A math tournament begins with 81 students. Students compete in groups of 3, with 1 person from each trio going on to the next round until there is 1 winner. How many matches must be played in order to complete the tournament?

Question

anonymous · Answer

how many groups are there in the first round?

adamk · Answer

@10115658 3

anonymous · Answer

no, that's how many people are in each group. How many groups are there

adamk · Answer

Oh. 27 groups

anonymous · Answer

ok, 27 groups means 27 matches in the first round

anonymous · Answer

If one person from each group goes through to the next round, how many groups are there?

adamk · Answer

So initial value is 27

adamk · Answer

27(3)^n-1?

anonymous · Answer

sorry i'm not too familiar with this setup. I was just dividing each round by three until I reached 1 and then added up all the matches

anonymous · Answer

what math is this?

adamk · Answer

Honors Algebra 2

adamk · Answer

I was going to use Summation notation.

adamk · Answer

I know the answer is 40. Just don't know how to get it.

anonymous · Answer

I did this such a long time ago, I just don't remember how to do this. sorry dude

adamk · Answer

No, problem. Thanks for the help.