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International Contests
Baltic Way
2022 Baltic Way
6
6
Part of
2022 Baltic Way
Problems
(1)
badminton tournament for 40 players on 20 courts
Source: 2022 Baltic Way p6
11/13/2022
Mattis is hosting a badminton tournament for
40
40
40
players on
20
20
20
courts numbered from
1
1
1
to
20
20
20
. The players are distributed with
2
2
2
players on each court. In each round a winner is determined on each court. Afterwards, the player who lost on court
1
1
1
, and the player who won on court
20
20
20
stay in place. For the remaining
38
38
38
players, the winner on court
i
i
i
moves to court
i
+
1
i + 1
i
+
1
and the loser moves to court
i
ā
1
i - 1
i
ā
1
. The tournament continues until every player has played every other player at least once. What is the minimal number of rounds the tournament can last?
combinatorics