A chess tournament is taking place on knock-out terms (the one who loses the match is out of the game).
(a) If 10 matches are played in total, how many players participated?
(b) If 20 players took part in the tournament, how many matches were played?
Alex is stranded on an island covered in forest.
One day, when the wind is blowing from the west, lightning strikes the west end of the island and sets fire to the forest. The fire is very violent, burning everything in its path, and without intervention the fire will burn the whole island, killing the man in the process.
There are cliffs around the island, so he cannot jump off.
How can the Alex survive the fire? (There are no buckets or any other means to put out the fire)
Mr. Buttons was all set to go to the village of Buttonland to meet his friend. So, he packed his bags and left for the village at 5 in the morning. Upon travelling on a road for miles, he came across a point where the road diverged into two. He was confused on which road to take. He gazed around and he saw two owls sitting on a branch. He thought he could ask for directions for the village from the two owls. So he went to the tree. There he saw a sign which read, "One owl always lies, and one is always truthful. They both fly away if you ask them more than 1 question."
Mr. Buttons was caught in the dilemma of what to ask? And from which owl to ask, since he only had one question. What should Mr. Buttons ask?
Steffi's daughter Jazelle needs to be picked up from school every day.
Steffi asks one of her colleagues to pick up Jazelle from the school. Steffi devised a password system to confirm that Jazelle goes with the correct colleague only.
The password on Monday was SJM16.
The password on Wednesday was TAW39.