Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 2416

There is a triangle with side lengths \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\). Can you form a triangle with side lengths \(\frac{a}{b}\), \(\frac{b}{c}\) and \(\frac{c}{a}\)? Does it depend on what \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\) are? Give a proof if it is always possible or never possible. Otherwise, construct examples to show the dependence on \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\).
Recall that a triangle can be drawn with side lengths \(x\), \(y\) and \(z\) if and only if \(x+y>z\), \(y+z>x\) and \(z+x>y\).

There is a triangle with side lengths \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\). Does there exist a triangle with side lengths \(|a-b|\), \(|b-c|\) and \(|c-a|\)? Does it depend on what \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\) are?
Recall that a triangle can be formed with side lengths \(x\), \(y\) and \(z\) if and only if all the inequalities \(x+y>z\), \(y+z>x\) and \(z+x>y\) hold.

There is a triangle with side lenghts \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\). Does there exist a triangle with sides of lengths \(a^2+bc\), \(b^2+ca\) and \(c^2+ab\)? Does it depend on the values of \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\)?

In good conditions, bacteria in a Petri cup spread quite fast, doubling every second. If there was initially one bacterium, then in \(32\) seconds the bacteria will cover the whole surface of the cup.

Now suppose that there are initially \(4\) bacteria. At what time will the bacteria cover the surface of the cup?

A piece containing exactly \(4\) black cells is cut out from a regular \(8\) by \(8\) chessboard. You are only allowed to cut along the edges of the cells and the piece must be connected - namely you cannot have cells attached only with a vertex, they have to share a common edge.

Find the largest possible area of such a piece.

Prove that the set of all finite subsets of natural numbers \(\mathbb{N}\) is countable. Then prove that the set of all subsets of natural numbers is not countable.

In a distant village, there are \(3\) houses and \(3\) wells. Inhabitants of each house want to have access to all \(3\) wells. Is it possible to build non-intersecting straight paths from each house to each well? All houses and well must be level (that is, none of them are higher up, like on a mountain, nor are any of them on lower ground, like in a valley).

Today you saw two infinitely long buses with seats numbered as \(1,2,3,...\) carrying infinitely many guests each arriving at the full hotel. How do you accommodate everyone?

Now there are finitely many infinitely long buses with seats numbered as \(1,2,3,...\) carrying infinitely many guests each arriving at the full hotel. Now what do you do?

How about infinitely many very long buses with seats numbered \(1,2,3...\), each carrying infinitely many guests, all arriving at the hotel. Assume for now that the hotel is empty. But that seems like a lot of guests to accommodate. What should you do?