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Problem Sheet 1 - Parity

The document presents a problem sheet focused on parity and mathematical reasoning, featuring six main problems with sub-questions related to integers, movements on a number line, number erasure on a blackboard, tiling a square board, matrix products, and seating arrangements. Each problem explores various scenarios and asks for possible outcomes or conditions. The problems are designed to stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving skills in mathematics.

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Ryan Azim Shaikh
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67 views1 page

Problem Sheet 1 - Parity

The document presents a problem sheet focused on parity and mathematical reasoning, featuring six main problems with sub-questions related to integers, movements on a number line, number erasure on a blackboard, tiling a square board, matrix products, and seating arrangements. Each problem explores various scenarios and asks for possible outcomes or conditions. The problems are designed to stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving skills in mathematics.

Uploaded by

Ryan Azim Shaikh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Problem Sheet 1

Parity
Selected by Amitabha Tripathi

1. (a) If the product of 2025 integers equals 1, can their sum be zero?
(b) What if you replace 2025 by any positive integer?
(c) If you replace 2025 by any positive integer, what are the possible values their sum can take?
2. (a) A man starts at 0 on the number line, and moves either left or right on each move. If he moves
1 unit on the first move, 2 units on the second move, 3 units on the third move, and so on, is it
possible for him to return to the starting point after 2025 moves?
(b) What if you were to replace 2025 by any fixed positive integer n?
(c) For each positive integer n, what are the possible locations the man could be at?
3. (a) The numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . , 2025 are written on a blackboard. Two of the numbers are erased from the
blackboard and replaced by their positive difference. This procedure is carried out until only one
number remains. Can this remaining number possibly be 0?
(b) What can you say about the last remaining number if you started with the numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . , n?
4. (a) If a 23 × 23 square board is completely tiled using 1 × 1, 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 tiles, what is the least
number of 1 × 1 tiles one must use?
(b) What would this minimum number be if you were to replace 23 by any positive integer n?
5. (a) Each element of a 25×25 matrix is either +1 or −1. If ai denotes the product of the entries in the ith
row and bj denotes the product of the entries in the j th column, can the sum (a1 +b1 )+· · ·+(a25 +b25 )
equal 0?
(b) What happens if you replace 25 by any positive integer n?

6. (a) Can you completely tile a 10 × 10 square board with 1 × 2 tiles if you remove squares at diagonally
opposite corners of the square board?
(b) Can a knight start at square a1 of a chessboard and end at the diagonally opposite square h8
covering each of the remaining squares exactly once on the way?
(c) There are an odd number students in a class, seated in rows and columns. Can they be reseated
so that each student occupies a seat which is either in a row or a column adjacent to their original
seat?

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