17
$\begingroup$

The following game is based on a somewhat "stupid" version of the Euclidean algorithm (where we allow only subtractions).

Positions are given by finite non-empty multisets (repeated elements allowed) of strictly positive integers.

An allowed move picks two elements $a\geq b$ in the multiset and replaces the larger element $a$ by the difference $a-b$ if $a>b$, respectively removes one of the two (identical) elements from the multiset if $a=b$.

Both player have the same moves and the first player which cannot move (which happens if and only if the multiset is reduced to a singleton defining the gcd of all numbers in the initial multiset) loses.

Is there an infinite subset $\mathcal S$ of $\mathbb N$ such that the second player has a winning strategy on all non-empty finite subsets of $\mathcal S$? (Distinct powers of $2$ looked very good to my computer: The second player has a winning strategy for all non-empty subsets of $\{1,2,4,8,16,32\}$. The game has however first-player winning strategies for some subsets of powers of $2$ involving $64$, e.g. $\{1,2,8,16,64\}$.)

Final remark: The standard Conway theory can be applied but seems a bit useless: The number of possible moves gets large for large multisets.

$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The usual name for that version is "the subtractive Euclidean algorithm". You can try a web search for this name. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 10 at 12:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Somos : Thank you very much. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 4 at 17:04

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.