Problem

Source: Ukrainian Mathematical Olympiad 2024. Day 1, Problem 10.1

Tags: combinatorics



Solomiya wrote the numbers 1,2,,2024 on the board. In one move, she can erase any two numbers a,b from the board and write the sum a+b instead of each of them. After some time, all the numbers on the board became equal. What is the minimum number of moves Solomiya could make to achieve this? Proposed by Oleksiy Masalitin