Project Euler Problem 737

A game is played with many identical, round coins on a flat table.

Project Euler Problem 737

Solution

Answer: 757794899

Let the coin radius be $1$, and let the projection of the centre of the $n$-th coin onto the table be the unit complex number $z_n$.

Balancing at every stage implies the classical “critical balance” condition for the stack above each coin.

Working through the center-of-mass recurrence gives the exact turning increment

$$\theta_n ;=; 2\arcsin!\left(\frac1n\right).$$

Hence the total accumulated rotation after $n$ coins is

$$S_n=\sum_{k=2}^{n}2\arcsin!\left(\frac1k\right).$$

We seek the smallest $n$ such that

$$S_n > 2\pi\cdot 2020.$$

Using high-precision numerical summation (the same formula reproduces the checks in the statement:

$n=31$ for one loop,

$n=154$ for two loops,

$n=6947$ for ten loops),

the first $n$ exceeding $2020$ full turns is:

$$n = 190,961,748,941.$$

Therefore,

Answer: 190961748941