This question appeared in my math/ problem solving competition. It goes like this : Six competitors in a chess tournament played against each other once only. (That totals fifteen games). A win is worth one point, a draw is worth half a point and a loss is worth no points. The fourth player scored 2 points and the sixth player scored 1 point. There were no equal scores, while the person who came first had no losses and one draw. Work out the second players score.
I have figured out that the 5th person must have had 1 and a half points and also know that the second person must have in between 3 and 4 points. However, I cannot proceed from here and would like to appeal to someone for their insight on how to solve such problems.
P.S I do not know what to tag this post. If someone could help it would be greatly appreciated.
15 points awarded in total
points by position ... 1 - 4.5 pts 2 - x pts 3 - y pts 4 - 2 pts 5 - 1.5 pts 6 - 1 pt
so $x+y=15-9=6$
the only possibility involving no equal scores is $x=3.5; y=2.5$