Problems

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Numbers \(1, 2, 3, \dots , 101\) are written out in a row in some order. Prove that one can cross out 90 of them so that the remaining 11 will be arranged in their magnitude (either increasing or decreasing).

The equations \[ax^2 + bx + c = 0 \tag{1}\] and \[- ax^2 + bx + c \tag{2}\] are given. Prove that if \(x_1\) and \(x_2\) are, respectively, any roots of the equations (1) and (2), then there is a root \(x_3\) of the equation \(\frac 12 ax^2 + bx + c\) such that either \(x_1 \leq x_3 \leq x_2\) or \(x_1 \geq x_3 \geq x_2\).

At what value of \(k\) is the quantity \(A_k = (19^k + 66^k)/k!\) at its maximum? You are given a number \(x\) that is greater than 1. Is the following inequality necessarily fulfilled \(\lfloor \sqrt{\!\sqrt{x}}\rfloor = \lfloor \sqrt{\!\sqrt{x}}\rfloor\)?

The tracks in a zoo form an equilateral triangle, in which the middle lines are drawn. A monkey ran away from its cage. Two guards try to catch the monkey. Will they be able to catch the monkey if all three of them can run only along the tracks, and the speed of the monkey and the speed of the guards are equal and they can always see each other?

The judges of an Olympiad decided to denote each participant with a natural number in such a way that it would be possible to unambiguously reconstruct the number of points received by each participant in each task, and that from each two participants the one with the greater number would be the participant which received a higher score. Help the judges solve this problem!

Aladdin visited all of the points on the equator, moving to the east, then to the west, and sometimes instantly moving to the diametrically opposite point on Earth. Prove that there was a period of time during which the difference in distances traversed by Aladdin to the east and to the west was not less than half the length of the equator.

There are three piles of rocks: in the first pile there are 10 rocks, 15 in the second pile and 20 in the third pile. In this game (with two players), in one turn a player is allowed to divide one of the piles into two smaller piles. The loser is the one who cannot make a move. Which player would be the winner?

A traveller rents a room in an inn for a week and offers the innkeeper a chain of seven silver links as payment – one link per day, with the condition that they will be payed everyday. The innkeeper agrees, with the condition that the traveller can only cut one of the links. How did the traveller manage to pay the innkeeper?