110

MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE

distributions on this interval, and it is shown that for both players it is optimal to choose their numbers from the
Benford distribution. Furthermore, this strategy is optimal for any winning set, and the probability of winning is
the Benford measure of the players winning set. Using these results we prove that the original game in which
the players choose integers has a well-defined value and that strategies exist that are arbitrarily close to optimal.
Finally, we consider generalizations of the game in which players choose elements from a compact topological
group and show that choosing them according to Haar measure is an optimal strategy.
KENT E. MORRISON is professor emeritus at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo,
where he taught for thirty years. He has also taught at Utah State University, Haverford College, and the University
of California at Santa Cruz, where he received his Ph.D. and B.A. degrees. Currently he is a visiting researcher at
the American Institute of Mathematics in Palo Alto. He has a number of research interests in the areas of algebra,
geometry, probability, and combinatorics.

Proof Without Words: A Tangent Inequality

If k 0 for k = 1, . . . , n and

n



k < /2, then tan

k=1

tan n

l
l

%
..

%
.

%
#

%
#

% 1
#
# A

%
A tan k
#

%
A
#
n

%
#
A


%

#

#

%


..

% ##


.

% #



% #


1
k

% # 
(

#
(((

%
(((
(
# 
(
(
tan 1

%
#(((((


% (( 1
(

#

n

k=1


k

n


tan k .

k=1


tan

n



k

k=1

1
Rob Pratt
Raleigh, NC 27613-1079
Rob.Pratt@sas.com
c Mathematical Association of America
Math. Mag. 83 (2010) 110. doi:10.4169/002557010X496407.