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KöMaL problem A, 2020

Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Hungary

Andrew and Barry plays the following game: there are two heaps with aa and bb pebbles, respectively. In the first round Barry chooses a positive integer kk, and Andrew takes away kk pebbles from one of the two heaps (if kk is bigger than the number of pebbles in the heap, he takes away the complete heap). In the second round the roles are reversed: Andrew chooses a positive integer and Barry takes away the pebbles from one the two heaps. This goes on, in each round the two players are reversing the roles. The player that takes the last pebble loses the game.

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