In one move, it is permitted to either double a number or to erase its last digit. Is it possible to get the number 14 from the number 458 in a few moves?
Jack and Ben had a bicycle on which they went to a neighborhood village. They rode it in turns, but whenever one rode, the other walked and did not run. They managed to arrive in the village at the same time and almost twice as fast than if they had both walked. How did they do it?
Three tourists must move from one bank of the river to another. At their disposal is an old boat, which can withstand a load of only 100 kg. The weight of one of the tourists is 45 kg, the second – 50 kg, the third – 80 kg. How should they act to move to the other side?
Initially, on each cell of a \(1 \times n\) board a checker is placed. The first move allows you to move any checker onto an adjacent cell (one of the two, if the checker is not on the edge), so that a column of two pieces is formed. Then one can move each column in any direction by as many cells as there are checkers in it (within the board); if the column is on a non-empty cell, it is placed on a column standing there and unites with it. Prove that in \(n - 1\) moves you can collect all of the checkers on one square.
In Mexico, environmentalists have succeeded in enacting a law whereby every car should not be driven at least one day a week (the owner informs the police about their car registration number and the day of the week when this car will not be driven). In a certain family, all adults want to travel daily (each for their own business!). How many cars (at least) should the family have, if the family has a) 5 adults? b) 8 adults?
Three hedgehogs divided three pieces of cheese of mass of 5g, 8g and 11g. The fox began to help them. It can cut off and eat 1 gram of cheese from any two pieces at the same time. Can the fox leave the hedgehogs equal pieces of cheese?
Gabby is standing on a river bank. She has two clay jars: one – for 5 litres, and about the second Gabby remembers only that it holds either 3 or 4 litres. Help Gabby determine the capacity of the second jar. (Looking into the jar, you cannot figure out how much water is in it.)
Hannah has a calculator that allows you to multiply a number by 3, add 3 to the number or (4 if the number is divisible by 3 to make a whole number) divide by 3. How can the number 11 be made on this calculator from the number 1?
In the king’s prison, there are five cells numbered from 1 to 5. In each cell, there is one prisoner. Kristen persuaded the king to conduct an experiment: on the wall of each cell she writes at one point a number and at midnight, each prisoner will go to the cell with the indicated number (if the number on the wall coincides with the cell number, the prisoner does not go anywhere). On the following night at midnight, the prisoners again must move from their cell to another cell according to the instructions on the wall, and they do this for five nights. If the location of prisoners in the cells for all six days (including the first) is never repeated, then Kristen will be given the title of Wisdom, and the prisoners will be released. Help Kristen write numbers in the cells.
An \(8 \times 8\) square is painted in two colours. You can repaint any \(1 \times 3\) rectangle in its predominant colour. Prove that such operations can make the whole square monochrome.