Alice finally decided to do some arithmetic. She took four different integer numbers, calculated their pairwise sums and products, and the results ( the pairwise sums and products) wrote down in her wonderful book. What could be the smallest number of different numbers Alice wrote in her book?
Alice wants to write down the numbers from 1 to 16 in such a way that the sum of two neighbouring numbers will be a square number. The Hatter tells Alice that he can write down the numbers with this property in a line, but he believes that it is absolutely impossible to write the numbers with this property in a circle. Show that he is right.
Show that \(\frac{x}{y} + {\frac{y}{z}} + {\frac{z}{x}} = 1\) is not solvable in natural numbers.
Can you pay 20 p in seven coins?
Can you pay 20 p in seven coins using 1p and 5p coins only?
Can you pay 25 p in eight coins using 1p and 5p coins only?
(a) Show that it is impossible to find five odd numbers which all add to 100.
(b) Alice wrote several odd numbers on a piece of paper. The Hatter did not see the numbers, but says that if he knew how many numbers Alice wrote down, than he would say with certainty if the sum of the numbers is even or odd. How can he do it?
At the tea party the Hatter, who loves everything being odd, decided to divide 25 cakes between himself, the March Hare, Alice, and the Dormouse in such a way that everybody receives an odd number of cakes. Show that he would never be able to do it.
Alice went to a shop to buy flowers for her sister. She bought 6 roses £1 each, 4 lilies 82p each, and 4 freesias 76p each. At the till she was asked to pay £12.25, which she asked to recalculate straight away pointing out that the amount was not correct. Alice did not calculate the full amount, but how did she know that they made a mistake?
The Hatter says that he knows four numbers such that their sum and their product are odd. Is he right? Can you expain why?