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?
This problem is from Ancient Rome.
A rich senator died, leaving his wife pregnant. After the senator’s death it was found out that he left a property of 210 talents (an Ancient Roman currency) in his will as follows: “In the case of the birth of a son, give the boy two thirds of my property (i.e. 140 talents) and the other third (i.e. 70 talents) to the mother. In the case of the birth of a daughter, give the girl one third of my property (i.e. 70 talents) and the other two thirds (i.e. 140 talents) to the mother.”
The senator’s widow gave birth to twins: one boy and one girl. This possibility was not foreseen by the late senator. How can the property be divided between three inheritors so that it is as close as possible to the instructions of the will?
Determine all integer solutions of the equation \(yk = x^2 + x\). Where \(k\) is an integer greater than \(1\).
\(f(x)\) is an increasing function defined on the interval \([0, 1]\). It is known that the range of its values belongs to the interval \([0, 1]\). Prove that, for any natural \(N\), the graph of the function can be covered by \(N\) rectangles whose sides are parallel to the coordinate axes so that the area of each is \(1/N^2\). (In a rectangle we include its interior points and the points of its boundary).
a) Give an example of a positive number \(a\) such that \(\{a\} + \{1 / a\} = 1\).
b) Can such an \(a\) be a rational number?
a) The vertices (corners) in a regular polygon with 10 sides are colored black and white in an alternating fashion (i.e. one vertex is black, the next is white, etc). Two people play the following game. Each player in turn draws a line connecting two vertices of the same color. These lines must not have common vertices (i.e. must not begin or end on the same dot as another line) with the lines already drawn. The winner of the game is the player who made the final move. Which player, the first or the second, would win if the right strategy is used?
b) The same problem, but for a regular polygon with 12 sides.
We consider a sequence of words consisting of the letters “A” and “B”. The first word in the sequence is “A”, the \(k\)-th word is obtained from the \((k-1)\)-th by the following operation: each “A” is replaced by “AAB” and each “B” by “A”. It is easy to see that each word is the beginning of the next, thus obtaining an infinite sequence of letters: AABAABAAABAABAAAB...
a) Where in this sequence will the 1000th letter “A” be?
b) Prove that this sequence is non-periodic.
Solve the equation \(x + \frac{1}{(y + 1/z)}= 10/7\) in natural numbers.
A numerical sequence is defined by the following conditions: \[a_1 = 1, \quad a_{n+1} = a_n + \lfloor \sqrt{a_n}\rfloor .\]
Prove that among the terms of this sequence there are an infinite number of complete squares.
The function \(f(x)\) on the interval \([a, b]\) is equal to the maximum of several functions of the form \(y = C \times 10^{- | x-d |}\) (where \(d\) and \(C\) are different, and all \(C\) are positive). It is given that \(f (a) = f (b)\). Prove that the sum of the lengths of the sections on which the function increases is equal to the sum of the lengths of the sections on which the function decreases.