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Solving the problem: “What is the solution of the expression \(x^{2000} + x^{1999} + x^{1998} + 1000x^{1000} + 1000x^{999} + 1000x^{998} + 2000x^3 + 2000x^2 + 2000x + 3000\) (\(x\) is a real number) if \(x^2 + x + 1 = 0\)?”, Vasya got the answer of 3000. Is Vasya right?

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.

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?

The best student in the class, Katie, and the second-best, Mike, tried to find the minimum 5-digit number which consists of different even numbers. Katie found her number correctly, but Mike was mistaken. However, it turned out that the difference between Katie and Mike’s numbers was less than 100. What are Katie and Mike’s numbers?

The best student in the class, Katie, made up a huge number, writing out in a row all of the natural numbers from 1 to 500: \[123 \dots 10111213 \dots 499500.\] The second-best student, Tom, erased the first 500 digits of this number. What do you think, what number does the remaining number begin with?

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?

The old shoemaker Carl sewed some boots and sent his son Hans to the market to sell them for £25. Two disabled people came to the boy’s market stall (one without a left leg, the other without a right one) and was asked to sell each of them a boot. Hans agreed and sold each boot for £12.50.

When the boy came home and told the whole story to his father, Carl decided that his son should have sold the boots to the disabled buyers for less – each for £10. He gave Hans £5 and ordered him to return £2.50 to each disabled buyer.

While the boy was looking for the disabled people at the market, he saw that someone was selling sweets and as could not resist, spent £3 on sweets. After that, he found the disabled buyers and gave them the remaining money – each got £1. Returning home, Hans realised how badly he had acted. He told his father and asked for forgiveness. The shoemaker was very angry and punished his son by sending him to his room.

Sitting in his room, Hans thought about the day’s events. It turned out that since he returned £1 to each buyer, they paid £11.50 for each boot: \(12.50 - 1 = 11.50\). So, the boots cost £23: \(2 \times 11.50 = 23\). And Hans spent £3 on sweets, therefore, it total, there were £26: \(23 + 3 = 26\). But there were only £25! Where did the extra pound come from?

When Gulliver came to Lilliput, he found that everything was exactly 12 times shorter than in his homeland. Can you say how many Lilliputian matchboxes fit into the matchbox of Gulliver?