I forgot a constraint: the starting number must be positive. That gives an answer of 32.
On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 2:33 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > I think that would be _83 > > The sequence looks like this: > > A _83 > B _33 > A _66 > B _16 > A _32 > B 18 > A 36 > B 86 > A 172 > B 222 > A 444 > B 494 > A 988 > > _99 through _84 have B win, and anything smaller than _99 has no winner. > > -- > Raul > > On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 3:08 PM, Johann Hibschman <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Thanks for all your help. > > > > By the way, the original problem that started me thinking about this was > > one of the puzzles given at the MoMath masters tournament last week: > > > > Imagine a two-player "game", where player A takes a number (integer), > > doubles it, and passes it to player B, who adds 50 and passes it back to > > player A. The first player to name a number greater than 1000 loses. If A > > starts the game by passing an initial number to B, what's the lowest > number > > A can give that guarantees a win? > > > > Regards, > > Johann > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
