In a group of friends, each two people have exactly five common acquaintances. Prove that the number of pairs of friends is divisible by 3.
You are mixing four magic potions, and you choose how much of each one to use. Let \(a\), \(b\), \(c\), and \(d\) be the amounts of the four potions you pour in, each chosen between \(0\) and \(1\) liter. The wizard tells you that the magic power of your mix is given by the formula \[a + b + c + d - ab - bc - cd - da.\] What is the largest magic power you can create?
At a contest named “Ah well, monsters!”, 15 dragons stand in a row. Between neighbouring dragons the number of heads differs by 1. If the dragon has more heads than both of his two neighbors, he is considered cunning, if he has less than both of his neighbors – strong, the rest (including those standing at the edges) are considered ordinary. In the row there are exactly four cunning dragons – with 4, 6, 7 and 7 heads and exactly three strong ones – with 3, 3 and 6 heads. The first and last dragons have the same number of heads.
a) Give an example of how this could occur.
b) Prove that the number of heads of the first dragon in all potential examples is the same.
Airlines connect pairs of cities. How can you connect 50 cities with the fewest number of airlines so that from every city you can get to any other city by taking at most two flights?