Let $0<c<1$ and $n$ a positive integer. Alice and Bob are playing a game. Bob writes $n$ integers on the board, not all equal. On a player's turn, they erase two numbers from the board and write their arithmetic mean instead. Alice starts and performs at most $cn$ moves. After her, Bob makes moves until there are only two numbers left on the board. Alice wins if these two numbers are different, and otherwise, Bob wins. For which values of $c$ does Alice win for all large enough $n$?
Problem
Source: 2024 Israel TST Test 2 P3
Tags: Game Theory, combinatorics, averages, asymptotics
07.11.2023 23:47
Tough problem to write up. Answer is $c \geq \frac{1}{2}$.
20.02.2024 14:46
Neat problem.
20.02.2024 15:48
For c<1/2. Assume bob writes on the board 2^n ones and 2^n zeroes. The idea goes like this, if Alice can use X ones and Y zeroes to make a number M, bob can use X zeroes and Y ones to make a number 1-M. Also, the number of zeroes/ones decreases by at most one, unless Alice forges them both into a 1/2. So you only have to consider how can Bob take advantage of Alice spawning a lot of 1/2.
21.02.2024 19:03
The answer is $c \geq \tfrac{1}{2}$. For $c \geq \tfrac{1}{2}$, Alice's strategy for $n$ even is as follows. By shifting and scaling assume WLOG that not all the integers are the same parity. Merge two opposite-parity integers to get a half-integer, and then merge this arbitrarily until she makes $\tfrac{1}{2}n$ moves. This leaves Bob with $\tfrac{1}{2}n-1$ "untouched" integers and one number $k$ whose $\nu_2$ equals $-\tfrac{1}{2}n$. But it is clear that Bob loses due to $\nu_2$ reasons, since without merging with $k$ we can never get to a $\nu_2$ at most $-\tfrac{1}{2}n$, but merging with $k$ always leaves us with a single number of $\nu_2$ more than $-\tfrac{1}{2}n$; in particular, when we end up with $2$ numbers we have one with $\nu_2$ at most $-\tfrac{1}{2}n$ and another with $\nu_2$ more than this. Now consider $c=\tfrac{1}{2}-r$ for some $r>0$. Bob employs the following strategy. He makes $\lfloor \tfrac{1}{2}n\rfloor$ numbers equal to $0$ and $\lceil \tfrac{1}{2}n\rceil$ numbers equal to $1$. After Alice makes her moves, Bob considers each number not equal to $0$ or $1$ formed by Alice. If a number $m$ was formed by merging $t>\tfrac{2}{r}+1$ zeroes and ones (hence $t-1$ merges are employed), then Bob directly forms $1-m$ by swapping the roles of $1$ and $0$. These two merges use a total of $t$ zeroes and $t$ ones. For the numbers formed from merging at most $\tfrac{2}{r}$ zeroes and ones, Bob merges numbers created with the same process and then create a single copy of $1-m$ for each instance of $m$. Because there are a finite number of numbers formable from at most $\tfrac{2}{r}$ zeroes and ones (independent from $n$), Bob uses a bounded number (say $C$) of zeroes and ones in this process. Alice can make at most $\tfrac{r}{4}n$ numbers from merging more than $\tfrac{2}{r}+1$ zeroes and ones, so between Alice's moves and Bob's responses to them at most $(\tfrac{1}{2}-r)n+\tfrac{r}{4}n+C$ zeroes and ones each are used. For sufficiently large $n$ this leaves at least $1$ zero and $1$ one unmerged (in particular, it is always possible for Bob to respond as above). Now, Bob can finish by merging each Alice-created $m$ with his own $1-m$, as well as merging all the remaining zeroes together, merging all the remaining ones together, and merging the resulting $0$ and $1$ together. This leaves us with every number equal to $\tfrac{1}{2}$ (and at least two numbers), from which Bob can clearly win. $\blacksquare$ Remark: "Naively" responding to formation of $m$ with formation of $1-m$ works for $c \leq \tfrac{1}{4}$, but Alice could form a bunch of $\tfrac{1}{2}$ from merging $0$ and $1$ (or, say, $\tfrac{1}{4}$ from merging $0$ and $1$, then $\tfrac{1}{2}$ and $0$) which is a problem for $c \leq \tfrac{1}{2}$, since to respond Bob needs too many numbers. However, in reality if Bob is trying to finish with two copies of $\tfrac{1}{2}$ you could have a milllion copies of $\tfrac{1}{2}$ and still respond to them with a single $0$ and $1$ by merging them beforehand, and refining this argument finishes.
14.03.2024 15:48
The problem is quite easy for P3.
07.10.2024 12:30
IAmTheHazard wrote: Why do we need to consider cases t>2/r+1 and t<=2/r?