On an island there are 1,234 residents, each of whom is either a knight (who always tells the truth) or a liar (who always lies). One day, all of the inhabitants of the island were broken up into pairs, and each one said: “He is a knight!" or “He is a liar!" about his partner. Could it eventually turn out to be that the number of “He is a knight!" and “He is a liar!" phrases is the same?
Solving the problem: “What is the solution of the expression \(x^{2000} + x^{1999} + x^{1998} + 1000x^{1000} + 1000x^{999} + 1000x^{998} + 2000x^3 + 2000x^2 + 2000x + 3000\) (\(x\) is a real number) if \(x^2 + x + 1 = 0\)?”, Vasya got the answer of 3000. Is Vasya right?
Is it possible to cut out such a hole in a sheet of paper through which a person could climb through?
There are two hourglasses – one for 7 minutes and another for 11 minutes. An egg is boiled for 15 minutes. How can this time be measured with the help of the available hourglasses?
The best student in the class, Katie, and the second-best, Mike, tried to find the minimum 5-digit number which consists of different even numbers. Katie found her number correctly, but Mike was mistaken. However, it turned out that the difference between Katie and Mike’s numbers was less than 100. What are Katie and Mike’s numbers?
Decipher the puzzle shown in the diagram.
The farmer must transport across a river a wolf, a goat and a cabbage. The boat accommodates one person, and with him/her either a wolf, a goat, or a cabbage. If you leave the goat and the wolf unattended, the wolf will eat the goat. If you leave cabbage and goat without supervision, the goat will eat the cabbage. How can the farmer transport his cargo across the river?
The old shoemaker Carl sewed some boots and sent his son Hans to the market to sell them for £25. Two disabled people came to the boy’s market stall (one without a left leg, the other without a right one) and was asked to sell each of them a boot. Hans agreed and sold each boot for £12.50.
When the boy came home and told the whole story to his father, Carl decided that his son should have sold the boots to the disabled buyers for less – each for £10. He gave Hans £5 and ordered him to return £2.50 to each disabled buyer.
While the boy was looking for the disabled people at the market, he saw that someone was selling sweets and as could not resist, spent £3 on sweets. After that, he found the disabled buyers and gave them the remaining money – each got £1. Returning home, Hans realised how badly he had acted. He told his father and asked for forgiveness. The shoemaker was very angry and punished his son by sending him to his room.
Sitting in his room, Hans thought about the day’s events. It turned out that since he returned £1 to each buyer, they paid £11.50 for each boot: \(12.50 - 1 = 11.50\). So, the boots cost £23: \(2 \times 11.50 = 23\). And Hans spent £3 on sweets, therefore, it total, there were £26: \(23 + 3 = 26\). But there were only £25! Where did the extra pound come from?
A three-digit number \(ABB\) is given, the product of the digits of which is a two-digit number \(AC\) and the product of the digits of this number is \(C\) (here, as in mathematical puzzles, the digits in the numbers are replaced by letters where the same letters correspond to the same digits and different letters to different digits). Determine the original number.
There is a 12-litre barrel filled with beer, and two empty kegs of 5 and 8 litres. Try using these kegs to:
a) divide the beer into two parts of 3 and 9 litres;
b) divide the beer into two equal parts.