By directly counting the number of games, we will see that there will be a total of 16 games.
Let's count the number of games, for each game, we need 2 teams.
Then with 17 teams, we can make 8 games (and one team will remain, they will pass directly to the next stage).
In these 8 games, 8 teams lose, then 8 teams are removed, this means that now we have:
17 - 8 = 9 teams left.
Now with these 9 teams, we can make 4 games (again, one team passes directly to the next stage).
In these 4 games, 4 teams are removed, then in the next stage we have:
9 - 4 = 5 teams left.
With 5 teams we can make 2 games, and after these 2 games, 2 teams are removed, so we have:
5 - 2 = 3 teams left.
With 3 teams we can make 1 game, and after that game 1 team is removed, then we have:
3 - 1 = 2 teams left.
With 2 teams we can make one, and the last, game.
Now adding all the numbers of games for each stage we have:
8 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 16
There are a total of 16 games.
If you want to learn more about counting, you can read:
https://brainly.com/question/251701
