 It is not hard to see that this guarantees the computer with the highest identifier \(i_{\text{max}}\) to become the leader (see Lynch 1996). No assumptions need to be made about the number of computers in the ring, nor about any computer knowing anything about the size of the ring or the identifiers of the other computers. A next stage of the protocol could be for the leader to send around a request to register as non-leader and halt.