[b]p1.[/b] Twelve tables are set up in a row for a Millenium party. You want to put $2000$ cupcakes on the tables so that the numbers of cupcakes on adjacent tables always differ by one (for example, if the $5$th table has $20$ cupcakes, then the $4$th table has either $19$ or $21$ cupcakes, and the $6$th table has either $19$ or $21$ cupcakes).
a) Find a way to do this.
b) Suppose a Y2K bug eats one of the cupcakes, so you have only $1999$ cupcakes. Show that it is impossible to arrange the cupcakes on the tables according to the above conditions.


[b]p2.[/b] Let $P$ and $Q$ lie on the hypotenuse $AB$ of the right triangle $CAB$ so that $|AP|=|PQ|=|QB|=|AB|/3$. Suppose that $|CP|^2+|CQ|^2=5$. Prove that $|AB|$ has the same value for all such triangles, and find that value. Note: $|XY|$ denotes the length of the segment $XY$.


[b]p3.[/b] Let $P$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients and let $a, b, c$ be integers. Suppose $P(a)=b$, $P(b)=c$, and $P(c)=a$. Prove that $a=b=c$.


[b]p4.[/b] A lattice point is a point $(x,y)$ in the plane for which both $x$ and $y$ are integers. Each lattice point is painted with one of $1999$ available colors. Prove that there is a rectangle (of nonzero height and width) whose corners are lattice points of the same color.


[b]p5.[/b] A $1999$-by-$1999$ chocolate bar has vertical and horizontal grooves which divide it into $1999^2$ one-by-one squares. Caesar and Brutus are playing the following game with the chocolate bar: A move consists of a player picking up one chocolate rectangle; breaking it along a groove into two smaller rectangles; and then either putting both rectangles down or eating one piece and putting the other piece down. The players move alternately. The one who cannot make a move at his turn (because there are only one-by-one squares left) loses. Caesar starts. Which player has a winning strategy? Describe a winning strategy for that player.


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