The Boxing Tournament
An elimination boxing tournament was organized. There were 114 participants, so the first
round had 57 matches. (In this
tournament, no match results in a tie. Each
match determines a winner and a loser.)
The 57 winners were paired up for the second round,
resulting in 28 matches, with one boxer left over. That lucky boxer was allowed to proceed to
the next round automatically.
This procedure was followed until one boxer won the
tournament.
How many total matches were required in order to determine
the winner?
Suppose there were 199 boxers participating in the
tournament. How many total matches would
be required?
Can you generalize?
If there are n boxers total, how many
matches will be required to determine the winner?
