The 30 members of a club decided to play a badminton singles tournamen...
Clearly, every member except one (i.e. the winner) must lose one game to decide the winner. Thus, minimum number of matches to be played = 30 - 1 = 29.
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The 30 members of a club decided to play a badminton singles tournamen...
Understanding the Tournament Structure
In a single-elimination tournament, each match results in one player losing and being eliminated from the competition. To determine a single winner from 30 players, we need to consider how many players must be eliminated.
Elimination Process
- In every match, one player loses and is out of the tournament.
- To find the overall winner, all players except one must be eliminated.
- Therefore, with 30 players, we need to eliminate 29 players.
Calculating Matches Played
- Since one player is eliminated per match, the number of matches played equals the number of players that need to be eliminated.
- Thus, to eliminate 29 players, 29 matches must be played.
Conclusion
- The minimum number of matches required to determine a winner among 30 players is 29.
- Therefore, the correct answer is option B (29).
This simple structure ensures that the tournament can proceed efficiently, with each match progressively narrowing down the competitors until only one remains.