- I am getting hard time with this problem-[lightoj 1296 — Again Stone Game](http://www.lightoj.com/volume_showproblem.php?problem=1296)There are N-piles,each pile contains max 2^31 stones. you must have to pick at least one and you can pick at most half of the stones. I have seen solutions of this problem but I still don't understand how it works :(. I will be using term SGN as Sprague-Grundy Number. If a pile has 3 stones what should be its SGN? my analysis says it should be like- ↵
- - SGN(1)=0, ↵
- - SGN(2)= mex(1) = 1, since we must have to take 1 stone, we have only one choice↵
- - SGN(3)= mex(1) = 1, since we must have to take 1 stone, we have only one choice↵
- - Now the solution to this problem I have seen says SGN(3) is 0 which unfortunately, I don't understand how :(↵
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- I have just started to learn Sprague-Grundy Number. I am looking for help to make me understanding how the calculation of SGN is defined for this problem. May be I have misunderstood the meaning of MEX defined in SGN.
- - SGN(1)=0, ↵
- - SGN(2)= mex(1) = 1, since we must have to take 1 stone, we have only one choice↵
- - SGN(3)= mex(1) = 1, since we must have to take 1 stone, we have only one choice↵
- - Now the solution to this problem I have seen says SGN(3) is 0 which unfortunately, I don't understand how :(↵
- I have just started to learn Sprague-Grundy Number. I am looking for help to make me understanding how the calculation of SGN is defined for this problem. May be I have misunderstood the meaning of MEX defined in SGN.