IMO Shortlist 2012 problem C1


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Nov. 3, 2013
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Several positive integers are written in a row. Iteratively, Alice chooses two adjacent numbers x and y such that x>y and x is to the left of y, and replaces the pair (x,y) by either (y+1,x) or (x-1,x). Prove that she can perform only finitely many such iterations.

Proposed by Warut Suksompong, Thailand
Source: Međunarodna matematička olimpijada, shortlist 2012