Problems
A useful common problem-solving strategy is to divide a problem into cases. We can divide the problem into familiar and unfamiliar cases; easy and difficult cases; typical and extreme cases etc. The division is sometimes suggested by the problem, but oftentimes requires a bit of work first.
If you are stuck on a problem or you are not sure where to begin, gathering data by trying out easy or typical cases first might help you with the following (this list is not exhaustive):
Gaining intuition of the problem
Isolating the difficulties
Quantifying progress on the problem
Setting up or completing inductive arguments
Let us take a look at this strategy in action.
The letters \(A\), \(R\), \(S\) and \(T\) represent different digits from \(1\) to \(9\). The same letters correspond to the same digits, while different letters correspond to different digits.
Find \(ART\), given that \(ARTS+STAR=10,T31\).
Split the numbers from \(1\) to \(9\) into three triplets such that the sum of the three numbers in each triplet is prime. For example, if you split them into \(124\), \(356\) and \(789\), then the triplet \(124\) is correct, since \(1+2+4=7\) is prime. But the other two triples are incorrect, since \(3+5+6=14\) and \(7+8+9=24\) are not prime.
A family is going on a big holiday, visiting Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark and Estonia. They want to go to Estonia before Bulgaria. How many ways can they visit the five countries, subject to this constraint?
Let \(p\), \(q\) and \(r\) be distinct primes at least \(5\). Can \(p^2+q^2+r^2\) be prime? If yes, then give an example. If no, then prove it.
How many subsets of \(\{1,2,...,n\}\) (that is, the integers from \(1\) to \(n\)) have an even product? For the purposes of this question, take the product of the numbers in the empty set to be \(1\).
How many subsets are there of \(\{1,2,...,n\}\) (the integers from \(1\) to \(n\) inclusive) containing no consecutive digits? That is, we do count \(\{1,3,6,8\}\) but do not count \(\{1,3,6,7\}\).
For example, when \(n=3\), we have \(8\) subsets overall but only \(5\) contain no consecutive integers. The \(8\) subsets are \(\varnothing\) (the empty set), \(\{1\}\), \(\{2\}\), \(\{3\}\), \(\{1,3\}\), \(\{1,2\}\), \(\{2,3\}\) and \(\{1,2,3\}\), but we exclude the final three of these
Let \(A\), \(B\), \(C\) and \(D\) be four points labelled clockwise on the circumference of a circle. The diagonals \(AC\) and \(BD\) intersect at the centre \(O\) of the circle. What can be deduced about the quadrilateral \(ABCD\)?
Consider the 7 different tetrominoes. Is it possible to cover a \(4\times7\) rectangle with exactly one copy of each of the tetrominoes? If it is possible, provide an example layout. If it is not possible, prove that it’s impossible.
We allow rotation of the tetrominoes, but not reflection. This means that we consider \(S\) and \(Z\) as different, as well as \(L\) and \(J\).
In the following grid, how many different ways are there of getting from the bottom left triangle to the bottom right triangle? You must only go from between triangles that share an edge and you can visit each triangle at most once. (You don’t have to visit all of the triangles.)
