Problem

Source: Italy TST 2001

Tags: induction, calculus, integration, combinatorics unsolved, combinatorics



We are given $2001$ balloons and a positive integer $k$. Each balloon has been blown up to a certain size (not necessarily the same for each balloon). In each step it is allowed to choose at most $k$ balloons and equalize their sizes to their arithmetic mean. Determine the smallest value of $k$ such that, whatever the initial sizes are, it is possible to make all the balloons have equal size after a finite number of steps.