Consider the following simplified BitTorrent scenario. There is a swarm of 2n peers and, during the time in question, no peers join or leave the swarm. It takes a peer 1 unit of time to upload or download a piece, during which time it can only do one or the other. Initially one peer has the whole file and the others have nothing.

(a) If the swarm’s target file consists of only 1 piece, what is the minimum time necessary for all the peers to obtain the file?

Ignore all but upload/download time.

(b) Let x be your answer to the preceding question. If the swarm’s target file instead consisted of two pieces, would it be possible for all the peers to obtain the file in less than 2x time units? Why or why not?