139 persons have signed for an elimination tournament. All players are to be paired up

for the first round, but because 139 is an odd number one player gets a bye, which

promotes him to the second round, without actually playing in the first round. The pairing

continues on the next round, with a bye to any player left over. If the schedule is planned

so that a minimum number of matches is required to determine the champion, the number

of matches which must be played is

a) 136

b) 137

c) 138

d) 139