Problems

Michelle and Mondo play the following game, with Michelle going first. They start with a regular polygon, and take it in turns to move. A move is to pick two non-adjacent points in one polygon, connect them, and split that polygon into two new polygons. A player wins if their opponent cannot move - which happens if there are only triangles left. See the diagram below for an example game with a pentagon. Prove that Michelle has the winning strategy if they start with a decagon (\(10\)-sided polygon).

Let \(n\) be a positive integer. Show that \(1+3+3^2+...+3^{n-1}+3^n=\frac{3^{n+1}-1}{2}\).

Show that all integers greater than or equal to \(8\) can be written as a sum of some \(3\)s and \(5\)s. e.g. \(11=3+3+5\). Note that there’s no way to write \(7\) in such a way.

Explain why you can’t rotate the sides on a normal Rubik’s cube to get to the following picture (with no removing stickers, painting, or other cheating allowed).

Are there any two-digit numbers which are the product of their digits?

The sum of Matt’s and Parker’s ages is \(63\) years. Matt is twice as old as Parker was when Matt was as old as Parker is now. How old are they? (Show that there’s no other ages that they could have)

How many \(10\)-digit numbers are there such that the sum of their digits is \(3\)?

The sum of digits of a positive integer \(n\) is the same as the number of digits of \(n\). What are the possible products of the digits of \(n\)?

In the triangle \(\triangle ABC\), the angle \(\angle ACB=60^{\circ}\), marked at the top. The angle bisectors \(AD\) and \(BE\) intersect at the point \(I\).

Find the angle \(\angle AIB\), marked in red.

Find, with proof, all integer solutions of \(a^3+b^3=9\).