
Prove that Eduardo has a winning strategy.
[i]Proposed by Amine Natik, Morocco[/i]
The $2016$ players in the Gensokyo Tennis Club are playing Up and Down the River. The players first randomly form $1008$ pairs, and each pair is assigned to a tennis court (The courts are numbered from $1$ to $1008$). Every day, the two players on the same court play a match against each other to determine a winner and a loser. For $2\le i\le 1008$, the winner on court $i$ will move to court $i-1$ the next day (and the winner on court $1$ does not move). Likewise, for $1\le j\le 1007$, the loser on court $j$ will move to court $j+1$ the next day (and the loser on court $1008$ does not move). On Day $1$, Reimu is playing on court $123$ and Marisa is playing on court $876$. Find the smallest positive integer value of $n$ for which it is possible that Reimu and Marisa play one another on Day $n$.
[i]Proposed by Yannick Yao[/i]
A game for two.
One gives a digit and the second substitutes it instead of a star in the following difference:
$$**** - **** = $$
Then the first gives the next digit, and so on $8$ times.
The first wants to obtain the greatest possible difference, the second -- the least. Prove that:
1. The first can operate in such a way that the difference would be not less than $4000$, not depending on the second's behaviour.
2. The second can operate in such a way that the difference would be not greater than $4000$, not depending on the first's behaviour.
A cube 10x10x10 is constructed from 1000 white unit cubes. Polly and Velly play the following game: Velly chooses a certain amount of parallelepipeds 1x1x10, no two of which have a common vertex or an edge, and repaints them in black. Polly can choose an arbitrary number of unit cubes and ask Velly for their color. What’s the least amount of unit cubes she has to choose so that she can determine the color of each unit cube?
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.
Two players take turns playing on a $3\times1001$ board whose squares are initially all white. Each player, in his turn, paints two squares located in the same row or column black, not necessarily adjacent. The player who cannot make his move loses the game. Determine which of the two players has a strategy that allows them to win, no matter how well his opponent plays.
The box contains a complete set of dominoes. Two players take turns choosing one dice from the box and placing them on the table, applying them to the already laid out chain on either of the two sides according to the rules of domino. The one who cannot make his next move loses. Who will win if they both played correctly?
(a) An infinite sheet is divided into squares by two sets of parallel lines. Two players play the following game: the first player chooses a square and colours it red, the second player chooses a non-coloured square and colours it blue, the first player chooses a non-coloured square and colours it red, the second player chooses a non-coloured square and colours it blue, and so on. The goal of the first player is to colour four squares whose vertices form a square with sides parallel to the lines of the two parallel sets. The goal of the second player is to prevent him. Can the first player win?
(b) What is the answer to this question if the second player is permitted to colour two squares at once?
(DG Azov)
PS. (a) for Juniors, (a),(b) for Seniors
Each cell in a \( 2024 \times 2024 \) table contains the letter \( A \) or \( B \), with the number of \( A \)'s in each row being the same and the number of \( B \)'s in each column being the same. Alexandra and Boris play the following game, alternating turns, with Alexandra going first. On each turn, the player chooses a row or column and erases all the letters in it that have not yet been erased, as long as at least one letter is erased during the turn, and at the end of the turn, at least one letter remains in the table. The game ends when exactly one letter remains in the table. Alexandra wins the game if the letter is \( A \), and Boris wins if it is \( B \). What is the number of initial tables for which Alexandra has a winning strategy?
Four heaps contain $38,45,61$ and $70$ matches respectively. Two players take turn choosing any two of the heaps and take some non-zero number of matches from one heap and some non-zero number of matches from the other heap. The player who cannot make a move, loses. Which one of the players has a winning strategy ?
There are $100$ diamonds on the pile, $50$ of which are genuine and $50$ false. We invited a peculiar expert who alone can recognize which are which. Every time we show him some three diamonds, he would pick two and tell (truthfully) how many of them are genuine . Decide whether we can surely detect all genuine diamonds regardless how the expert chooses the pairs to be considered.
Bob and Cob are playing a game on an infinite grid of hexagons. On Bob's turn, he chooses one hexagon that has not yet been chosen, and draws a segment from the center of the hexagon to the midpoints of three of its sides. On Cob's turn, he erases one of Bob's edges made on the previous turn. Bob wins if his edges form a closed loop. Can Bob guarantee to win in a finite amount of time? (Note that Bob may win before Cob can play his next turn.)
Proposed by [i]Jonathan He[/i]
On an infi nite grid, a square with four vertices lie at $(m, n)$, $(m-1, n)$, $(m,n-1)$, $(m-1, n-1)$ is denoted as cell $(m,n)$ $(m, n \in Z)$. Some marbles are dropped on some cell. Each cell may have more than one marble or have no marble at all. Consider a "move" can be conducted in one of two following ways:
i) Remove one marble from cell $(m,n)$ (if there is marble at that cell), then add one marble to each of cell $(m - 1, n- 2)$ and cell $(m -2, n - 1)$.
ii) Remove two marbles from cell $(m,n)$ (if there is marble at that cell), then add one marble to each of cell $(m +1, n - 2)$ and cell $(m - 2, n +1)$.
Assume that initially, there are $n$ marbles at the cell $(1,n), (2,n - 1),..., (n, 1)$ (each cell contains one marble). Can we conduct an finite amount of moves such that both cells $(n + 1, n)$ and $(n, n + 1)$ have marbles?