Problems

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Is it possible to place the numbers \(1, 2,\dots 12\) around a circle so that the difference between any two adjacent numbers is 3, 4, or 5?

Airlines connect pairs of cities. How can you connect 50 cities with the fewest number of airlines so that from every city you can get to any other city by taking at most two flights?

In a corridor of length 100 m, 20 sections of red carpet are laid out. The combined length of the sections is 1000 m. What is the largest number there can be of distinct stretches of the corridor that are not covered by carpet, given that the sections of carpet are all the same width as the corridor?

Two lines on the plane intersect at an angle \(\alpha\). On one of them there is a flea. Every second it jumps from one line to the other (the point of intersection is considered to belong to both straight lines). It is known that the length of each of her jumps is 1 and that she never returns to the place where she was a second ago. After some time, the flea returned to its original point. Prove that for the angle \(\alpha\) the value \(\alpha/\pi\) is a rational number.

The White Rook pursues a black horse on a board of \(3 \times 1969\) cells (they walk in turn according to the usual rules). How should the rook play in order to take the horse? White makes the first move.

In a set there are 100 weights, each two of which differ in mass by no more than 20 g. Prove that these weights can be put on two cups of weighing scales, 50 pieces on each one, so that one cup of weights is lighter than the other by no more than 20 g.

It is known that a camera located at \(O\) cannot see the objects \(A\) and \(B\), where the angle \(AOB\) is greater than \(179^\circ\). 1000 such cameras are placed in a Cartesian plane. All of the cameras simultaneously take a picture. Prove that there will be a picture taken in which no more than 998 cameras are visible.

The sum of 100 natural numbers, each of which is no greater than 100, is equal to 200. Prove that it is possible to pick some of these numbers so that their sum is equal to 100.

A conference was attended by a finite group of scientists, some of whom are friends. It turned out that every two scientists, who have an equal number of friends at the conference, do not have friends in common. Prove that there is a scientist who has exactly one friend among the conference attendees.

Peter bought an automatic machine at the store, which for 5 pence multiplies any number entered into it by 3, and for 2 pence adds 4 to any number. Peter wants, starting with a unit that can be entered free of charge to get the number 1981 on the machine number whilst spending the smallest amount of money. How much will the calculations cost him? What happens if he wants to get the number 1982?