Vincent makes small weights. He made 4 weights which should have masses (in grams) of 1, 3, 4 and 7, respectively. However, he made a mistake and one of these weights has the wrong mass. By weighing them twice using balance scales (without the use of weights other than those mentioned) can he find which weight has the wrong mass?
There are some coins on a table. One of these coins is fake (has a different weight than a real coin). By weighing them twice using balance scales, determine whether the fake coin is lighter or heavier than a real coin (you don’t need to find the fake coin) if the number of coins is: a) 100; b) 99; c) 98?
Prove that if the irreducible rational fraction \(p/q\) is a root of the polynomial \(P (x)\) with integer coefficients, then \(P (x) = (qx - p) Q (x)\), where the polynomial \(Q (x)\) also has integer coefficients.
Find a natural number greater than one that occurs in the Pascal triangle a) more than three times; b) more than four times.
Can you find
a) in the 100th line of Pascal’s triangle, the number \(1 + 2 + 3 + \dots + 98 + 99\)?
b) in the 200th line the sum of the squares of the numbers in the 100th line?
Prove there are no integer solutions for the equation \(3x^2 + 2 = y^2\).
On the dining room table, there is a choice of six dishes. Every day Valentina takes a certain set of dishes (perhaps, she does not take a single dish), and this set of dishes should be different from all of the sets that she took in the previous days. What is the maximum number of days that Valentina will be able to eat according to such rules and how many meals will she eat on average during the day?
For which \(n > 3\), can a set of weights with masses of \(1, 2, 3, ..., n\) grams be divided into three groups of equal mass?
A family went to the bridge at night. The dad can cross it in 1 minute, the mum in 2 minutes, the child in 5 minutes, and the grandmother in 10 minutes. They have one flashlight. The bridge only withstands two people. How can they cross the bridge in 17 minutes? (If two people cross, then they pass with the lower of the two speeds. They cannot pass along the bridge without a flashlight. They cannot shine the light from afar. They cannot carry anyone in their arms. They cannot throw the flashlight.)
There are \(n\) cities in a country. Between each two cities an air service is established by one of two airlines. Prove that out of these two airlines at least one is such that from any city you can get to any other city whilst traveling on flights only of this airline.