On a hot summer day,landon and mariah ate seven Popsicle. With the sticks left over,they challenged themselves to the following game: each player alternates turns picking up one,two,or three consecutive sticks The stick must be picked up in order from left to right player one starts with the first stick on the left side the player who picks up the last stick loses
Landon goes first and picks up exactly one stick. How many sticks must mari ah pick up to ensure that she wins?
my work
Since there are 7 sticks and landon picks exactly one stick ,mariah must pick up the 3 sticks to ensure that she wins
Mariah needs to pick up one stick. There will be 5 left. If Landon picks up 1, Mariah will pick 3, so Landon looses. If Landon picks 2, Mariah will pick 2. If Landon picks 3, Mariah will get one.