There are 4 weights and scales. How many loads that are different by weight can be accurately weighed using these weights, if
a) weights can be placed only on one side of the scales;
b) weights can be placed on both sides of the scales?
Peter marks several cells on a \(5 \times 5\) board. His friend, Richard, will win if he can cover all of these cells with non-overlapping corners of three squares, that do not overlap with the border of the square (you can only place the corners on the squares). What is the smallest number of cells that Peter should mark so that Richard cannot win?
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 fly crawls along a grid from the origin. The fly moves only along the lines of the integer grid to the right or upwards (monotonic wandering). In each node of the net, the fly randomly selects the direction of further movement: upwards or to the right. Find the probability that at some point:
a) the fly will be at the point \((8, 10)\);
b) the fly will be at the point \((8, 10)\), along the line passing along the segment connecting the points \((5, 6)\) and \((6, 6)\);
c) the fly will be at the point \((8, 10)\), passing inside a circle of radius 3 with center at point \((4, 5)\).
A fly moves from the origin only to the right or upwards along the lines of the integer grid (a monotonic wander). In each node of the net, the fly randomly selects the direction of further movement: upwards or to the right.
a) Prove that sooner or later the fly will reach the point with abscissa 2011.
b) Find the mathematical expectation of the ordinate of the fly at the moment when the fly reached the abscissa 2011.
In his laboratory, the Scattered Scientist created a unicellular organism, which, with a probability of 0.6 is divided into two of the same organisms, and with a probability of 0.4 dies without leaving any offspring. Find the probability that after a while the Scattered Scientist will not have any such organisms.
In the cabinet of Anchuria there are 100 ministers. Among them there are honest and dishonest ministers. It is known that out of any ten ministers, at least one minister is dishonest. What is the smallest number of dishonest ministers there could be in the cabinet?
An ant goes out of the origin along a line and makes \(a\) steps of one unit to the right, \(b\) steps of one unit to the left in some order, where \(a > b\). The wandering span of the ant is the difference between the largest and smallest coordinates of the ant for the entire length of its journey.
a) Find the largest possible wandering range.
b) Find the smallest possible range.
c) How many different sequences of motion of the ant are there, where the wandering range is the greatest possible?
A square is divided into triangles (see the figure). How many ways are there to paint exactly one third of the square? Small triangles cannot be painted partially.
There are 40 identical cords. If you set any cord on fire on one side, it burns, and if you set it alight on the other side, it will not burn. Ahmed arranges the cords in the form of a square (see the figure below, each cord makes up a side of a cell). Then, Helen arranges 12 fuses. Will Ahmed be able to lay out the cords in such a way that Helen will not be able to burn all of them?