In a line 40 signs are written out: 20 crosses and 20 zeros. In one move, you can swap any two adjacent signs. What is the least number of moves in which it is guaranteed that you can ensure that some 20 consecutive signs are crosses?
Author: E.V. Bakaev
After a hockey match Anthony said that he scored 3 goals, and Ilya only one. Ilya said that he scored 4 goals, and Serge scored 5 goals. Serge said that he scored 6 goals, and Anthony only two. Could it be that the three of them scored 10 goals, if it is known that each of them once told the truth, and once lied?
Find all of the solutions of the puzzle: \(ARKA + RKA + KA + A = 2014\). (Different letters correspond to different numbers, and the same letters correspond to the same numbers.)
Valentina added a number (not equal to 0) taken to the power of four and the same number to the power two and reported the result to Peter. Can Peter determine the unique number that Valentina chose?
In a row there are 20 different natural numbers. The product of every two of them standing next to one another is the square of a natural number. The first number is 42. Prove that at least one of the numbers is greater than 16,000.
The numbers \(1, 2, 3,\dots , 10\) are written around a circle in a particular order. Peter calculated the sum of each of the 10 possible groups of three adjacent numbers around the circle and wrote down the smallest value he had calculated. What is the largest possible value he could have written down?
There are scales and 100 coins, among which several (more than 0 but less than 99) are fake. All of the counterfeit coins weigh the same and all of the real ones also weigh the same, while the counterfeit coin is lighter than the real one. You can do weighings on the scales by paying with one of the coins (whether real or fake) before weighing. Prove that it is possible with a guarantee to find a real coin.
Author: I.S. Rubanov
On the table, there are 7 cards with numbers from 0 to 6. Two take turns in taking one card. The winner is the one is the first person who can, from his cards, make up a natural number that is divisible by 17. Who will win in a regular game the person who goes first or second?
In a group of six people, any five can sit down at a round table so that every two neighbours know each other.
Prove that the entire group can be seated at the round table so that every two neighbours will know each other.
At a round table, 2015 people are sitting down, each of them is either a knight or a liar. Knights always tell the truth, liars always lie. They were given one card each, and on each card a number is written; all the numbers on the cards are different. Looking at the cards of their neighbours, each of those sitting at the table said: “My number is greater than that of each of my two neighbors.” After that, \(k\) of the sitting people said: “My number is less than that of each of my two neighbors.” At what maximum \(k\) could this occur?