For a trophy, 16 teams participate, numbered 1-16 according to their rankings. In the qualifier matches, the teams face their immediate next lower ranked team. e.g. team-1 plays team 2, team-3 plays team-4 and so on. It has been observed that the lower ranked team always wins. Which two teams might play a semi-final match?

Solution

Matches are played between 1 Vs 2, 3 Vs 4, 5 Vs 6, 7 Vs 8, 9 Vs 10, 11 Vs 12, 13 Vs 14, 15 Vs 16 Lower ranked team always wins. For eg- In Team-1 Vs team-2 match team-2 wins So 1-2-Team 2 wins 3-4-Team 4 wins 5-6-Team 6 wins 7-8-Team 8 wins 9-10-Team 10 wins 11-12-Team 12 wins 13-14-Team 14 wins 15-16 Team 16 wins Thus 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 wins Again matches are played between 2 Vs 4, 6 Vs 8, 10 Vs 12 14 Vs 16 24-Team 4 wins 68-Team 8 wins 10-12-Team 12 wins 14-16-Team 16 wins Lower ranks wins that is-4, 8, 12, 16 ie we have 4 teams which play semifinal. So semis played between-4 and 8, 12 and 16 4 B-Team 8 wins 12 > 16-Team 16 wins Thus Team 12 and team-16 will play semifinal since team-4 and team-8 is not given in options.