3rd ASU 1963 Problem 2 8 players compete in a tournament. Everyone plays everyone else just once. The winner of a game gets 1, the loser 0, or each gets 1/2 if the game is drawn. The final result is that everyone gets a different score and the player placing second gets the same as the total of the four bottom players. What was the result of the game between the player placing third and the player placing seventh?
The bottom 4 played 6 games amongst themselves, so their scores must total at least 6. Hence the number 2 player scored at least 6. The maximum score possible is 7, so if the number 2 player scored more than 6, then he must have scored 6 1/2 and the top player 7. But then the top player must have won all his games, and hence the number 2 player lost at least one game and could not have scored 6 1/2. Hence the number 2 player scored exactly 6, and the bottom 4 players lost all their games with the top 4 players. In particular, the number 3 player won against the number 7 player. 3rd ASU 1963 (C) John Scholes jscholes@kalva.demon.co.uk 15 Sep 1998