Along the beach are a number of poles standing at equal distance from each other. The poles are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, ..... Alice is walking from the first pole to the last one and back, Bob is doing that in the opposite direction. They start at the same time and walk with constant, but different velocity. Their first encounter is at pole number 10, their second (when they're both on the way back) at pole number 20. How many poles are standing along the beach?

Suppose: a = b

It then follows that
a * a = a * b
a^2 = a * b
a^2 - b^2 = a * b - b^2
(a - b) * (a + b) = (a - b) * b
a + b = b
a + a = a
2 * a = 1 * a
2 = 1

Is this derivation really correct? Or is there somewhere a mistake? If so, where?

A sultan has 14 daughters. He decides to tell every night four of his daughtes a fairy tale, but in such a way that every night, there will be another combination of four daughters. How many nights will keep the sultan busy telling fairy tales?