Recovering a number from the most common digit
Source: 2023 Israel National Olympiad P7
December 16, 2022
number theoryDigitsguessing game
Problem Statement
Ana and Banana are playing a game. Initially, Ana secretly picks a number . In each subsequent turn of the game, Banana may pick a positive integer , and Ana will reveal to him the most common digit in the product (written in decimal notation). In the case when at least two digits are tied for being the most common, Ana will reveal all of them to Banana. For example, if , Ana will tell Banana that the digit is the most common, while if , Ana will reveal that and are the most common. Banana's goal is to determine with certainty the number after some number of turns. Does he have a winning strategy?