(a) Can you find a set of distinct numbers which can be arranged in a circle in such a way that each number equals the product of its neighbours?
(b) Is it true that each solution of Example 1 is determined by the values of two neighbouring numbers?
It was Sebastian’s younger brother who cut the big square in Example 2. Now you need to help him to cut one of the squares (which Sebastian obtained after glueing the pieces) into smaller congruent triangles. But please make sure the elder brother can do the same thing as before: to divide the resulting congruent triangles into two groups and to glue the pieces of each group together to make two squares with different side lengths.
It’s not that difficult to find a set of \(57\) integers which has a product strictly larger or strictly smaller than their sum. Is it possible to find \(57\) integers (not necessarily distinct) with their sum being equal to their product?
This academic year Harry decided not only to attend Maths Circles, but also to join his local Chess Club. Harry’s chess set was very old and some pieces were missing so he ordered a new one. When it arrived, he found out to his surprise that the set consisted of 32 knights of different colours. He was a bit upset but he decided to spend some time on solving the problem he heard on the last Saturday’s Maths Circle session. The task was to find out if it is possible to put more than 30 knights on a chessboard in such a way that they do not attack each other. Do you think it is possible or not?
After listening to Harry’s complaints the delivery service promised him to deliver a very expensive chess set together with some books on chess strategies and puzzles. This week one of the tasks was to put 14 bishops on a chessboard so that they do not attack each other. Harry solved this problem and smiled hoping he is not getting 32 identical bishops this time. Can you solve it?
Colour the plane in red, green and blue in such a way that every line consists of points of at most two colours. Remember that you have to use all three colours.
A young and ambitious software engineer is working on his own basic version of an intelligent personal assistant. The application can only answer closed questions (a closed question is a question that can be answered only ‘yes’ or ‘no’). He installs this application on three mobile devices and runs a set of tests. He discovers there is one unstable device. From time to time the application gives wrong answers, but you cannot really predict when. Being exhausted after unsuccessful attempts to find the mistake in his code, the software engineer goes to sleep. The next morning he cannot remember which device is not working properly. Taking into account that devices are connected to the same server (so normally working applications can detect which one is not always receiving the signal) explain how in two questions the engineer can determine the unstable device. One question is for one device only.
Notice that the square number 1089 \((=33^2)\) has two even and two odd digits in its decimal representation.
(a) Can you find a 6-digit square number with the same property (the number of odd digits equals the number of even digits)?
(b) What about such 100-digit square number?
Bella spent 10 minutes searching for a 3-digit number such that it has the product of it’s digits equal to 26. She examined all 3-digit numbers one by one. Do you think she missed a possible example or is it the case that there are simply no such 3-digit numbers?
Assume you have a chance to play the following game. You need to put numbers in all cells of a \(10\times10\) table so that the sum of numbers in each column is positive and the sum of numbers in each row is negative. Once you put your numbers you cannot change them. You need to pay £1 if you want to play the game and the prize for completing the task is £100. Is it possible to win?