The Playground!

Source: Math Horizons, Vol. 25, No. 1 (September 2017), pp. 28-32
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/mathhorizons.25.1.28
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 THE PLAYGROUND
Welcome to the Playground. Playground rules
are posted on page 31, except for the most
important one: Have fun!
THE SANDBOX
In this section, we highlight problems that anyone
can play with, regardless of mathematical background.
But just because these problems are easy to approach
doesn’t mean that they are easy to solve!
Problem 358. Randy Cohen of the Harvard
Business School and Daniel Glickman of Aquant
Capital Management contributed the following prob-
ability question. Randy and Daniel are playing a
variation of the game H-O-R-S-E, alternately shoot-
ing baskets. First, Randy takes a shot. If it goes in,
then Daniel must take the same shot. If Daniel makes
this shot, Daniel wins the game; otherwise, Randy
wins. If Randy misses the initial shot, then the game
starts anew, with Daniel shooting first.
Assume both players have equal ability on all shots
and that they know the probability of success for
any given shot. In Horsing Around, you must find
the probability of the shot Randy should attempt to
maximize his chance of winning. What is the maxi-
mum winning probability for Randy?
Problem 359. Call a collection of positive integers
square friendly if the set of consecu-
tive differences
are all distinct perfect squares. (Note that we con-
sider an and a1 consecutive.) For example, the set
2, 3, 12, 28, 77, 102 is square-friendly. In Square-
Friendly, prove that there are square-friendly se-
quences of length n for all
THE ZIP-LINE
This section offers problems with connections to
articles that appear in the magazine. Not all Zip-Line
problems require you to read the corresponding article,
but doing so can never hurt, of course.
Problem 360. In “The Bingo Paradox” (see page
18), Arthur Benjamin, Joseph Kisenwether, and
Ben Weiss explain why horizontal rows occur more
frequently than vertical columns on winning bingo
cards. But a horizontal row and a vertical
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mh-28-31-playground-final.indd 1
Figure 1. Ferrers
diagrams for the
seven partitions of 5:
5 (purple), 41 (brown),
32 (red), 311 (blue), 221
(yellow), 2111 (orange),
and 11111 (green).
column are not the only connected shapes that use
five boxes. In fact, there are seven different ways to
partition the number 5: 5, 41, 32, 311, 221, 2111,
11111. See the Ferrers diagrams for each of these
partitions in figure 1. While these are not the only
connected shapes possible, in this problem, we ignore
reflections, rotations, and other 5-box variations. For
Bingo Partition, find the probability that you win
after five numbers have been called for each of these
seven shapes. (The probabilities for the partitions
corresponding to a horizontal row and a vertical
column are given in the article.) Which shape gives
the highest probability? (For instance, one way to win
in five turns with the partition 311 is the sequence of
letters GGGIN.)
THE JUNGLE GYM
Any type of problem may appear in the Jungle Gym—
climb on!
Problem 361. Brian Freidin and Peter McGrath
of Brown University contributed Binomial Identity.
Suppose n and k are positive integers with
Prove that
THE CAROUSEL
OLDIES BUT GOODIES
In this section, we present an old problem that we
like so much, we thought it deserved another go-
round. Try this, but be careful—old equipment can be
dangerous. Answers appear at the end of the column.
Show that
9/29/17 1:17 PM

FEBRUARY WRAP-UP
Problem 350. Let an be the number of digits of
n! In Factorial Fun you were asked to determine
whether
converges or diverges.
We received solutions from Pedro Acosta (West
Morris Mendham High School), Ben Adenbaum
(Lafayette College), Ethan Archer-Helke (North Central
College), Brian Beasley (Presbyterian College), Dmitry
Fleischman, Ángel Plaza (Universidad de Las Palmas
de Gran Canaria, Spain), Randy Schwartz (Schoolcraft
College), and problem-solving groups from Armstrong
State University, Northwestern University, Seton Hall
University, and Skidmore College.
The series diverges. All solvers noted that the num-
ber of digits of n! is A few solvers used
Stirling’s approximation of n!, but the Northwestern
Problem Solving Group found a straightforward way to
use the comparison test. Since
it follows that
And the series
diverges by the integral test.
Problem 351. Tom Yuster contributed the following
game. Alfonso and Benita have 29 cards each, with one
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mh-28-31-playground-final.indd 2
number on each card. Each player has nine 0s, ten 1s,
and ten 2s. They alternate placing one of their cards
face up on a table. When three face-up cards sum to a
multiple of 3, they are removed. The game ends when
all cards have been played. Alfonso wins if there are
any non-0 cards left on the table at the end of the
game, and Benita wins if all the cards showing are 0s.
There is a winning strategy for one player. In Max/
Min Game, Tom had to figure out who that player is
and what the winning strategy is.
We received solutions from problem-solving groups
from Armstrong State University, Ashland University,
and Seton Hall University. Sarah Seales also sent an
analysis of the game.
Benita can always win. At the end of the game, there
must be one or four cards on the table since there are
58 cards, mod 3, and any collection of five or
more cards includes three that sum to 3. Furthermore,
since the sum of the cards removed at any stage is a
multiple of 3 and the sum of all the cards in the game
is a multiple of 3, the sum of the cards remaining at
the end of the game is a multiple of 3.
From this information, we conclude that either one
card labeled 0 or four cards labeled 1, 1, 2, and 2
remain at the end. As long as Benita saves a 0-card to
play on her last turn, she’s guaranteed it will be the
only card on the table at the end of the game.
Problem 352. The article “Cracking the Japanese
JN-25 Cipher” by Chris Christensen and Jared Antrobus
explained how U.S. Navy codebreakers worked out the
details of Japanese codes intercepted during the Second
World War. The authors contributed Break the Code
to our Zip-Line. Based on their article, they asked you
to find the potential additives for the transmitted code
groups shown below, which are known to be in depth.
We received solutions from Jeremiah Bartz (University
of North Dakota), Christopher Havens (Prison Math-
ematics Project), Heather Totten (Westmont College),
and problem-solving groups from Armstrong State
University and Seton Hall University.
9/29/17 1:17 PM
 The only potential additive for the code is 50104.
To see this, begin by (false) subtracting the final row
from each of the other nine rows. This gives:

As in the article, the column on the right represents

the possible number of carries when the code group Jc is
added to each row (this uses the row sums, mod 3). The
rest of the solution has the flavor of a puzzle, with each
step determining which numbers in the table must carry
and which numbers cannot carry.
Since the number of carries in the first row is 0, we
know any number less than 4 appearing in columns 3
or 5 cannot carry. So, the two carries in row 2 occur
in columns 2 and 4. This, in turn, tells us that any
number greater than 5 in column two carries, and
any number greater than 7 in column four carries.
Likewise:
• Row 8 has two carries, and they appear in col-
umns 2 and 4.
• Row 4 has no carries, and row 3 has one carry.
• Row 9 has two carries, which occur in columns 2
and 4.
We now have enough information to determine the
entries in Jc , the 10th code group.
• From row 9, we know there are no carries in the
last column, which means the last digit of Jc is 0.
• Row 7 has carries in the first two columns. We
know that in column 1, 7 carries and 6 doesn’t, so
3 is the first digit of Jc.
• In column 4, the 7 in row 4 doesn’t carry, but the
8 in row 2 does. Therefore, 2 is the fourth digit of
J c.
• The 3 in column 2 of row 6 does not carry, but
the 4 in column 2 of row 5 must carry. This forces
the second digit of Jc to be 6.
Now we know where the third digit is
still undetermined. Since the 7 in row 8 does not
carry, the third digit of Jc is 0, 1, or 2. But Jc is a
multiple of 3, so this digit is 1.
Thus, False subtracting from 86224
(the transmitted row 10) yields the additive 50104.
Problem 353. This problem came from Adam
Hammett, Cedarville University; and Greg Oman,
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. You and
your friend Sasha are playing a guessing game. Let k
and n be positive integers, with Sasha picks a
secret number between 1 and n, and you will choose
a sequence of subsets of Your
goal is to figure out the number Sasha has chosen,
and you have two options to consider.
Option 1. You present Sasha with the subsets se-
quentially, and, after each subset, she tells you whether
her number is in the subset.
Option 2. You give her all the subsets at once, and
she tells you which subsets contain her number.
In Choose Wisely, Adam and Greg asked the fol-
lowing: Assuming you choose your subsets optimally,
find all values of n and k so that the first option gives
a higher probability of finding the secret number.
Dmitry Fleischman and the Armstrong State Uni-
versity Problem Solvers sent solutions.
The two options are the same for all values of k and
n. We give the solution of the Armstrong Problem
Solvers. Clearly, option 1 can’t be worse than option
2 under any circumstances. We will show that the

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 maximum probability for both options is 1 if Fi. Then the probability of guessing Sasha’s number is
and if where a be the smallest integer
satisfying
For option 2, for define Si to be
the subset of containing the integers whose If we choose unwisely, as when for some
st stst coefficient in the binary representation of n is
fst i, for example, then there is at least one sequence of
1. If then we can set for responses that will never occur, and the probability of
After Sasha reveals which subsets contain the mys- guessing the mystery number will be less than
tery number, you know the k smallest binary digits of In any case, assuming we choose subsets optimally,
n. If then this completely determines n, so the the probability of guessing Sasha’s number using op-
probability of finding the secret number is 1. (Notice tion 1 is never greater than when using option 2.
that if and Sasha says that if none of
the subsets contains her mystery number, then the CAROUSEL SOLUTION
mystery number is n.)
Suppose then, that hence, . For each This can be done by induction, but there’s a nicer
way to see this famous relationship. First, let
integer j with , define
and note that
(since Tn is the nth triangular number) and
Now, for all positive integers k, we have
If Sasha’s mystery number is x, then after Sasha Tk2 −Tk−1
2
= (Tk + Tk−1 )(Tk −Tk−1 ) = k 2 ⋅ k = k 3 . Then,
speaks, you know that for some j, . taking advantage of a telescoping series, we have
If you randomly guess any member of Tj, then the
probability of guessing correctly will be

Now we need to show that option 1 cannot give a
higher probability. If then this is clear, since
the probability is 1 for option 2. So assume
and that makes
Even though we do not know ahead of time what
each subset should be, a plan for option 1 should
specify a choice of subsets for each possible sequence
of k yes/no responses from Sasha.
A choice of subsets will be considered sufficiently
wise if for each possible sequence of responses from
Sasha, and the resulting choice of subsets, there is at
least one integer between 1 and n that is in exactly
those subsets for which Sasha’s response is yes.
We claim that given such a choice of subsets, the
probability of guessing Sasha’s number is Label
each of the 2k possible sequences of Sasha’s responses
as Ri, where Let Fi be the set of integers
between 1 and n that are in each of the subsets for
which Sasha responded yes in Ri, and in none of
the subsets for which she responded no. Assuming
we choose subsets wisely, and after a sequence Ri of
responses from Sasha, we choose a random member of
CLEANING UP
Jonathan Skaggs, Nathaniel Fill, and Samuel Skinner
of Taylor University submitted a correct solution to
problem 348 from the November 2016 Playground, but
it arrived after the deadline. ■
SUBMISSION & CONTACT INFORMATION
The Playground features problems for students at
the undergraduate and (challenging) high school lev-
els. Problems and solutions should be submitted to
MHproblems@maa.org and MHsolutions@maa.org,
respectively (PDF format preferred). Paper submissions
can be sent to Gary Gordon, Mathematics Department,
Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042. Please include your
name, email address, and school affiliation, and indicate
if you are a student. If a problem has multiple parts,
solutions for individual parts will be accepted. Unless
otherwise stated, problems have been solved by their
proposers.
The deadline for submitting solutions to problems in
this issue is November 9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4169/mathhorizons.25.1.28

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