a$)$ Give an example of a positive number a such that {a} + {1 / a} = 1.
$\\$
b$)$ Can such an a be a rational number?
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$)$.
Prove that for every natural number n $>$ 1 the equality: [$n^{1 / 2}] + [n^{1/ 3}] + … + [n^{1 / n}] = [log_{2}n] + [log_{3}n] + … + [log_{n}n]$ is satisfied.
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.
A schoolboy told his friend Bob:$\\$
“We have thirty-five people in the class. And imagine, each of them is friends with exactly eleven classmates …”$\\$
“It cannot be,” Bob, the winner of the mathematical Olympiad, answered immediately. Why did he decide this?
During the chess tournament, several players played an odd number of games. Prove that the number of such players is even.
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.
The numbers a and b are such that the first equation of the system
$cos x = ax + b$
$sin x + a = 0$
has exactly two solutions. Prove that the system has at least one solution.
The numbers a and b are such that the first equation of the system
$sin x + a = bx$
$cos x = b$
has exactly two solutions. Prove that the system has at least one solution.
Aladdin visited all of the points on the equator, moving to the east, then to the west, and sometimes instantly moving to the diametrically opposite point on Earth. Prove that there was a period of time during which the difference in distances traversed by Aladdin to the east and to the west was not less than half the length of the equator.
In a dark room on a shelf there are 4 pairs of socks of two different sizes and two different colours that are not arranged in pairs. What is the minimum number of socks necessary to move from the drawer to the suitcase, without leaving the room, so that there are two pairs of socks of different sizes and colours in the suitcase?
Is there a line on the coordinate plane relative to which the graph of the function $y = 2^x$ is symmetric?
Does there exist a number h such that for any natural number n the number [$h \times 1969^n$] is not divisible by [$h \times 1969^{n-1}$]?
How can you connect 50 cities with the least number of airlines so that from every city you can get to any other one by making no more than two transfers?
On an 8 × 8 chessboard the largest possible number of bishops is placed so that no two bishops threaten each other. Prove that the number of all such constellations is an exact square.
The metro of the city of Vaudeville consists of three lines and has at least two terminal stations and at least two interchange stations, and none of the terminal stations are interchange stations. You can get from each line to each of the others at least in two places. Draw an example of such a metro scheme, if you know that you can do this without taking the pencil off of the paper and by not drawing over the same line twice.
A resident of one foreign intelligence agency informed the centre about the forthcoming signing of a number of bilateral agreements between the fifteen former republics of the USSR. According to his report, each of them will conclude an agreement exactly with three others. Should this resident be trusted?
In Mongolia there are in circulation coins of 3 and 5 tugriks. An entrance ticket to the central park costs 4 tugriks. One day before the opening of the park, a line of 200 visitors queued up in front of the ticket booth. Each of them, as well as the cashier, has exactly 22 tugriks. Prove that all of the visitors will be able to buy a ticket in the order of the queue.
There is an elastic band and glass beads: four identical red ones, two identical blue ones and two identical green ones. It is necessary to string all eight beads on the elastic band in order to get a bracelet. How many different bracelets can be made so that beads of the same colour are not next to each other? $($Assume that there is no buckle, and the knot on the elastic is invisible$)$.
Author: A.K. Tolpygo
12 grasshoppers sit on a circle at various points. These points divide the circle into 12 arcs. Let’s mark the 12 mid-points of the arcs. At the signal the grasshoppers jump simultaneously, each to the nearest clockwise marked point. 12 arcs are formed again, and jumps to the middle of the arcs are repeated, etc. Can at least one grasshopper return to his starting point after he has made a) 12 jumps; b) 13 jumps?