Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 5

With a red marker, Margaret marked three points with integer coordinates on a number line. With a blue marker, Angelina marked a midpoint for every pair of red points. Prove that at least 1 of the blue points has an integer coordinate.

Alice took a red marker and marked 5 points with integer coordinates on a coordinate plane. Miriam took a blue marker and marked a midpoint for each pair of red points. Prove that at least 1 of the blue points has integer coordinates.

Is it possible to place 12 identical coins along the edges of a square box so that touching each edge there were exactly: a) 2 coins, b) 3 coins, c) 4 coins, d) 5 coins, e) 6 coins, f) 7 coins.

You are allowed to place coins on top of one another. In the cases where it is possible, draw how this could be done. In the other cases, prove that doing so is impossible.

A standard chessboard has more than a quarter of its squares filled with chess pieces. Prove that at least two adjacent squares, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, are occupied somewhere on the board.

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.