MathDB

Mattis is hosting a badminton tournament for

40

players on

20

courts numbered from

1

20

. The players are distributed with

2

players on each court. In each round a winner is determined on each court. Afterwards, the player who lost on court

1

, and the player who won on court

20

stay in place. For the remaining

38

players, the winner on court

i

moves to court

i + 1

and the loser moves to court

i - 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?

Problem Statement