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MathNet 2016-part-01 — 184 problems (EN–VI) Question 150

Math Olympiad Vault · MathNet 2016-part-01 — 184 problems (EN–VI)

Question 150

There are $n \geq 1$ cities on a horizontal line. Each city is guarded by a pair of stationary elephants, one just to the left and one just to the right of the city, and facing away from it. The $2n$ elephants are of different sizes. If an elephant walks forward, it will knock aside any elephant that it approaches from behind, and in a face-to-face meeting, the smaller elephant will be knocked aside. A moving elephant will keep walking in the same direction until it is knocked aside.

Show that there is a unique city with the property that if any one of the other cities orders its elephants to walk, then that city will not be invaded by an elephant.