How Many Games in the Tournament?

Date: 01/15/2002 at 22:11:26
From: Crumpy
Subject: Tournament Games

There are eight teams in a single-elimination tournament. Each team 
gets to play until it loses. How many games will be played in the 
tournament?

Date: 01/16/2002 at 11:16:40
From: Doctor Paul
Subject: Tournament Games

In the first round, eight teams play four games. In the 2nd round, 
four teams play two games. In the final round, the remaining two teams 
play one game.

Thus there are 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 games played by the 8 teams.

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you'd like to talk about this 
some more.

- Doctor Paul, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/