A pack of 36 cards was placed in front of a psychic face down. He calls the suit of the top card, after which the card is opened, shown to him and put aside. After this, the psychic calls out the suit of the next card, etc. The task of the psychic is to guess the suit as many times as possible. However, the card backs are in fact asymmetrical, and the psychic can see in which of the two positions the top card lies. The deck is prepared by a bribed employee. The clerk knows the order of the cards in the deck, and although he cannot change it, he can prompt the psychic by having the card backs arranged in a way according to a specific arrangement. Can the psychic, with the help of such a clue, ensure the guessing of the suit of
a) more than half of the cards;
b) no less than 20 cards?
Every day, James bakes a square cake size \(3\times3\). Jack immediately cuts out for himself four square pieces of size \(1\times1\) with sides parallel to the sides of the cake (not necessarily along the \(3\times3\) grid lines). After that, Sarah cuts out from the rest of the cake a square piece with sides, also parallel to the sides of the cake. What is the largest piece of cake that Sarah can count on, regardless of Jack’s actions?
A unit square is divided into \(n\) triangles. Prove that one of the triangles can be used to completely cover a square with side length \(\frac{1}{n}\).
Carry out the following experiment 10 times: first, toss a coin 10 times in a row and record the number of heads, then toss the coin 9 times in a row and again, record the number of heads. We call the experiment successful, if, in the first case, the number of heads is greater than in the second case. After conducting a series of 10 such experiments, record the number of successful and unsuccessful experiments. Collect the statistics in the form of a table.
a) Anton throws a coin 3 times, and Tina throws it two times. What is the probability that Anton gets more heads than Tina?
b) Anton throws a coin \(n + 1\) times, and Tanya throws it \(n\) times. What is the probability that Anton gets more heads than Tina?
Is it possible to:
a) load two coins so that the probability of “heads” and “tails” were different, and the probability of getting any of the combinations “tails, tails,” “heads, tails”, “heads, heads” be the same?
b) load two dice so that the probability of getting any amount from 2 to 12 would be the same?
Anna, Boris and Fred decided to go to a children’s Christmas party. They agreed to meet at the bus stop, but they do not know who will come to what time. Each of them can come at a random time from 15:00 to 16:00. Fred is the most patient of them all: if he comes and finds that neither Anna nor Boris are at the bus stop, then Fred will wait for one of them for 15 minutes, and if he waits for more than 15 minutes and no one arrives he will go to the Christmas party by himself. Boris is less patient: he will only wait for 10 minutes. Anna is very impatient: she will not wait at all. However, if Boris and Fred meet, they will wait for Anna until 16:00. What is the probability that all of them will go to the Christmas party?
On a roulette, any number from 0 to 2007 can be determined with the same probability. The roulette is spun time after time. Let \(P_k\) denote the probability that at some point the sum of the numbers that are determined by a ball being thrown on the roulette is \(k\). Which number is larger: \(P_{2007}\) or \(P_{2008}\)?
The figure shows the scheme of a go-karting route. The start and finish are at point \(A\), and the driver can go along the route as many times as he wants by going to point \(A\) and then back onto the circle.
It takes Fred one minute to get from \(A\) to \(B\) or from \(B\) to \(A\). It also takes one minute for Fred to go around the ring and he can travel along the ring in an anti-clockwise direction (the arrows in the image indicate the possible direction of movement). Fred does not turn back halfway along the route nor does not stop. He is allowed to be on the track for 10 minutes. Find the number of possible different routes (i.e. sequences of possible routes).
On the occasion of the beginning of the winter holidays all of the boys from class 8B went to the shooting range. It is known that there are \(n\) boys in 8B. There are \(n\) targets at the shooting range which the class attended. Each of the boys randomly chooses a target, while some of the boys could choose the same target. After this, all of the boys simultaneously attempt to shoot their target. It is known that each of the boys hits their target. The target is considered to be affected if at least one boy has hit it.
a) Find the average number of affected targets.
b) Can the average number of affected targets be less than \(n/2\)?
Kate and Gina agreed to meet at the underground in the first hour of the afternoon. Kate comes to the meeting place between noon and one o’clock in the afternoon, waits for 10 minutes and then leaves. Gina does the same.
a) What is the probability that they will meet?
b) How will the probability of a meeting change if Gina decides to come earlier than half past twelve, and Kate still decides to come between noon and one o’clock?
c) How will the probability of a meeting change if Gina decides to come at an arbitrary time between 12:00 and 12:50, and Kate still comes between 12:00 and 13:00?