In the TV series “The Secret of Santa Barbara” there are 20 characters. Each episode contains one of the events: some character discovers the Mystery, some character discovers that someone knows the Mystery, some character discovers that someone does not know the Mystery. What is the maximum number of episodes that this tv series can last?
Determine all solutions of the equation \((n + 2)! - (n + 1)! - n! = n^2 + n^4\) in natural numbers.
Two boys play the following game: they take turns placing rooks on a chessboard. The one who wins is the one whose last move leaves all the board cells filled. Who wins if both try to play with the best possible strategy?
On the planet Tau Ceti, the landmass takes up more than half the surface area. Prove that the Tau Cetians can drill a hole through the centre of their planet that connects land to land.
A traveller who came to the planet hired a local as a guide. They went for a walk and saw another alien. The traveller sent the guide to find out to whether this native is a liar or truth teller. The guide returned and said: “The native says that they are a truth teller.” Who was the guide: a liar or a truth teller?
Prove that if \(a, b, c\) are odd numbers, then at least one of the numbers \(ab-1\), \(bc-1\), \(ca-1\) is divisible by 4.
In a basket there are 13 apples. There are scales, with which you can find out the total weight of any two apples. Think of a way to find out from 8 weighings the total weight of all the apples.
When boarding a plane, a line of \(n\) passengers was formed, each of whom has a ticket for one of the \(n\) places. The first in the line is a crazy old man. He runs onto the plane and sits down in a random place (perhaps, his own). Then passengers take turns to take their seats, and in the case that their place is already occupied, they sit randomly on one of the vacant seats. What is the probability that the last passenger will take his assigned seat?
A raisin bag contains 2001 raisins with a total weight of 1001 g, and no raisin weighs more than 1.002 g.
Prove that all the raisins can be divided onto two scales so that they show a difference in weight not exceeding 1 g.
We are given 101 natural numbers whose sum is equal to 200. Prove that we can always pick some of these numbers so that the sum of the picked numbers is 100.