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A traveller on the planet of liars and truth tellers met four people and asked them: “Who are you?”. They received the following answers:

  • 1st: “We are all liars.”

  • 2nd: “Among us is exactly one liar.”

  • 3rd: “Among us there are two liars.”

  • 4th: “I have never lied and I’m not lying”.

The traveller quickly realised who the fourth resident was. How did they do it?

In the lower left corner of an 8 by 8 chessboard is a chip. Two in turn move it one cell up, right or right-up diagonally. The one who puts the chip in the upper right corner wins. Who will win in a regular game?

Prove that in a game of noughts and crosses on a \(3\times 3\) grid, if the first player uses the right strategy then the second player cannot win.

a) There are 10 coins. It is known that one of them is fake (by weight, it is heavier than the real ones). How can you determine the counterfeit coin with three weighings on scales without weights?

b) How can you determine the counterfeit coin with three weighings, if there are 27 coins?

Vincent makes small weights. He made 4 weights which should have masses (in grams) of 1, 3, 4 and 7, respectively. However, he made a mistake and one of these weights has the wrong mass. By weighing them twice using balance scales (without the use of weights other than those mentioned) can he find which weight has the wrong mass?

There are some coins on a table. One of these coins is fake (has a different weight than a real coin). By weighing them twice using balance scales, determine whether the fake coin is lighter or heavier than a real coin (you don’t need to find the fake coin) if the number of coins is: a) 100; b) 99; c) 98?

A professional tennis player plays at least one match each day for training purposes. However in order to ensure he does not over-exert himself he plays no more than 12 matches a week. Prove that it is possible to find a group of consecutive days during which the player plays a total of 20 matches.

During the year, the price for a strudel were twice raised by 50%, and before the New Year they were sold at half price. How much does one strudel cost now, if at the beginning of the year it cost 80 pence?

Harry and Matt came down from a mountain. Harry walked on foot, and Matt went skiing, which was seven times faster than Harry. Halfway down, Matt fell, broke his skis and his leg, and hence travelled twice as slow as Harry. Who will descend first from the mountain?

A country is called a Fiver if, in it, each city is connected by airlines with exactly with five other cities (there are no international flights).

a) Draw a scheme of airlines for a country that is made up of 10 cities.

b) How many airlines are there in a country of 50 cities?

c) Can there be a Fiver country, in which there are exactly 46 airlines?