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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Find the answer

Ana has an iron material of mass 20.220.2 kg. She asks Bilyana to make nn weights to be used in a classical weighning scale with two plates. Bilyana agrees under the condition that each of the nn weights is at least 1010 g. Determine the smallest possible value of nn for which Ana would always be able to determine the mass of any material (the mass can be any real number between 00 and 20.220.2 kg) with an error of at most 1010 g.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

1. Understanding the problem: We need to determine the smallest number of weights, n n , such that Ana can measure any mass between 0 0 and 20.2 20.2 kg with an error of at most 10 10 g. Each weight must be at least 10 10 g.

2. Initial approach: Let's consider the weights a1,a2,,an a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n . Each weight ai a_i must be at least 10 10 g. We need to ensure that any mass between 0 0 and 20.2 20.2 kg can be measured with an error of at most 10 10 g.

3. **Checking n=2019 n = 2019 **:
- If we pick a1=a2==a2018=10110000 a_1 = a_2 = \ldots = a_{2018} = 10 \frac{1}{10000} g and a2019=20200201810110000=19797210000 a_{2019} = 20200 - 2018 \cdot 10 \frac{1}{10000} = 19 \frac{7972}{10000} g, the smallest possible sum of masses of weights is 10110000 10 \frac{1}{10000} g.
- This means the smallest measurable mass is 10110000 10 \frac{1}{10000} g, and we cannot measure masses smaller than this with the required precision. Hence, n=2019 n = 2019 does not satisfy the requirements.

4. **Checking n=2020 n = 2020 **:
- If each weight is exactly 10 10 g, then the total mass of the weights is 202010=20200 2020 \cdot 10 = 20200 g or 20.2 20.2 kg.
- This setup allows us to measure any mass in increments of 10 10 g, from 0 0 to 20.2 20.2 kg.
- Since each weight is 10 10 g, we can measure any mass with an error of at most 10 10 g by determining which multiple of 10 10 g the mass is closest to.

5. Conclusion: The smallest possible value of n n for which Ana can measure any mass between 0 0 and 20.2 20.2 kg with an error of at most 10 10 g is 2020 2020 .

The final answer is n=2020 \boxed{ n = 2020 } .

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.