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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

A three-digit natural number nn is initially written on the board. Two players, AA and BB, take turns, with AA going first. The turner reduces the number on the board by some divisor of his own (i.e., other than 11 and the number itself). For example, if at some point the number on the board is 66, it can be reduced by 22, then the number on the board will now be 44. Whoever cannot make a move loses, and the other wins. Player AA is known to have a way to win as well as player BB. What are all the possible nn?
(Ivaylo Kortezov)

Solution

If there is a prime number on the board, the player loses by definition. If there is an even number on the board that is not a power of 22, then the player can always reduce it by its odd divisor, leaving an odd number on the board. If the number on the board is odd and is reduced by its (odd) divisor aa, i.e. a number of the form abab is replaced by a(b1)a(b - 1), the resulting number is even and is not a power of the pair. Therefore, if the starting number is even and not a power of even, the player can always make a move guaranteeing that for his next move he will again receive a natural number of the same kind. Thus, an even number that is not a power of even is a winning position, and an odd number is a losing position.

It remains to analyze the cases when the board number is 2m2^m for a natural mm. In this case, the reducer should be 2k2^k for naturally k<mk < m. If k<m1k < m - 1, then the resulting position 2k(2mk1)2^k(2^{m-k} - 1) is even and not a power of even, so it would be a winning move for the adversary and therefore an unacceptable move. So, we need k=m1k = m - 1. Playing this way, one player will get the even powers of 22 on the board and the other the odd ones. Given that 22 is a losing position, we conclude that even powers of 22 are winning positions and odd powers of 22 are losing positions.

The finally suitable nn are the even numbers that are not odd powers of the pair. Among the given there are 900:22=448900 : 2 - 2 = 448 such (we excluded 128=27128 = 2^7 and 512=29512 = 2^9). \Box

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