Found problems: 83
Let $n$ be a positive integer. Aslı and Zehra are playing a game on an $n\times n$ grid. Initially, $10n^2$ stones are placed on some of the unit squares of this grid.
On each move (starting with Aslı), Aslı chooses a row or a column that contains at least two squares with different numbers of stones, and Zehra redistributes the stones in that row or column so that after redistribution, the difference in the number of stones between any two squares in that row or column is at most one. Furthermore, this move must change the number of stones in at least one square.
For which values of $n$, regardless of the initial placement of the stones, can Aslı guarantee that every square ends up with the same number of stones?
We are given a natural number $k$. Let us consider the following game on an infinite onedimensional board. At the start of the game, we distrubute $n$ coins on the fields of the given board (one field can have multiple coins on itself). After that, we have two choices for the following moves:
$(i)$ We choose two nonempty fields next to each other, and we transfer all the coins from one of the fields to the other.
$(ii)$ We choose a field with at least $2$ coins on it, and we transfer one coin from the chosen field to the $k-\mathrm{th}$ field on the left , and one coin from the chosen field to the $k-\mathrm{th}$ field on the right.
$\mathbf{(a)}$ If $n\leq k+1$, prove that we can play only finitely many moves.
$\mathbf{(b)}$ For which values of $k$ we can choose a natural number $n$ and distribute $n$ coins on the given board such that we can play infinitely many moves.
A regular icosahedron is a regular solid of $20$ faces, each in the form of an equilateral triangle, with $12$ vertices, so that each vertex is in $5$ edges.
Twelve indistinguishable candies are glued to the vertices of a regular icosahedron (one at each vertex), and four of these twelve candies are special. André and Lucas want to together create a strategy for the following game:
• First, André is told which are the four special sweets and he must remove exactly four sweets that are not special from the icosahedron and leave the solid on a table, leaving afterwards without communicating with Lucas.
• Later, Sponchi, who wants to prevent Lucas from discovering the special sweets, can pick up the icosahedron from the table and rotate it however he wants.
• After Sponchi makes his move, he leaves the room, Lucas enters and he must determine the four special candies out of the eight that remain in the icosahedron.
Determine if there is a strategy for which Lucas can always properly discover the four special sweets.
Two intelligent people playing a game on the $1403 \times 1403$ table with $1403^2$ cells. The first one in each turn chooses a cell that didn't select before and draws a vertical line segment from the top to the bottom of the cell. The second person in each turn chooses a cell that didn't select before and draws a horizontal line segment from the left to the right of the cell. After $1403^2$ steps the game will be over. The first person gets points equal to the longest verticals line segment and analogously the second person gets point equal to the longest horizonal line segment. At the end the person who gets the more point will win the game. What will be the result of the game?
In the beginning there are $100$ integers in a row on the blackboard. Kain and Abel then play the following game: A [i]move[/i] consists in Kain choosing a chain of consecutive numbers; the length of the chain can be any of the numbers $1,2,\dots,100$ and in particular it is allowed that Kain only chooses a single number. After Kain has chosen his chain of numbers, Abel has to decide whether he wants to add $1$ to each of the chosen numbers or instead subtract $1$ from of the numbers. After that the next move begins, and so on.
If there are at least $98$ numbers on the blackboard that are divisible by $4$ after a move, then Kain has won.
Prove that Kain can force a win in a finite number of moves.
Let $n$ and $k$ be positive integers satisfying $k\leq2n^2$. Lee and Sunny play a game with a $2n\times2n$ grid paper. First, Lee writes a non-negative real number no greater than $1$ in each of the cells, so that the sum of all numbers on the paper is $k$. Then, Sunny divides the paper into few pieces such that each piece is constructed by several complete and connected cells, and the sum of all numbers on each piece is at most $1$. There are no restrictions on the shape of each piece. (Cells are connected if they share a common edge.)
Let $M$ be the number of pieces. Lee wants to maximize $M$, while Sunny wants to minimize $M$. Find the value of $M$ when Lee and Sunny both play optimally.
Given an odd integer $n \geq 3$. Let $V$ be the set of vertices of a regular $n$-gon, and $P$ be the set of all regular polygons formed by points in $V$. For instance, when $n=15$, $P$ consists of $1$ regular $15$-gon, $3$ regular pentagons, and $5$ regular triangles.
Initially, all points in $V$ are uncolored. Two players, $A$ and $B$, play a game where they take turns coloring an uncolored point, with player $A$ starting and coloring points red, and player $B$ coloring points blue. The game ends when all points are colored. A regular polygon in $P$ is called $\textit{good}$ if it has more red points than blue points.
Find the largest positive integer $k$ such that no matter how player $B$ plays, player $A$ can ensure that there are at least $k$ $\textit{good}$ polygons.
There are $2003$ pieces of candy on a table. Two players alternately make moves. A move consists of eating one candy or half of the candies on the table (the “lesser half” if there are an odd number of candies). At least one candy must be eaten at each move. The loser is the one who eats the last candy. Which player has a winning strategy?
Given an $1$ x $n$ table ($n\geq 2$), two players alternate the moves in which they write the signs + and - in the cells of the table. The first player always writes +, while the second always writes -. It is not allowed for two equal signs to appear in the adjacent cells. The player who can’t make a move loses the game. Which of the players has a winning strategy?
Ali has $100$ cards with numbers $1,2,\ldots,100$. Ali and Amin play a game together. In each step, first Ali chooses a card from the remaining cards and Amin decides to pick that card for himself or throw it away. In the case that he picks the card, he can't pick the next card chosen by Amin, and he has to throw it away. This action repeats until when there is no remaining card for Ali.
Amin wants to pick cards in a way that the sum of the number of his cards is maximized and Ali wants to choose cards in a way that the sum of the number of Amin's cards is minimized. Find the most value of $k$ such that Amin can play in a way that is sure the sum of the number of his cards will be at least equal to $k$.
Let $n \geq 3$ be an integer. Two players play a game on an empty graph with $n + 1$ vertices, consisting of the vertices of a regular n-gon and its center. They alternately select a vertex of the n-gon and draw an edge (that has not been drawn) to an adjacent vertex on the n-gon or to the center of the n-gon. The player who first makes the graph connected wins. Between the player who goes first and the player who goes second, who has a winning strategy?
[i]Note: an empty graph is a graph with no edges.[/i]
A pile of $2000$ coins is given on a table. In each step, we choose a pile with at least three coins, remove one coin from it, and divide the rest of this pile into two piles (not necessarily of the same size). Is it possible that after several steps each pile on the table has exactly three coins?
There are $10$ cups, each having $10$ pebbles in them. Two players $A$ and $B$ play a game, repeating the following in order each move:
$\bullet$ $B$ takes one pebble from each cup and redistributes them as $A$ wishes.
$\bullet$ After $B$ distributes the pebbles, he tells how many pebbles are in each cup to $A$. Then $B$ destroys all the cups having no pebbles.
$\bullet$ $B$ switches the places of two cups without telling $A$.
After finitely many moves, $A$ can guarantee that $n$ cups are destroyed. Find the maximum possible value of $n$.
(Note that $A$ doesn't see the cups while playing.)
[i]Proposed by Emre Osman[/i]
Alice and Bob play the following game. To start, Alice arranges the numbers $1,2,\ldots,n$ in some order in a row and then Bob chooses one of the numbers and places a pebble on it. A player's [i]turn[/i] consists of picking up and placing the pebble on an adjacent number under the restriction that the pebble can be placed on the number $k$ at most $k$ times. The two players alternate taking turns beginning with Alice. The first player who cannot make a move loses. For each positive integer $n$, determine who has a winning strategy.
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]
Andy, Bella, and Chris are playing in a trivia contest. Andy has $21,200$ points, Bella has $23,600$ points, and Chris has $11,200$ points. They have reached the final round, which works as follows:
[list]
[*] they are given a hint as to what the only question of the round will be about;
[*] then, each of them must bet some amount of their points---this bet must be a nonnegative integer (a player does not know any of the other players' bets, and this bet cannot be changed later on);
[*] then, they will be shown the question, where they will have $30$ seconds to individually submit a response (a player does not know any of the other players' answers);
[*] finally, once time runs out, their responses and bets are revealed---if a player's response is correct, then the number of points they bet will be added to their score, otherwise, it will be subtracted from their score, and whoever ends up having the most points wins the contest (if there is a tie for the win, then the winner is randomly decided).
[/list]
Suppose that the contestants are currently deciding their bets based on the hint that the question will be about history. Bella knows that she will likely get the question wrong, but she also knows that Andy, who dislikes history, will definitely get it wrong. Knowing this, Bella wagers an amount that will guarantee her a win. Find the maximum number of points Bella could have ended up with.
On the circle, 99 points are marked, dividing this circle into 99 equal arcs. Petya and Vasya play the game, taking turns. Petya goes first; on his first move, he paints in red or blue any marked point. Then each player can paint on his own turn, in red or blue, any uncolored marked point adjacent to the already painted one. Vasya wins, if after painting all points there is an equilateral triangle, all three vertices of which are colored in the same color. Could Petya prevent him?
Let $m,n$ and $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_m$ be arbitrary positive integers. Ali and Mohammad Play the following game. At each step, Ali chooses $b_1,b_2,\dots,b_m \in \mathbb{N}$ and then Mohammad chosses a positive integers $s$ and obtains a new sequence $\{c_i=a_i+b_{i+s}\}_{i=1}^m$, where $$b_{m+1}=b_1,\ b_{m+2}=b_2, \dots,\ b_{m+s}=b_s$$ The goal of Ali is to make all the numbers divisible by $n$ in a finite number of steps. FInd all positive integers $m$ and $n$ such that Ali has a winning strategy, no matter how the initial values $a_1, a_2,\dots,a_m$ are.
[hide=clarification] after we create the $c_i$ s, this sequence becomes the sequence that we continue playing on, as in it is our 'new' $a_i$[/hide]
Proposed by Shayan Gholami
$A$ and $B$ plays a game, with $A$ choosing a positive integer $n \in \{1, 2, \dots, 1001\} = S$. $B$ must guess the value of $n$ by choosing several subsets of $S$, then $A$ will tell $B$ how many subsets $n$ is in. $B$ will do this three times selecting $k_1, k_2$ then $k_3$ subsets of $S$ each.
What is the least value of $k_1 + k_2 + k_3$ such that $B$ has a strategy to correctly guess the value of $n$ no matter what $A$ chooses?
Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $t$ be an integer. $n$ distinct integers are written on a table. Bob, sitting in a room nearby, wants to know whether there exist some of these numbers such that their sum is equal to $t$. Alice is standing in front of the table and she wants to help him. At the beginning, she tells him only the initial sum of all numbers on the table. After that, in every move he says one of the $4$ sentences:
$i.$ Is there a number on the table equal to $k$?
$ii.$ If a number $k$ exists on the table, erase him.
$iii.$ If a number $k$ does not exist on the table, add him.
$iv.$ Do the numbers written on the table can be arranged in two sets with equal sum of elements?
On these questions Alice answers yes or no, and the operations he says to her she does (if it is possible) and does not tell him did she do it. Prove that in less than $3n$ moves, Bob can find out whether there exist numbers initially written on the board such that their sum is equal to $t$
A deck of $52$ cards is given. There are four suites each having cards numbered $1,2,\dots, 13$. The audience chooses some five cards with distinct numbers written on them. The assistant of the magician comes by, looks at the five cards and turns exactly one of them face down and arranges all five cards in some order. Then the magician enters and with an agreement made beforehand with the assistant, he has to determine the face down card (both suite and number). Explain how the trick can be completed.
Let $n$ be a natural number. At first the cells of a table $2n$ x $2n$ are colored in white. Two players $A$ and $B$ play the following game. First is $A$ who has to color $m$ arbitrary cells in red and after that $B$ chooses $n$ rows and $n$ columns and color their cells in black. Player $A$ wins, if there is at least one red cell on the board. Find the least value of $m$ for which $A$ wins no matter how $B$ plays.
Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a finite family of subsets of some set $X{}$. It is known that for any two elements $x,y\in X$ there exists a permutation $\pi$ of the set $X$ such that $\pi(x)=y$, and for any $A\in\mathcal{F}$ \[\pi(A):=\{\pi(a):a\in A\}\in\mathcal{F}.\]A bear and crocodile play a game. At a move, a player paints one or more elements of the set $X$ in his own color: brown for the bear, green for the crocodile. The first player to fully paint one of the sets in $\mathcal{F}$ in his own color loses. If this does not happen and all the elements of $X$ have been painted, it is a draw. The bear goes first. Prove that he doesn't have a winning strategy.
Six teams participate in a hockey tournament. Each team plays once against every other team. In each game, a team is awarded $3$ points for a win, $1$ point for a draw, and none for a loss. After the tournament the teams are ranked by total points. No two teams have the same total points. Each team (except the bottom team) has $2$ points more than the team ranking one place lower. Prove that the team that finished fourth has won two games and lost three games.
Given 2015 balls. Astri and Budi will play a game. At first, Astri will choose two different numbers $a$ and $b$ from the set $S = \{ 1, 2, 3, \dots, 30 \}$. Budi will then choose another 2 different numbers $c$ and $d$ from the remaining 28 numbers in set $S$.
By taking turns, starting from Astri, they take balls with the following rules:
(1) Astri could only take $a$ or $b$ balls.
(2) Budi could only take $c$ or $d$ balls.
until someone couldn't take any balls satisfying the condition given (and that person will lose).
Prove that Budi could choose $c,d$ such that he has a strategy to ensure his victory on this game.