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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Amy, a student: Central Middle School is hosting a city-wide ping pong tournament. Twenty students signed up for the tournament. Each player plays another; the winner goes on to the next round. Elimination games continue until there is one grand winner. How many games must be played to find the grand winner? |
Hi Amy,
The way I see this is that there is 1 winner and 19 losers. Each loser lost exactly 1 game so there must have been 19 games.
Penny
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