Problems

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Aladdin visited all of the points on the equator, moving to the east, then to the west, and sometimes instantly moving to the diametrically opposite point on Earth. Prove that there was a period of time during which the difference in distances traversed by Aladdin to the east and to the west was not less than half the length of the equator.

A carpet of size 4 m by 4 m has had 15 holes made in it by a moth. Is it always possible to cut out a 1 m \(\times\) 1 m area of carpet that doesn’t contain any holes? The holes are considered to be points.

Prove that there is a number of the form

a) \(1989 \dots 19890 \dots 0\) (the number 1989 is repeated several times, and then there are a few zeros), which is divisible by 1988;

b) \(1988 \dots 1988\), which is divisible by 1989.

A board of size \(2005\times2005\) is divided into square cells with a side length of 1 unit. Some board cells are numbered in some order by numbers 1, 2, ... so that from any non-numbered cell there is a numbered cell within a distance of less than 10. Prove that there can be found two cells with a distance between them of less than 150, which are numbered by numbers that differ by more than 23. (The distance between the cells is the distance between their centres.)

Prove that amongst the numbers of the form \[19991999\dots 19990\dots 0\] – that is 1999 a number of times, followed by a number of 0s – there will be at least one divisible by 2001.

There are three piles of rocks: in the first pile there are 10 rocks, 15 in the second pile and 20 in the third pile. In this game (with two players), in one turn a player is allowed to divide one of the piles into two smaller piles. The loser is the one who cannot make a move. Which player would be the winner?

The grandad is twice as strong as the grandma, the grandma is three times stronger than the granddaughter, the granddaughter is four times stronger than the dog, the dog is five times stronger than the cat and the cat is six times stronger than the mouse. The grandad, the grandma, the granddaughter, the dog and the cat together with the mouse can pull out the pumpkin from the ground, which they cannot do without the mouse. How many mice should be summoned so that they can pull out the pumpkin themselves?

Fred and George together with their mother were decorating the Christmas tree. So that they would not fight, their mother gave each brother the same number of decorations and branches. Fred tried to hang one decoration on each branch, but he needed one more branch for his last decoration. George tried to hang two toys on each branch, but one branch was empty. What do you think, how many branches and how many decorations did the mother give to her sons?

One three-digit number consists of different digits that are in ascending order, and in its name all words begin with the same letter. The other three-digit number, on the contrary, consists of identical digits, but in its name all words begin with different letters. What are these numbers?