The 30 members of a club decided to play a badminton singles tournament. Every time a member loses a game he is out of the tournament. There are no ties. What is the minimum number of matches that must be played to determine the winner ?

Explanation:-

Clearly, every member except one (i.e. the winner) must lose one game to decide the winner. Thus, minimum number of matches to be played = 30 - 1 = 29.