An eccentric mathematician has a ladder with $ n$ rungs that he always ascends and descends in the following way: When he ascends, each step he takes covers $ a$ rungs of the ladder, and when he descends, each step he takes covers $ b$ rungs of the ladder, where $ a$ and $ b$ are fixed positive integers. By a sequence of ascending and descending steps he can climb from ground level to the top rung of the ladder and come back down to ground level again. Find, with proof, the minimum value of $ n,$ expressed in terms of $ a$ and $ b.$

What is the smallest number of nodes that can be marked in a rectangular $n \times k$ grid so that each cell contains at least two marked nodes?

Archit and Ayush are walking around on the set of points $(x,y)$ for all integers $-1\leq x,y\leq1$. Archit starts at $(1,1)$ and Ayush starts at $(1,0)$. Each second, they move to another point in the set chosen uniformly at random among the points with distance $1$ away from them. If the probability that Archit goes to the point $(0,0)$ strictly before Ayush does can be expressed as $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers $m,n$, compute $m+n$. [i]2020 CCA Math Bonanza Lightning Round #3.2[/i]

Suppose that $n$ is a natural number and $n$ is not divisible by $3$. Prove that $(n^{2n}+n^n+n+1)^{2n}+(n^{2n}+n^n+n+1)^n+1$ has at least $2d(n)$ distinct prime factors where $d(n)$ is the number of positive divisors of $n$. [i]proposed by Mahyar Sefidgaran[/i]

Find all polynomials $P$ with integer coefficients such that all the roots of $P^n(x)$ are integers. (here $P^n(x)$ means $P(P(...(P(x))...))$ where $P$ is repeated $n$ times)

Determine all positive integers $n$ such that $n$ equals the square of the sum of the digits of $n$.

An arithmetic function is a real-valued function whose domain is the set of positive integers. Define the convolution product of two arithmetic functions $ f$ and $ g$ to be the arithmetic function $ f * g$, where \[ (f * g)(n) \equal{} \sum_{ij\equal{}n} f(i) \cdot g(j),\] and $ f^{*k} \equal{} f * f * \ldots * f$ ($ k$ times) We say that two arithmetic functions $ f$ and $ g$ are dependent if there exists a nontrivial polynomial of two variables $ P(x, y) \equal{} \sum_{i,j} a_{ij} x^i y^j$ with real coefficients such that \[ P(f,g) \equal{} \sum_{i,j} a_{ij} f^{*i} * g^{*j} \equal{} 0,\] and say that they are independent if they are not dependent. Let $ p$ and $ q$ be two distinct primes and set \[ f_1(n) \equal{} \begin{cases} 1 & \text{ if } n \equal{} p, \\ 0 & \text{ otherwise}. \end{cases}\] \[ f_2(n) \equal{} \begin{cases} 1 & \text{ if } n \equal{} q, \\ 0 & \text{ otherwise}. \end{cases}\] Prove that $ f_1$ and $ f_2$ are independent.

Let scalene triangle $ABC$ have orthocentre $H$ and circumcircle $\Gamma$. $AH$ meets $\Gamma$ at $D$ distinct from $A$. $BH$ and $CH$ meet $CA$ and $AB$ at $E$ and $F$ respectively, and $EF$ meets $BC$ at $P$. The tangents to $\Gamma$ at $B$ and $C$ meet at $T$. Show that $AP$ and $DT$ are concurrent on the circumcircle of $AFE$.

Let $n \geq 3$ be an integer. Let $f$ be a function from the set of all integers to itself with the following property: If the integers $a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n$ form an arithmetic progression, then the numbers $$f(a_1),f(a_2),\ldots,f(a_n)$$ form an arithmetic progression (possibly constant) in some order. Find all values for $n$ such that the only functions $f$ with this property are the functions of the form $f(x)=cx+d$, where $c$ and $d$ are integers.

Prove that for every positive integer $n$, there exist integers $a$ and $b$ such that $4a^2 + 9b^2 - 1$ is divisible by $n$.

Consider a sequence of words each consisting of two letters, $A$ and $B$ . The first word is "$A$" , while the second word is "$B$" . The $k$-th word is obtained from the ($k -2$)-nd by writing after it the ($k -1$)th one. (So the first few elements of the sequence are "$A$" , "$B$" ,"$AB$" , "$BAB$" , "$ABBAB$" . ) Does there exist in this sequence a "periodical" word, i.e. a word of the form $P P P ... P$ , where $P$ is a word , repeated at least once? (Remark: For instance, the word $BABBBABB$ is of the form $PP$ , in which $P$ is repeated exactly once . ) (A. Andjans, Riga)

For $a,b,c$ positive real numbers satisfying $a^2+b^2+c^2 \geq 3$,show that: $\sqrt[3]{\frac{a^3+b^3+c^3}{3}}+\frac{a+b+c}{9} \geq \frac{4}{3}$.

$A, B$, and $C$ are vertices of a triangle, and $P$ is a point within the triangle. If angles $\angle BAP$, $\angle BCP$, and $\angle ABP$ are all $30^o$ and angle $\angle ACP$ is $45^o$, what is $\sin(\angle CBP)$?

Let there be $3399$ numbers arbitrarily chosen among the first $6798$ integers $1, 2, \ldots , 6798$ in such a way that none of them divides another. Prove that there are exactly $1982$ numbers in $\{1, 2, \ldots, 6798\}$ that must end up being chosen.

We build a modified version of Pascal’s triangle as follows: in the first row we write a $2$ and a $3$, and in the further rows, every number is the sum of the two numbers directly above it (and rows always begin with a $2$ and end with a $3$). In the $13$th row, what is the $5$th number from the left? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/7/2/58e1a9f43fa7c304bfd285fc1b73bed883e9a6.png[/img]

Determine all polynomials $P(x)$ with real coeffcients such that $(x^3+3x^2+3x+2)P(x-1)=(x^3-3x^2+3x-2)P(x)$.

Find a triangle $ABC$ with a point $D$ on side $AB$ such that the measures of $AB, BC, CA$ and $CD$ are all integers and $\frac{AD}{DB}=\frac{9}{7}$, or prove that such a triangle does not exist.

For every positive $ \alpha$, natural number $ n$, and at most $ \alpha n$ points $ x_i$, construct a trigonometric polynomial $ P(x)$ of degree at most $ n$ for which \[ P(x_i) \leq 1, \; \int_0^{2 \pi} P(x)dx=0,\ \; \textrm{and}\ \; \max P(x) > cn\ ,\] where the constant $ c$ depends only on $ \alpha$. [i]G. Halasz[/i]

Find all positive integers $n$ so that $$17^n +9^{n^2} = 23^n +3^{n^2} .$$

Find $k \in \mathbb{N}$ such that [b]a.)[/b] For any $n \in \mathbb{N}$, there does not exist $j \in \mathbb{Z}$ which satisfies the conditions $0 \leq j \leq n - k + 1$ and $\left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j\end{array} \right), \left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j + 1\end{array} \right), \ldots, \left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j + k - 1\end{array} \right)$ forms an arithmetic progression. [b]b.)[/b] There exists $n \in \mathbb{N}$ such that there exists $j$ which satisfies $0 \leq j \leq n - k + 2$, and $\left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j\end{array} \right), \left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j + 1\end{array} \right), \ldots , \left( \begin{array}{c} n\\ j + k - 2\end{array} \right)$ forms an arithmetic progression. Find all $n$ which satisfies part [b]b.)[/b]

Let $ABC$ be a triangle with $BC=9$, $CA=8$, and $AB=10$. Let the incenter and incircle of $ABC$ be $I$ and $\gamma$, respectively, and let $N$ be the midpoint of major arc $BC$ of the cirucmcircle of $ABC$. Line $NI$ meets the circumcircle of $ABC$ a second time at $P$. Let the line through $I$ perpendicular to $AI$ meet segments $AB$, $AC$, and $AP$ at $C_1$, $B_1$, and $Q$, respectively. Let $B_2$ lie on segment $CQ$ such that line $B_1B_2$ is tangent to $\gamma$, and let $C_2$ lie on segment $BQ$ such that line $C_1C_2$ tangent to $\gamma$. The length of $B_2C_2$ can be expressed in the form $\frac{m}{n}$ for relatively prime positive integers $m$ and $n$. Determine $100m+n$. [i]Proposed by Vincent Huang[/i]

Two nonhorizontal, non vertical lines in the $xy$-coordinate plane intersect to form a $45^{\circ}$ angle. One line has slope equal to $6$ times the slope of the other line. What is the greatest possible value of the product of the slopes of the two lines? $\textbf{(A)}\ \frac16 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac23 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac32 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 6$

21 people take a test with 15 true or false questions. It is known that every 2 people have at least 1 correct answer in common. What is the minimum number of people that could have correctly answered the question which the most people were correct on?

Estimate the number of times a one-digit answer (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9) has been submitted as an answer for any question by any team in the first 4 sets of this competition's lightning round. An estimate $E$ earns $\frac{2}{1+|log_2(A)-log_2(E)|}$ points, where $A$ is the actual answer. [i]2022 CCA Math Bonanza Lightning Round 5.3[/i]

Do there exist convex polyhedra with an arbitrary number of diagonals (a diagonal is a segment joining two vertices of a polyhedron and not lying on the surface of this polyhedron)? (A. Blinkov)