Fred chose 2017 (not necessarily different) natural numbers \(a_1, a_2, \dots , a_{2017}\) and plays by himself in the following game. Initially, he has an unlimited supply of stones and 2017 large empty boxes. In one move Fred adds a1 stones to any box (at his choice), in any of the remaining boxes (of his choice) – \(a_2\) stones, ..., finally, in the remaining box – \(a_{2017}\) stones. His purpose is to ensure that eventually all the boxes have an equal number of stones. Could he have chosen the numbers so that the goal could be achieved in 43 moves, but is impossible for a smaller non-zero number of moves?
Gary drew an empty table of \(50 \times 50\) and wrote on top of each column and to the left of each row a number. It turned out that all 100 written numbers are different, and 50 of them are rational, and the remaining 50 are irrational. Then, in each cell of the table, he wrote down a product of numbers written at the top of its column and to the left of the row (the “multiplication table”). What is the largest number of products in this table which could be rational numbers?
When one scientist comes up with an ingenious idea, he writes it down on a piece of paper, but then he realises that the idea is not brilliant, scrunches up this sheet of paper and throws it under the table, where there are two rubbish bins. The scientist misses the first bin with a probability \(p > 0.5\), and with the same probability he misses the second. In the morning, the scientist threw five crumpled brilliant ideas under the table. Find the probability that there was at least one of these ideas in each bin.
The television game “What? Where? When?” consists of a team of “experts” trying to solve 13 questions (or sectors), numbered from 1 to 13, that are thought up and sent in by the viewers of the programme. Envelopes with the questions are selected in turn in random order with the help of a spinning top with an arrow. If this sector has already come up previously, and the envelope is no longer there, then the next clockwise sector is played. If it is also empty, then the next one is played, etc., until there is a non-empty sector.
Before the break, the players played six sectors.
a) What is more likely: that sector number 1 has already been played or that sector number 8 has already been plated?
b) Find the probability that, before the break, six sectors with numbers from 1 to 6 were played consecutively.
In one box, there are two pies with mushrooms, in another box there are two with cherries and in the third one, there is one with mushrooms and one with cherries. The pies look and weigh the same, so it’s not known what is in each one. The grandson needs to take one pie to school. The grandmother wants to give him a pie with cherries, but she is confused herself and can only determine the filling by breaking the pie, but the grandson does not want a broken pie, he wants a whole one.
a) Show that the grandmother can act so that the probability of giving the grandson a whole pie with cherries will be equal to \(2/3\).
b) Is there a strategy in which the probability of giving the grandson a whole pie with cherries is higher than \(2/3\)?
In a tournament, 100 wrestlers are taking part, all of whom have different strengths. In any fight between two wrestlers, the one who is stronger always wins. In the first round the wrestlers broke into random pairs and fought each other. For the second round, the wrestlers once again broke into random pairs of rivals (it could be that some pairs will repeat). The prize is given to those who win both matches. Find:
a) the smallest possible number of tournament winners;
b) the mathematical expectation of the number of tournament winners.
At the ball, there were \(n\) married couples. In each pair, the husband and wife are of the same height, but there are no two pairs of the same height. The waltz begins, and all those who came to the ball randomly divide into pairs: each gentleman dances with a randomly chosen lady.
Find the mathematical expectation of the random variable \(X\), “the number of gentlemen who are shorter than their partners”.
On weekdays, the Scattered Scientist goes to work along the circle line on the London Underground from Cannon Street station to Edgware Road station, and in the evening he goes back (see the diagram).
Entering the station, the Scientist sits down on the first train that arrives. It is known that in both directions the trains run at approximately equal intervals, and along the northern route (via Farringdon) the train goes from Cannon Street to Edgware Road or back in 17 minutes, and along the southern route (via St James Park) – 11 minutes. According to an old habit, the scientist always calculates everything. Once he calculated that, from many years of observation:
– the train going counter-clockwise, comes to Edgware Road on average 1 minute 15 seconds after the train going clockwise arrives. The same is true for Cannon Street.
– on a trip from home to work the Scientist spends an average of 1 minute less time than a trip home from work.
Find the mathematical expectation of the interval between trains going in one direction.
A sequence consists of 19 ones and 49 zeros, arranged in a random order. We call the maximal subsequence of the same symbols a “group”. For example, in the sequence 110001001111 there are five groups: two ones, then three zeros, then one one, then two zeros and finally four ones. Find the mathematical expectation of the length of the first group.
There are \(n\) random vectors of the form \((y_1, y_2, y_3)\), where exactly one random coordinate is equal to 1, and the others are equal to 0. They are summed up. A random vector a with coordinates \((Y_1, Y_2, Y_3)\) is obtained.
a) Find the mathematical expectation of a random variable \(a^2\).
b) Prove that \(|a|\geq \frac{1}{3}\).