Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 6

Assume you have a chance to play the following game. You need to put numbers in all cells of a \(10\times10\) table so that the sum of numbers in each column is positive and the sum of numbers in each row is negative. Once you put your numbers you cannot change them. You need to pay £1 if you want to play the game and the prize for completing the task is £100. Is it possible to win?

Once again consider the game from Example 2.

(a) Will you change your answer if the field is a rectangle?

(b) The rules are changed. Now you win if the sum of numbers in each row is greater than 100 and the sum of the numbers in each column is less than 100. Is it possible to win?

Michael thinks of a number no less than \(1\) and no greater than \(1000\). Victoria is only allowed to ask questions to which Michael can answer “yes” or “no” (Michael always tells the truth). Can Victoria figure out which number Michael thought of by asking \(10\) questions?

Given a board (divided into squares) of the size: a) \(10\times 12\), b) \(9\times 10\), c) \(9\times 11\), consider the game with two players where: in one turn a player is allowed to cross out any row or any column if there is at least one square not crossed out. The loser is the one who cannot make a move. Is there a winning strategy for one of the players?

A broken calculator carries out only one operation “asterisk”: \(a*b = 1 - a/b\). Prove that using this calculator it is possible to carry out all four arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).

There is a system of equations \[\begin{aligned} * x + * y + * z &= 0,\\ * x + * y + * z &= 0,\\ * x + * y + * z &= 0. \end{aligned}\] Two people alternately enter a number instead of a star. Prove that the player that goes first can always ensure that the system has a non-zero solution.