Problem #PRU-98218

Problems Discrete Mathematics Algorithm Theory Game theory Game theory (other)

Problem

There is a chocolate bar with five longitudinal and eight transverse grooves, along which it can be broken (in total into \(9 * 6 = 54\) squares). Two players take part, in turns. A player in his turn breaks off the chocolate bar a strip of width 1 and eats it. Another player who plays in his turn does the same with the part that is left, etc. The one who breaks a strip of width 2 into two strips of width 1 eats one of them, and the other is eaten by his partner. Prove that the first player can act in such a way that he will get at least 6 more chocolate squares than the second player.