An ant goes out of the origin along a line and makes \(a\) steps of one unit to the right, \(b\) steps of one unit to the left in some order, where \(a > b\). The wandering span of the ant is the difference between the largest and smallest coordinates of the ant for the entire length of its journey.
a) Find the largest possible wandering range.
b) Find the smallest possible range.
c) How many different sequences of motion of the ant are there, where the wandering range is the greatest possible?
There are 40 identical cords. If you set any cord on fire on one side, it burns, and if you set it alight on the other side, it will not burn. Ahmed arranges the cords in the form of a square (see the figure below, each cord makes up a side of a cell). Then, Helen arranges 12 fuses. Will Ahmed be able to lay out the cords in such a way that Helen will not be able to burn all of them?
There are several squares on a rectangular sheet of chequered paper of size \(m \times n\) cells, the sides of which run along the vertical and horizontal lines of the paper. It is known that no two squares coincide and no square contains another square within itself. What is the largest number of such squares?
We are given 101 rectangles with integer-length sides that do not exceed 100.
Prove that amongst them there will be three rectangles \(A, B, C\), which will fit completely inside one another so that \(A \subset B \subset C\).