A number is written on each edge of a cube. The sum of the 4 numbers on the adjacent edges is written on each face. Place the numbers \(1\) and \(-1\) on the edges so that the numbers written on the faces are all different.
An adventurer travels to the planet of Liars and Truth-Tellers with an official guide and meets a local. “Are you a truth-teller?” the adventurer asks. The alien replies, “Yrrg”, which means either “yes” or “no.” The adventurer turns to the guide for help. The guide says, “‘Yrrg’ means ‘yes’. Also, the local is actually a liar.” Is the local alien a liar or a truth-teller?
Prove that in a game of noughts and crosses on a \(3\times 3\) grid, if the first player uses the right strategy then the second player cannot win.
There are some coins on a table. One of these coins is fake (has a different weight than a real coin). By weighing them twice using balance scales, determine whether the fake coin is lighter or heavier than a real coin (you don’t need to find the fake coin) if the number of coins is: a) 100; b) 99; c) 98?
A professional tennis player plays at least one match each day for training purposes. However in order to ensure he does not over-exert himself he plays no more than 12 matches a week. Prove that it is possible to find a group of consecutive days during which the player plays a total of 20 matches.
100 fare evaders want to take a train, consisting of 12 coaches, from the first to the 76th station. They know that at the first station two ticket inspectors will board two coaches. After the 4th station, in the time between each station, one of the ticket inspectors will cross to a neighbouring coach. The ticket inspectors take turns to do this. A fare evader can see a ticket inspector only if the ticket inspector is in the next coach or the next but one coach. At each station each fare evader has time to run along the platform the length of no more than three coaches – for example at a station a fare evader in the 7th coach can run to any coach between the 4th and 10th inclusive and board it. What is the largest number of fare evaders that can travel their entire journey without ever ending up in the same coach as one of the ticket inspectors, no matter how the ticket inspectors choose to move? The fare evaders have no information about the ticket inspectors beyond that which is given here, and they agree their strategy before boarding.
Can you find
a) in the 100th line of Pascal’s triangle, the number \(1 + 2 + 3 + \dots + 98 + 99\)?
b) in the 200th line the sum of the squares of the numbers in the 100th line?
A road of length 1 km is lit with streetlights. Each streetlight illuminates a stretch of road of length 1 m. What is the maximum number of streetlights that there could be along the road, if it is known that when any single streetlight is extinguished the street will no longer be fully illuminated?
15 MPs take part in a debate. During the debate, each one criticises exactly \(k\) of the 14 other contributors. For what minimum value of \(k\) is it possible to definitively state that there will be two MPs who have criticised one another?
On an infinitely long strip of paper, we write an endless row of digits.
We start by writing \(1,2,3,4\). After that, each new digit is chosen like this: add the previous four digits and write down only the last digit of that sum.
So the beginning looks like \(1234096\dots\).
Will the four digits \(8123\) ever appear next to each other somewhere in this endless row?