MathDB

Problems(2)

Winning strategy: Prevent B from getting a square

Source: BWM 2013 P4

6/8/2014
Two players AA and BB play the following game taking alternate moves. In each move, a player writes one digit on the blackboard. Each new digit is written either to the right or left of the sequence of digits already written on the blackboard. Suppose that AA begins the game and initially the blackboard was empty. BB wins the game if ,after some move of BB, the sequence of digits written in the blackboard represents a perfect square. Prove that AA can prevent BB from winning.
modular arithmeticquadraticsfloor functioncombinatorics proposedcombinatorics
BWM 2013 P8: Combinatorial identity

Source:

6/7/2014
Consider the Pascal's triangle in the figure where the binomial coefficients are arranged in the usual manner. Select any binomial coefficient from anywhere except the right edge of the triangle and labet it CC. To the right of CC, in the horizontal line, there are tt numbers, we denote them as a1,a2,,ata_1,a_2,\cdots,a_t, where at=1a_t = 1 is the last number of the series. Consider the line parallel to the left edge of the triangle containing CC, there will only be tt numbers diagonally above CC in that line. We successively name them as b1,b2,,btb_1,b_2,\cdots,b_t, where bt=1b_t = 1. Show that bta1bt1a2+bt2a3+(1)t1b1at=1b_ta_1-b_{t-1}a_2+b_{t-2}a_3-\cdots+(-1)^{t-1}b_1a_t = 1. For example, Suppose you choose (41)=4\binom41 = 4 (see figure), then t=3t = 3, a1=6,a2=4,a3=1a_1 = 6, a_2 = 4, a_3 = 1 and b1=3,b2=2,b3=1b_1 = 3, b_2 = 2, b_3 = 1. 111b312b2113b131146a14a21a3\begin{array}{ccccccccccc} & & & & & 1 & & & & & \\ & & & & 1 & & \underset{b_3}{1} & & & & \\ & & & 1 & & \underset{b_2}{2} & & 1 & & & \\ & & 1 & & \underset{b_1}{3} & & 3 & & 1 & & \\ & 1 & & \boxed{4} & & \underset{a_1}{6} & & \underset{a_2}{4} & & \underset{a_3}{1} & \\ \ldots & & \ldots & & \ldots & & \ldots & & \ldots & & \ldots \\ \end{array}
Pascal's Trianglebinomial coefficients