Problem

Source: OIFMAT III 2013 day 1 p3 - Chilean Math Forum FMAT Olympiad https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c2484778_oifmat

Tags: combinatorics



Legend has it that in a police station in the old west a group of six bandits tried to bribe the Sheriff in charge of the place with six gold coins to free them, the Sheriff was a very honest person so to prevent them from continuing to insist With the idea of bribery, he sat the $6$ bandits around a table and proposed the following: - "Initially the leader will have the six gold coins, in each turn one of you can pass coins to the adjacent companions, but each time you do so you must pass the same amount of coins to each of your neighbors. If at any time they all manage to have the same amount of coins so I will let them go free. " The bandits accepted and began to play. Show that regardless of what moves the bandits make, they cannot win.