Problems

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Valerie wrote the number 1 on the board, and then several more numbers. As soon as Valerie writes the next number, Mike calculates the median of the already available set of numbers and writes it in his notebook. At some point, in Mike’s notebook, the numbers: 1; 2; 3; 2.5; 3; 2.5; 2; 2; 2; 2.5 are written.

a) What is the fourth number written on the board?

b) What is the eighth number written on the board?

An abstract artist took a wooden \(5\times 5\times 5\) cube and divided each face into unit squares. He painted each square in one of three colours – black, white, and red – so that there were no horizontally or vertically adjacent squares of the same colour. What is the smallest possible number of squares the artist could have painted black following this rule? Unit squares which share a side are considered adjacent both when the squares lie on the same face and when they lie on adjacent faces.

Prove that for any odd natural number, \(a\), there exists a natural number, \(b\), such that \(2^b - 1\) is divisible by \(a\).

Out of the given numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., 1000, find the largest number \(m\) that has this property: no matter which \(m\) of these numbers you delete, among the remaining \(1000 - m\) numbers there are two, of which one is divisible by the other.

Prove that, for any integer \(n\), among the numbers \(n, n + 1, n + 2, \dots , n + 9\) there is at least one number that is mutually prime with the other nine numbers.

If we are given any 100 whole numbers then amongst them it is always possible to choose one, or several of them, so that their sum gives a number divisible by 100. Prove that this is the case.

Prove that if \(x_0^4 + a_1x_0^3 + a_2x_0^2 + a_3x_0 + a_4\) and \(4x_0^3 + 3a_1x_0^2 + 2a_2x_0 + a_3 = 0\) then \(x^4 + a_1x^3 + a_2x^2 + a_3x + a_4\) is divisible by \((x - x_0)^2\).

All of the integers from 1 to 64 are written in an \(8 \times 8\) table. Prove that in this case there are two adjacent numbers, the difference between which is not less than 5. (Numbers that are in cells which share a common side are called adjacent).

All integers from 1 to \(2n\) are written in a row. Then, to each number, the number of its place in the row is added, that is, to the first number 1 is added, to the second – 2, and so on.

Prove that among the sums obtained there are at least two that give the same remainder when divided by \(2n\).