Let k be a positive real number. A and B play the following game: at the start, there are 80 zeroes arranged around a circle. Each turn, A increases some of these 80 numbers such that the total sum added is 1. Next, B selects ten consecutive numbers with the largest sum and reduces them all to 0. A wins the game if he/she can ensure that at least one of the numbers is ≥k at some finite point in time.
To determine all k such that A can always win the game, we analyze the strategy and the bounds involved.
First, we reduce the problem from F(80,10) to F(8,1). This reduction is valid because B can only select 10 consecutive buckets, and we can group these buckets into 8 larger buckets, each containing 10 of the original buckets. Thus, the problem simplifies to a scenario where B can only empty one of these larger buckets at a time.
We now play the game on F(8,1). For B, the optimal strategy is to empty the largest bucket all the time. Let the buckets be labeled 1 to 8 with amounts of water a1,a2,…,a8, arranged in decreasing order so that a1≥a2≥…≥a8.
The key lemma is that after A makes a move, the sum of the largest k buckets is less than k⋅(1+∑i=k7i1). We prove this by downward induction.
For k=8:
i=1∑8ai≤1+i=2∑8ai′≤1+87i=1∑8ai′,
where ai′ is the amount of water in the buckets in the previous round. Since initially ∑i=18ai=1, it follows that ∑i=18ai<8.
Assuming the statement is true for k=m, for k=m−1:
i=1∑m−1ai≤1+i=2∑mai′≤1+mm−1i=1∑mai′<1+(m−1)(1+i=m∑7i1).
Thus, the statement holds for k=m−1 as well.
By induction, the statement is true for k=1 as well, hence the largest bucket is less than 1+1+21+…+71.
To show that this is the best attainable bound, A's strategy is to ensure that a1=a2=…=a8 in each round. The amount of water in each bucket follows the sequence:
81,81(1+87),81(1+87+(87)2),…
The limit of this sequence is 1. When the buckets are sufficiently close to 1, A will add 71 to the 7 largest buckets, 61 to the 6 largest buckets, and so on, finally adding 1 to the largest bucket left. The total amount of water in that bucket can be arbitrarily close to k=1+1+21+…+71.
Therefore, A can always win the game if k≤1+1+21+…+71.
The answer is: 1+1+21+…+71.