This is way too hard for an 8th grader. How about you?

Question

A king sits his knights at a round table. He needs to choose one to marry his daughter. He goes around the table and kills every the knight until there is one left. The first lives, the second dies, the third lives and so on. Find the formula that tells you where to sit if you want to live, with ANY given number of knights.

Answer 1

Number of Knights = K

Successful knight = S

First, get the first few values:

For even numbers from K=2:

1,5,

1,5,9,13,

1,5,9,13,17,21,25,29,

1,5,9,13,17,21,25,29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57,63,

etc.

The best way to solve these problems is to first construct a table of values.

Answer 2

This is a hard question

I agree with eztech but if "the king" continues to go around killing people

then I don't know how you would know where to sit to be the last one live

Answer 3

I'd find a mission to go on, so I wouldn't be at the table.

Answer 4

S(n) = 2(n - 2^k) + 1

n = number of knight around the table

2^k ≤ n < 2^(k+1)