Found problems: 233
2013 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 5
Rahul has ten cards face-down, which consist of five distinct pairs of matching cards. During each move of his game, Rahul chooses one card to turn face-up, looks at it, and then chooses another to turn face-up and looks at it. If the two face-up cards match, the game ends. If not, Rahul flips both cards face-down and keeps repeating this process. Initially, Rahul doesn't know which cards are which. Assuming that he has perfect memory, find the smallest number of moves after which he can guarantee that the game has ended.
2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 10
We have $10$ points on a line $A_1,A_2\ldots A_{10}$ in that order. Initially there are $n$ chips on point $A_1$. Now we are allowed to perform two types of moves. Take two chips on $A_i$, remove them and place one chip on $A_{i+1}$, or take two chips on $A_{i+1}$, remove them, and place a chip on $A_{i+2}$ and $A_i$ . Find the minimum possible value of $n$ such that it is possible to get a chip on $A_{10}$ through a sequence of moves.
2016 HMNT, 9
The vertices of a regular nonagon are colored such that $1)$ adjacent vertices are different colors and $2)$ if $3$ vertices form an equilateral triangle, they are all different colors. Let $m$ be the minimum number of colors needed for a valid coloring, and n be the total number of colorings using $m$ colors. Determine $mn$. (Assume each vertex is distinguishable.)
2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 7
In an election for the Peer Pressure High School student council president, there are 2019 voters and two candidates Alice and Celia (who are voters themselves). At the beginning, Alice and Celia both vote for themselves, and Alice's boyfriend Bob votes for Alice as well. Then one by one, each of the remaining 2016 voters votes for a candidate randomly, with probabilities proportional to the current number of the respective candidate's votes. For example, the first undecided voter David has a $\tfrac{2}{3}$ probability of voting for Alice and a $\tfrac{1}{3}$ probability of voting for Celia.
What is the probability that Alice wins the election (by having more votes than Celia)?
2008 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 7
Let $ C_1$ and $ C_2$ be externally tangent circles with radius 2 and 3, respectively. Let $ C_3$ be a circle internally tangent to both $ C_1$ and $ C_2$ at points $ A$ and $ B$, respectively. The tangents to $ C_3$ at $ A$ and $ B$ meet at $ T$, and $ TA \equal{} 4$. Determine the radius of $ C_3$.
2000 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 34
What is the largest $n$ such that $n! + 1$ is a square?
2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 4
A positive integer is written on each corner of a square such that numbers on opposite vertices are relatively prime while numbers on adjacent vertices are not relatively prime. What is the smallest possible value of the sum of these $4$ numbers?
2013 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 6
Let $R$ be the region in the Cartesian plane of points $(x,y)$ satisfying $x\geq 0$, $y\geq 0$, and $x+y+\lfloor x\rfloor+\lfloor y\rfloor\leq 5$. Determine the area of $R$.
2023 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 4
Suppose $P (x)$ is a polynomial with real coefficients such that $P (t) = P (1)t^2 + P (P (1))t + P (P (P (1)))$ for all real numbers $t$. Compute the largest possible value of $P(P(P(P(1))))$.
2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 4
A rectangular pool table has vertices at $(0, 0) (12, 0) (0, 10),$ and $(12, 10)$. There are pockets only in the four corners. A ball is hit from $(0, 0)$ along the line $y = x$ and bounces off several walls before eventually entering a pocket. Find the number of walls that the ball bounces off of before entering a pocket.
2016 HMNT, 3
Let $V$ be a rectangular prism with integer side lengths. The largest face has area $240$ and the smallest face has area $48$. A third face has area $x$, where $x$ is not equal to $48$ or $240$. What is the sum of all possible values of $x$?
2016 HMNT, 31-33
31. Define a number to be an anti-palindrome if, when written in base $3$ as $a_na_{n-1}\ldots a_0$, then $a_i+a_{n-i} = 2$ for any $0 \le i \le n$. Find the number of anti-palindromes less than $3^{12}$ such that no two consecutive digits in base 3 are equal.
32. Let $C_{k,n}$ denote the number of paths on the Cartesian plane along which you can travel from $(0, 0)$ to $(k, n)$, given the following rules: 1) You can only travel directly upward or directly rightward 2) You can only change direction at lattice points 3) Each horizontal segment in the path must be at most $99$ units long.
Find $$\sum_{j=0}^\infty C_{100j+19,17}$$
33. Camille the snail lives on the surface of a regular dodecahedron. Right now he is on vertex $P_1$ of the face with vertices $P_1, P_2, P_3, P_4, P_5$. This face has a perimeter of $5$. Camille wants to get to the point on the dodecahedron farthest away from $P_1$. To do so, he must travel along the surface a distance at least $L$. What is $L^2$?
2011 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 4
Let $ABCD$ be a square of side length $13$. Let $E$ and $F$ be points on rays $AB$ and $AD$ respectively, so that the area of square $ABCD$ equals the area of triangle $AEF$. If $EF$ intersects $BC$ at $X$ and $BX = 6$, determine $DF$.
2013 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 13
Find the smallest positive integer $n$ such that $\dfrac{5^{n+1}+2^{n+1}}{5^n+2^n}>4.99$.
2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 5
Contessa is taking a random lattice walk in the plane, starting at $(1,1)$. (In a random lattice walk, one moves up, down, left, or right $1$ unit with equal probability at each step.) If she lands on a point of the form $(6m,6n)$ for $m,n \in \mathbb{Z}$, she ascends to heaven, but if she lands on a point of the form $(6m+3,6n+3)$ for $m,n \in \mathbb{Z}$, she descends to hell. What is the probability she ascends to heaven?
2014 HMNT, 2
Let $f(x) = x^2 + 6x + 7$. Determine the smallest possible value of $f(f(f(f(x))))$ over all real numbers $x.$
2014 NIMO Problems, 8
Triangle $ABC$ lies entirely in the first quadrant of the Cartesian plane, and its sides have slopes $63$, $73$, $97$. Suppose the curve $\mathcal V$ with equation $y=(x+3)(x^2+3)$ passes through the vertices of $ABC$. Find the sum of the slopes of the three tangents to $\mathcal V$ at each of $A$, $B$, $C$.
[i]Proposed by Akshaj[/i]
2016 HMNT, 4
A positive integer is written on each corner of a square such that numbers on opposite vertices are relatively prime while numbers on adjacent vertices are not relatively prime. What is the smallest possible value of the sum of these $4$ numbers?
2023 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 8
Let $\triangle ABC$ be a triangle with $\angle BAC>90^{\circ}$, $AB=5$ and $AC=7$. Points $D$ and $E$ lie on segment $BC$ such that $BD=DE=EC$. If $\angle BAC+\angle DAE=180^{\circ}$, compute $BC$.
2013 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 23
Let $ABCD$ be a parallelogram with $AB=8$, $AD=11$, and $\angle BAD=60^\circ$. Let $X$ be on segment $CD$ with $CX/XD=1/3$ and $Y$ be on segment $AD$ with $AY/YD=1/2$. Let $Z$ be on segment $AB$ such that $AX$, $BY$, and $DZ$ are concurrent. Determine the area of triangle $XYZ$.
2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 1
If $a$ and $b$ satisfy the equations $a +\frac1b=4$ and $\frac1a+b=\frac{16}{15}$, determine the product of all possible values of $ab$.
2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 9
For any positive integer $n$, $S_{n}$ be the set of all permutations of $\{1,2,3,\dots,n\}$. For each permutation $\pi \in S_n$, let $f(\pi)$ be the number of ordered pairs $(j,k)$ for which $\pi(j)>\pi(k)$ and $1\leq j<k \leq n$. Further define $g(\pi)$ to be the number of positive integers $k \leq n$ such that $\pi(k)\equiv k \pm 1 \pmod{n}$. Compute \[ \sum_{\pi \in S_{999}} (-1)^{f(\pi)+g(\pi)}. \]
2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 8
Can the set of lattice points $\{(x, y) \mid x, y \in \mathbb{Z}, 1 \le x, y \le 252, x \neq y\}$ be colored using 10 distinct colors such that for all $a \neq b$, $b \neq c$, the colors of $(a, b)$ and $(b, c)$ are distinct?
2016 HMNT, 16-18
16. Create a cube $C_1$ with edge length $1$. Take the centers of the faces and connect them to form an octahedron $O_1$. Take the centers of the octahedron’s faces and connect them to form a new cube $C_2$. Continue this process infinitely. Find the sum of all the surface areas of the cubes and octahedrons.
17. Let $p(x) = x^2 - x + 1$. Let $\alpha$ be a root of $p(p(p(p(x)))$. Find the value of
$$(p(\alpha) - 1)p(\alpha)p(p(\alpha))p(p(p(\alpha))$$
18. An $8$ by $8$ grid of numbers obeys the following pattern:
1) The first row and first column consist of all $1$s.
2) The entry in the $i$th row and $j$th column equals the sum of the numbers in the $(i - 1)$ by $(j - 1)$ sub-grid with row less than i and column less than $j$.
What is the number in the 8th row and 8th column?
2008 ITest, 6
Let $L$ be the length of the altitude to the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs $5$ and $12$. Find the least integer greater than $L$.