Maximus is one of 3 or more prisoners of war who have been lined up before the Roman Emperor. The prisoners are numbered from first in the line to last as 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., N. The Emperor orders the execution of the prisoners in the following manner:

1) The first and last are immediately executed.
2) If there are still 2 or more prisoners remaining, the half of the remaining prisoners with the lowest numbers (rounded up) are executed.
3) If there are still 3 or more prisoners remaining, start again from Step 1.

For example, if there were 5 prisoners to start then prisoners 1 and 5 would be executed in Step 2, and prisoners 2 and 3 would be executed in Step 3, leaving prisoner 4 alive.

Is there a strategy by which Maximus can save himself? What if Maximus also wants to save his friend Romulus?

(In reply to Clarification? by Kenny M)

You are correct.  The numbers of the steps were adjusted while the problem was in the queue (steps 1,2,3 were originally 2,3,4) but in the example, the step numbers were not corrected.

Posted by Larry on 2024-04-20 10:22:52