Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 1974

In a chess tournament, each participant played two games with each of the other participants: one with white pieces, the other with black. At the end of the tournament, it turned out that all of the participants scored the same number of points (1 point for a victory, \(\frac{1}{2}\) a point for a draw and 0 points for a loss). Prove that there are two participants who have won the same number of games using white pieces.

In a mathematical olympiad, \(m>1\) candidates solved \(n>1\) problems. Each candidate solved a different number of problems to all the others. Each problem was solved by a different number of candidates to all the others. Prove that one of the candidates solved exactly one problem.

A teacher filled the squares of a chequered table with \(5\times5\) different integers and gave one copy of it to Janine and one to Zahara. Janine selects the largest number in the table, then she deletes the row and column containing this number, and then she selects the largest number of the remaining integers, then she deletes the row and column containing this number, etc. Zahara performs similar operations, each time choosing the smallest numbers. Can the teacher fill up the table in such a way that the sum of the five numbers chosen by Zahara is greater than the sum of the five numbers chosen by Janine?

Is it possible to place 12 identical coins along the edges of a square box so that touching each edge there were exactly: a) 2 coins, b) 3 coins, c) 4 coins, d) 5 coins, e) 6 coins, f) 7 coins.

You are allowed to place coins on top of one another. In the cases where it is possible, draw how this could be done. In the other cases, prove that doing so is impossible.

  • Eight schoolchildren solved \(8\) tasks. It turned out that \(5\) schoolchildren solved each problem. Prove that there are two schoolchildren, who solved every problem at least once.

  • If each problem is solved by \(4\) pupils, prove that it is not necessary to have two schoolchildren who would solve each problem.

Some squares on a chess board contain a chess piece. It is known that each row contains at least one chess piece, but that different rows all have different numbers of pieces. Prove that it is always possible to mark 8 pieces so that each row and each column of the board contains exactly one marked piece.

Prove that any convex polygon contains not more than \(35\) vertices with an angle of less than \(170^\circ\).

A circle is covered with several arcs. These arcs can overlap one another, but none of them cover the entire circumference. Prove that it is always possible to select several of these arcs so that together they cover the entire circumference and add up to no more than \(720^{\circ}\).

At the end of the term, Billy wrote out his current singing marks in a row and put a multiplication sign between some of them. The product of the resulting numbers turned out to be equal to 2007. What is Billy’s term mark for singing? (The marks that he can get are between 2 and 5, where 5 is the highest mark).

Sarah believes that two watermelons are heavier than three melons, Anna believes that three watermelons are heavier than four melons. It is known that one of the girls is right, and the other is mistaken. Is it true that 12 watermelons are heavier than 18 melons? (It is believed that all watermelons weigh the same and all melons weigh the same.)