Michael thinks of a number no less than \(1\) and no greater than \(1000\). Victoria is only allowed to ask questions to which Michael can answer “yes” or “no” (Michael always tells the truth). Can Victoria figure out which number Michael thought of by asking \(10\) questions?
Suppose you have 127 1p coins. How can you distribute them among 7 coin pouches such that you can give out any amount from 1p to 127p without opening the coin pouches?
When we write \(137\) in decimal, we mean \(1 \times 10^2 + 3 \times 10 + 7 \times 1\). If we write it instead using powers of \(2\), we have \(137 = 1 \times 2^7 + 0 \times 2^6 + 0 \times 2^5 + 0 \times 2^4 + 1 \times 2^3 + 0 \times 2^2 + 0 \times 2^1 + 1 \times 2^0\). To tell apart binary representation from decimals, we can use the following notation: \(137 = (10001001)_2\).
What is the number \(273\) in binary? Note that using binary is useful for finding whether a particular Nim game is a winning position or a losing position.