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Another one

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Another one

#1

Another one

Another strategy question. A variation of a game called nim is to have a pile of objects from which, on your turn, you must take at least 1 and not more than 3. The loser is the player that has to take the last object. What should be your strategy to win at this game? Does it matter who goes first?

Re: Another one

#2

If the objects are coins

of equal denominations, and you started with $0.70 in the pile, I'd want to go first. If you started with $0.25 in the pile, I'd want to go second.

Re: Another one

#3

;-)

Re: Another one

#4

Answer

The strategy in this version is to always leave your opponent with 4N+1 items. So, for instance, if there were 15 items, I would take 2 to leave my opponent with 13. ([3*4]+1). This will always make my opponent take the last one.

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