Suppose that $V$ is a finite dimensional vector space over the real numbers equipped with an inner product and $S:V\times V \longrightarrow \mathbb R$ is a skew symmetric function that is linear for each variable when others are kept fixed. Prove there exists a linear transformation $T:V \longrightarrow V$ such that $\forall u,v \in V: S(u,v)=<u,T(v)>$. We know that there always exists $v\in V$ such that $W=<v,T(v)>$ is invariant under $T$. (it means $T(W)\subseteq W$). Prove that if $W$ is invariant under $T$ then the following subspace is also invariant under $T$: $W^{\perp}=\{v\in V:\forall u\in W <v,u>=0\}$. Prove that if dimension of $V$ is more than $3$, then there exist a two dimensional subspace $W$ of $V$ such that the volume defined on it by function $S$ is zero!!!! (This is the way that we can define a two dimensional volume for each subspace $V$. This can be done for volumes of higher dimensions.)

Find all positive integers $ a$ and $ b$ such that $ \frac{a^{4}\plus{}a^{3}\plus{}1}{a^{2}b^{2}\plus{}ab^{2}\plus{}1}$ is an integer.

There are $2018$ boxes $C_1$, $C_2$, $C_3$,..,$C_{2018}$. The $n$-th box $C_n$ contains $n$ balls. A move consists of the following steps: a) Choose an integer $k$ greater than $1$ and choose $m$ a multiple of $k$. b) Take a ball from each of the consecutive boxes $C_{m-1}$, $C_m$, $C_{m+1}$ and move the $3$ balls to the box $C_{m+k}$. With these movements, what is the largest number of balls we can get in the box $2018$?

Let be a function satisfying [url=http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CauchyFunctionalEquation.html]Cauchy's functional equation,[/url] and having the property that it's monotonic on a real interval. Prove that this function is globally monotonic. [i]Florian Dumitrel[/i]

On day $1$ of the new year, John Adams and Samuel Adams each drink one gallon of tea. For each positive integer $n$, on the $n$th day of the year, John drinks $n$ gallons of tea and Samuel drinks $n^2$ gallons of tea. After how many days does the combined tea intake of John and Samuel that year first exceed $900$ gallons? [i]Proposed by Aidan Duncan[/i] [hide=Solution] [i]Solution. [/i] $\boxed{13}$ The total amount that John and Samuel have drank by day $n$ is $$\dfrac{n(n+1)(2n+1)}{6}+\dfrac{n(n+1)}{2}=\dfrac{n(n+1)(n+2)}{3}.$$ Now, note that ourdesired number of days should be a bit below $\sqrt[3]{2700}$. Testing a few values gives $\boxed{13}$ as our answer. [/hide]

Two circles $c_1$ and $c_2$ with centres $O_1$ and $O_2$, respectively, are touching externally at $P$. On their common tangent at $P$, point $A$ is chosen, rays drawn from which touch the circles $c_1$ and $c_2$ at points $P_1$ and $P_2$ both different from $P$. It is known that $\angle P_1AP_2 = 120^o$ and angles $P_1AP$ and $P_2AP$ are both acute. Rays $AP_1$ and $AP_2$ intersect line $O_1O_2$ at points $G_1$ and $G_2$, respectively. The second intersection between ray $AO_1$ and $c_1$ is $H_1$, the second intersection between ray $AO_2$ and $c_2$ is $H_2$. Lines $G_1H_1$ and $AP$ intersect at $K$. Prove that if $G_1K$ is a tangent to circle $c_1$, then line $G_2A$ is tangent to circle $c_2$ with tangency point $H_2$.

An ant starts at corner $A$ of a square room $ABCD$ with side length $2\sqrt{2}$. In the middle of the room, there is a circular pillar of radius $1$ centered at the center of $ABCD$. What is the minimum distance it has to travel to get to corner $C$?

Given a sequence $\{ a_{n}\}$ such that $a_{n+1}=a_{n}+\frac{1}{2006}a_{n}^{2}$ , $n \in N$, $a_{0}=\frac{1}{2}$. Prove that $1-\frac{1}{2008}< a_{2006}< 1$.

For integers $a$ and $b$, $a + b$ is a root of $x^2 + ax + b = 0$. Compute the smallest possible value of $ab$.

1) Let $a,b,c\ge0$ and $ab+bc+ca=2.$ Prove that \[\frac{ab}{c+1}+\frac{bc}{a+1}+\frac{ca}{b+1}+2(a+b+c)\ge6.\] 2) Let $a,b,c\ge0$ and $ab+bc+ca=3.$ Prove that \[\frac{ab}{c+1}+\frac{bc}{a+1}+\frac{ca}{b+1}\ge\frac{3}{2}.\]

A square of sidelength $2^n$ is divided into unit squares. One of the unit squares is deleted. Prove that the rest of the square can be tiled with $L$-trominos.

Prove that for any odd positive integer $n$, $n^{12}-n^8-n^4+1$ is divisible by $2^9$.

How many positive integers $n$ are there such that $\sqrt{n+\sqrt{n+\sqrt{n+\sqrt{n}}}}$ is an integer? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \text{Infinitely many} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None of the above} $

[b]p1.[/b] Joe owns stock. On Monday morning on October $20$th, $2008$, his stocks were worth $\$250,000$. The value of his stocks, for each day from Monday to Friday of that week, increased by $10\%$, increased by $5\%$, decreased by $5\%$, decreased by $15\%$, and decreased by $20\%$, though not necessarily in that order. Given this information, let $A$ be the largest possible value of his stocks on that Friday evening, and let $B$ be the smallest possible value of his stocks on that Friday evening. What is $A - B$? [b]p2.[/b] What is the smallest positive integer $k$ such that $2k$ is a perfect square and $3k$ is a perfect cube? [b]p3.[/b] Two competitive ducks decide to have a race in the first quadrant of the $xy$ plane. They both start at the origin, and the race ends when one of the ducks reaches the line $y = \frac12$ . The first duck follows the graph of $y = \frac{x}{3}$ and the second duck follows the graph of $y = \frac{x}{5}$ . If the two ducks move in such a way that their $x$-coordinates are the same at any time during the race, find the ratio of the speed of the first duck to that of the second duck when the race ends. [b]p4.[/b] There were grammatical errors in this problem as stated during the contest. The problem should have said: You play a carnival game as follows: The carnival worker has a circular mat of radius 20 cm, and on top of that is a square mat of side length $10$ cm, placed so that the centers of the two mats coincide. The carnival worker also has three disks, one each of radius $1$ cm, $2$ cm, and $3$ cm. You start by paying the worker a modest fee of one dollar, then choosing two of the disks, then throwing the two disks onto the mats, one at a time, so that the center of each disk lies on the circular mat. You win a cash prize if the center of the large disk is on the square AND the large disk touches the small disk, otherwise you just lost the game and you get no money. How much is the cash prize if choosing the two disks randomly and then throwing the disks randomly (i.e. with uniform distribution) will, on average, result in you breaking even? [b]p5.[/b] Four boys and four girls arrive at the Highball High School Senior Ball without a date. The principal, seeking to rectify the situation, asks each of the boys to rank the four girls in decreasing order of preference as a prom date and asks each girl to do the same for the four boys. None of the boys know any of the girls and vice-versa (otherwise they would have probably found each other before the prom), so all eight teenagers write their rankings randomly. Because the principal lacks the mathematical chops to pair the teenagers together according to their stated preference, he promptly ignores all eight of the lists and randomly pairs each of the boys with a girl. What is the probability that no boy ends up with his third or his fourth choice, and no girl ends up with her third or fourth choice? [b]p6.[/b] In the diagram below, $ABCDEFGH$ is a rectangular prism, $\angle BAF = 30^o$ and $\angle DAH = 60^o$. What is the cosine of $\angle CEG$? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/a/1/1af1a7d5d523884703b9ff95aaf301bcc18140.png[/img] [b]p7.[/b] Two cows play a game where each has one playing piece, they begin by having the two pieces on opposite vertices of an octahedron, and the two cows take turns moving their piece to an adjacent vertex. The winner is the first player who moves its piece to the vertex occupied by its opponent’s piece. Because cows are not the most intelligent of creatures, they move their pieces randomly. What is the probability that the first cow to move eventually wins? [b]p8.[/b] Find the last two digits of $$\sum^{2008}_{k=1}k {2008 \choose k}.$$ PS. You had better use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Suppose the polynomial $P(x) \equiv x^3 + ax^2 + bx +c$ has only real zeroes and let $Q(x) \equiv 5x^2 - 16x + 2004$. Assume that $P(Q(x)) = 0$ has no real roots. Prove that $P(2004) > 2004$

Prove that there is no function $f: \mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}$ such that $f(f(x))=x+1$, for all $x\in\mathbb{Z}$.

The symbol of the Olympiad shows $5$ regular hexagons with side $a$, located inside a regular hexagon with side $b$. Find ratio $\frac{a}{b}$. [img]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OwyAl75LwiM/YIsThl3SG6I/AAAAAAAANS0/LwHEsAfyZMcqVIS8h_jr_n46OcMJaSTgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/2019%2BUkraine%2Bcorrespondence%2B5-12%2Bp8.png[/img]

There are 900 3-digit-numbers $100,101,\cdots,999$. Print them on 900 cards. Some numbers are still numbers when we turn upside down, for example $198$ is $861$ when we turn upside down. However, some numbers are not, for example $531$. So, some numbers cam be used twice. If we want to express all 3-digit-numbers, we can print________cards fewer.

[b]a)[/b] Prove that for every natural numbers $n$ and $k$, we have monic polynomials of degree $n$, with integer coefficients like $A=\{P_1(x),.....,P_k(x)\}$ such that no two of them have a common factor and for every subset of $A$, the sum of elements of $A$ has all its roots real. [b]b)[/b] Are there infinitely many monic polynomial of degree $n$ with integer coefficients like $P_1(x),P_2(x),....$ such that no two of them have a common factor and the sum of a finite number of them has all it's roots real? [i]proposed by Mohammad Mansouri[/i]

Let $ ABC $ be a triangle with $ \angle BAC <90^{\circ } . $ In the exterior of $ ABC, $ choose the points $ D,E $ such that $ DA=DB,EA=EC $ and $ \angle ADB =\angle AEC =2\angle BAC . $ Show that the symmetric of $ A $ with respect to the midpoint of the segment $ DE $ is the circumcircle of $ ABC. $

Find the smallest positive integer $n$ or show no such $n$ exists, with the following property: there are infinitely many distinct $n$-tuples of positive rational numbers $(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n)$ such that both $$a_1+a_2+\dots +a_n \quad \text{and} \quad \frac{1}{a_1} + \frac{1}{a_2} + \dots + \frac{1}{a_n}$$ are integers.

Provided that the roots of the polynom $ X^n+a_1X^{n-1} +a_2X^{n-2} +\cdots +a_{n-1}X +a_n:\in\mathbb{R}[X] , $ of degree $ n\ge 2, $ are all real and pairwise distinct, prove that there exists is a neighbourhood $ \mathcal{V} $ of $ \left( a_1,a_2,\ldots ,a_n \right) $ in $ \mathbb{R}^n $ and $ n $ functions $ x_1,x_2,\ldots ,x_n\in\mathcal{C}^{\infty } \left( \mathcal{V} \right) $ whose values at $ \left( a_1,a_2,\ldots ,a_n \right) $ are roots of the mentioned polynom.

Evaluate $\sum_{n=1}^\infty \frac{n}{(2^n-2^{-n})^2}+\frac{(-1)^nn}{(2^n-2^{-n})^2}$

Let $p$ and $q$ be real numbers such that the quadratic equation $x^2 + px + q = 0$ has two distinct real solutions $x_1$ and $x_2$. Suppose $|x_1-x_2|=1$, $|p-q|=1$. Prove that $p, q, x_1, x_2$ are all integers.

Let $a,b,c$ be positive integers such that $a,b,c,a+b-c,a+c-b,b+c-a,a+b+c$ are $7$ distinct primes. The sum of two of $a,b,c$ is $800$. If $d$ be the difference of the largest prime and the least prime among those $7$ primes, find the maximum value of $d$.