Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

The number 20192019 is written on the board. Katia and Mykola are playing the following game: one by one (starting with Katia) they choose any divisor dd of the number NN written on the board and change the number on the board NN to the number N(2d1)N - (2d - 1), if it is positive integer. Whoever writes number 11 loses. Who will win in this game and what is the strategy, considering both players want to win?

Solution

Firstly, we will show that the number on the board decreases with every turn. Clearly, it will be smaller and integer. It will be positive, since: N=dDM=N(2d1)=dD2d+1=d(D2)+11N = dD \Rightarrow M = N - (2d - 1) = dD - 2d + 1 = d(D - 2) + 1 \ge 1, since if d<Nd < N then D2D \ge 2. Therefore, number 11 will be written on the board after finite number of turns.

It isn't hard to notice, that every turn changes the parity of the number on the board. Since Katia starts the game, there will be even number after her turn, and odd number after Mykola's turn. Therefore, number 11 will be written on the board after Mykola's turn, so he will lose.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.