Problem

Source: Bulgaria EGMO TST 2020 Day 1 Problem 3

Tags: weights, real numbers, algebra



Ana has an iron material of mass $20.2$ kg. She asks Bilyana to make $n$ weights to be used in a classical weighning scale with two plates. Bilyana agrees under the condition that each of the $n$ weights is at least $10$ g. Determine the smallest possible value of $n$ for which Ana would always be able to determine the mass of any material (the mass can be any real number between $0$ and $20.2$ kg) with an error of at most $10$ g.