There are 150 members in my club. We decided to have a ping pong tournament. All the members came forward to play in the game. Every time a member loses a game he is out of the tournament. There are no ties.
Can you tell how many games must be played in order to determine the champion?
Answer
149 (150 – 1) games, since all but one lose one game.
To make it simpler, assume there are 3 members. Only 2 games need to be played to determine the champion.