Old calculator I.
a) Suppose that we want to find \(\sqrt[3]{x}\) (\(x> 0\)) on a calculator that can find \(\sqrt{x}\) in addition to four ordinary arithmetic operations. Consider the following algorithm. A sequence of numbers \(\{y_n\}\) is constructed, in which \(y_0\) is an arbitrary positive number, for example, \(y_0 = \sqrt{\sqrt{x}}\), and the remaining elements are defined by \(y_{n + 1} = \sqrt{\sqrt{x y_n}}\) (\(n \geq 0\)).
Prove that \(\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} y_n = \sqrt[3]{x}\).
b) Construct a similar algorithm to calculate the fifth root.
The sequence of numbers \(a_1, a_2, a_3, \dots\) is given by the following conditions \(a_1 = 1\), \(a_{n + 1} = a_n + \frac {1} {a_n^2}\) (\(n \geq 0\)).
Prove that
a) this sequence is unbounded;
b) \(a_{9000} > 30\);
c) find the limit \(\lim \limits_ {n \to \infty} \frac {a_n} {\sqrt [3] n}\).
Draw all of the stairs made from four bricks in descending order, starting with the steepest \((4, 0, 0, 0)\) and ending with the shallowest \((1, 1, 1, 1)\).
A frog jumps over the vertices of the triangle \(ABC\), moving each time to one of the neighbouring vertices.
How many ways can it get from \(A\) to \(A\) in \(n\) jumps?
Author: A. Khrabrov
Do there exist integers \(a\) and \(b\) such that
a) the equation \(x^2 + ax + b = 0\) does not have roots, and the equation \(\lfloor x^2\rfloor + ax + b = 0\) does have roots?
b) the equation \(x^2 + 2ax + b = 0\) does not have roots, and the equation \(\lfloor x^2\rfloor + 2ax + b = 0\) does have roots?
Note that here, square brackets represent integers and curly brackets represent non-integer values or 0.
Author: A.K. Tolpygo
12 grasshoppers sit on a circle at various points. These points divide the circle into 12 arcs. Let’s mark the 12 mid-points of the arcs. At the signal the grasshoppers jump simultaneously, each to the nearest clockwise marked point. 12 arcs are formed again, and jumps to the middle of the arcs are repeated, etc. Can at least one grasshopper return to his starting point after he has made a) 12 jumps; b) 13 jumps?
Author: L.N. Vaserstein
For any natural numbers \(a_1, a_2, \dots , a_m\), no two of which are equal to each other and none of which is divisible by the square of a natural number greater than one, and also for any integers and non-zero integers \(b_1, b_2, \dots , b_m\) the sum is not zero. Prove this.
The segment \(OA\) is given. From the end of the segment \(A\) there are 5 segments \(AB_1, AB_2, AB_3, AB_4, AB_5\). From each point \(B_i\) there can be five more new segments or not a single new segment, etc. Can the number of free ends of the constructed segments be 1001? By the free end of a segment we mean a point belonging to only one segment (except point \(O\)).
Solve the equation \(x^3 - \lfloor x\rfloor = 3\).
Airlines connect pairs of cities. How can you connect 50 cities with the fewest number of airlines so that from every city you can get to any other city by taking at most two flights?