BULB YOUR IDEAS!

1.

A school has a strange Headteacher. On the first day, he has his students
perform an odd opening day ceremony:
There are fifty lockers and fifty students in the school. The Headteacher asks
the first student to go to every locker and open it. Then he has the second student
go to every second locker and close it. The third goes to every third locker and, if
it is closed, he opens it, and if it is open, he closes it. The fourth student does this
to every fourth locker, and so on. After the process is completed with the fiftieth
student, how many lockers are open and which lockers are open?

2.

You are a cook in a restaurant in a quaint country where clocks are outlawed. You
have a four-minute egg-timer, a seven-minute egg-timer, and a pot of boiling water.
A regular customer orders a nine-minute egg, and you know this person to be
extremely picky and will not like it if you overcook or undercook the egg, even by
a few seconds. Also, the egg must be cooked for a continuous 9 minutes. Find a
means to cook the egg in under 20 minutes and explain how you do it. How confident
are you that your answer is optimal? Do you think it might be possible to do it in a
shorter time than the one you find?
3.

A group of workers won a cash award. All of the money was to be distributed
among the group members in the following way:
 $ 𝑥 to the oldest member of the group plus of what remains, then
 $ 2𝑥 to the second oldest member of the group plus of what then
remains, then
 $ 3𝑥 to the third oldest member of the group plus of what then
remains, and so on.
When the distribution of the money was complete, each group member received
the same amount and no money was left over. Determine the number of members
in the group.