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\(N\) people lined up behind each other. The taller people obstruct the shorter ones, and they cannot be seen.

What is the mathematical expectation of the number of people that can be seen?

In the centre of a rectangular billiard table that is 3 m long and 1 m wide, there is a billiard ball. It is hit by a cue in a random direction. After the impact the ball stops passing exactly 2 m. Find the expected number of reflections from the sides of the table.

A die is thrown six times. Find the mathematical expectation of the number of different faces the die lands on.

On a calculator keypad, there are the numbers from 0 to 9 and signs of two actions (see the figure). First, the display shows the number 0. You can press any keys. The calculator performs the actions in the sequence of clicks. If the action sign is pressed several times, the calculator will only remember the last click.

a) The button with the multiplier sign breaks and does not work. The Scattered Scientist pressed several buttons in a random sequence. Which result of the resulting sequence of actions is more likely: an even number or an odd number?

b) Solve the previous problem if the multiplication symbol button is repaired.

On a Christmas tree, 100 light bulbs hang in a row. Then the light bulbs begin to switch according to the following algorithm: all are lit up, then after a second, every second light goes out, after another second, every third light bulb changes: if it was on, it goes out and vice versa. After another second, every fourth bulb switches, a second later – every fifth and so on. After 100 seconds the sequence ends. Find the probability that a light bulb straight after a randomly selected light bulb is on (bulbs do not burn out and do not break).

A sailor can only serve on a submarine if their height does not exceed 168 cm. There are four teams \(A\), \(B\), \(C\) and \(D\). All sailors in these teams want to serve on a submarine and have been rigorously selected. There remains the last selection round – for height.

In team \(A\), the average height of sailors is 166 cm.

In team \(B\), the median height of the sailors is 167 cm.

In team \(C\), the tallest sailor has a height of 169 cm.

In team \(D\), the mode of the height of the sailors is 167 cm.

In which team, can at least half of the sailors definitely serve on the submarine?

The length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is 3.

a) The Scattered Scientist calculated the dispersion of the lengths of the sides of this triangle and found that it equals 2. Was he wrong in the calculations?

b) What is the smallest standard deviation of the sides that a rectangular triangle can have? What are the lengths of its sides, adjacent to the right angle?

A numerical set \(x_1, \dots , x_n\) is given. Consider the function \(d(t) = \frac{min_{i=1,\dots ,n}|x_i-t| + max_{i=1,\dots ,n}|x_i - t|}{2}\).

a) Is it true that the function \(d (t)\) takes the smallest value at a single point, for any set of numbers \(x_1, \dots , x_n\)?

b) Compare the values of \(d (c)\) and \(d (m)\) where \(c = \frac{min_{i=1,\dots ,n}x_i + max_{i=1,\dots ,n}x_i}{2}\) and \(m\) is the median of the specified set.

James furiously cuts a rectangular sheet of paper with scissors. Every second he cuts a random piece by an unsystematic rectilinear cut into two parts.

a) Find the mathematical expectation of the number of sides of a polygon (made from a piece of paper) that James randomly picks up after an hour of such work.

b) Solve the same problem if at first the piece of paper had the form of an arbitrary polygon.