Problems

There are 6 locked suitcases and 6 keys for them. It is not known which keys are for which suitcase. What is the smallest number of attempts do you need in order to open all the suitcases? How many attempts would you need if there are 10 suitcases and keys instead of 6?

Decipher the following rebus

All the digits indicated by the letter “\(E\)” are even (not necessarily equal); all the numbers indicated by the letter \(O\) are odd (also not necessarily equal).

A kindergarten used cards for teaching children how to read: on some, the letter “MA” are written, on the rest – “DA”. Each child took three cards and began to compose words from them. It turned out that the word “MAMA” was created from the cards by 20 children, the word “DADA” by 30 children, and the word “MADA” by 40 children. How many children all had 3 of the same cards?

James spent the first Tuesday of some month in Liverpool and the first Tuesday after the first Monday he spent in Newcastle. In the next month, James spent the first Tuesday in Dover and the first Tuesday after the first Monday he spent in Bristol. Could you determine the dates (day and month) spent by James in each of the cities?

Cowboy Joe was sentenced to death in an electric chair. He knows that out of two electric chairs standing in a special cell, one is defective. In addition, Joe knows that if he sits on this faulty chair, the penalty will not be repeated and he will be pardoned. He also knows that the guard guarding the chairs on every other day tells the truth to every question and on the alternate days he answers incorrectly to every question. The sentenced person is allowed to ask the guard exactly one question, after which it is necessary to choose which electric chair to sit on. What question can Joe ask the guard to find out for sure which chair is faulty?

Fred and George are twin brothers. One of them always tells the truth, and the other always lies. You can ask only one question to one of the brothers, to which he will answer “yes” or “no”. Try to find out the name of each of the twins.

Harry, Jack and Fred were seated so that Harry could see Jack and Fred, Jack could only see Fred, and Fred could not see anyone. Then, from a bag which contained two white caps and three black caps (the contents of the bag were known to the boys), they took out and each put on a cap of an unknown color, and the other two hats remained in the sack. Harry said that he could not determine the color of his hat. Jack heard Harry’s statement and said that he did not have enough information to determine the color of his hat. Could Fred on the basis of these answers determine the color of his cap?

Three friends – Peter, Ryan and Sarah – are university students, each studying a different subject from one of the following: mathematics, physics or chemistry. If Peter is the mathematician then Sarah isn’t the physicist. If Ryan isn’t the physicist then Peter is the mathematician. If Sarah isn’t the mathematician then Ryan is the chemist. Can you determine which subject each of the friends is studying?

At the cat show, 10 male cats and 19 female cats sit in a row where next to each female cat sits a fatter male cat. Prove that next to each male cat is a female cat, which is thinner than it.

The vendor has a cup weighing scales with unequal shoulders and weights. First he weighs the goods on one cup, then on the other, and takes the average weight. Does he deceive customers?