MathDB

C2

Part of 2021-IMOC

Problems(1)

Attacking Squirrels

Source: IMOC 2021 C2

8/12/2021
Given a positive integer NN. There are three squirrels that each have an integer. It is known that the largest integer and the least one differ by exactly NN. Each time, the squirrel with the second largest integer looks at the squirrel with the largest integer. If the integers they have are different, then the squirrel with the second largest integer would be unhappy and attack the squirrel with the largest one, making its integer decrease by two times the difference between the two integers. If the second largest integer is the same as the least integer, only of the squirrels would attack the squirrel with the largest integer. The attack continues until the largest integer becomes the same as the second largest integer. What is the maximum total number of attacks these squirrels make?
Proposed by USJL, ST.
combinatorics