Problem

Source: Bulgaria JBMO TST 2022 Day 2 Problem 4

Tags: combinatorics, induction



There are $n\leq 99$ people around a circular table. At every moment everyone can either be truthful (always says the truth) or a liar (always lies). Initially some of people (possibly none) are truthful and the rest are liars. At every minute everyone answers at the same time the question "Is your left neighbour truthful or a liar?" and then becomes the same type of person as his answer. Determine the largest $n$ for which, no matter who are the truthful people in the beginning, at some point everyone will become truthful forever.