Problem

Source: Germany Federal - Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik 2019 round 2, p1

Tags: combinatorics



$120$ pirates distribute $119$ gold pieces among themselves. Then the captain checks if any pirate has $15$ or more gold pieces. If he finds the first one, he must give all his gold pieces to other pirates, whereby he may not give more than one gold piece to anyone. This control is repeated as long as there is any pirate with $15$ or more gold pieces. Does this process end after a lot of checks?