Found problems: 963
1976 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 223
The natural numbers $x_1$ and $x_2$ are less than $1000$. We construct a sequence:
$$x_3 = |x_1 - x_2|$$
$$x_4 = min \{ |x_1 - x_2|, |x_1 - x_3|, |x_2 - x_3|\}$$
$$...$$
$$x_k = min \{ |x_i - x_j|, 0 <i < j < k\}$$
$$...$$
Prove that $x_{21} = 0$.
2018 Pan African, 3
For any positive integer $x$, we set
$$
g(x) = \text{ largest odd divisor of } x,
$$
$$
f(x) = \begin{cases}
\frac{x}{2} + \frac{x}{g(x)} & \text{ if } x \text{ is even;} \\
2^{\frac{x+1}{2}} & \text{ if } x \text{ is odd.}
\end{cases}
$$
Consider the sequence $(x_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ defined by $x_1 = 1$, $x_{n + 1} = f(x_n)$. Show that the integer $2018$ appears in this sequence, determine the least integer $n$ such that $x_n = 2018$, and determine whether $n$ is unique or not.
1988 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 466
Given a sequence of $19$ positive integers not exceeding $88$ and another sequence of $88$ positive integers not exceeding $19$. Show that we can find two subsequences of consecutive terms, one from each sequence, with the same sum.
2003 Olympic Revenge, 2
Let $x_n$ the sequence defined by any nonnegatine integer $x_0$ and $x_{n+1}=1+\prod_{0 \leq i \leq n}{x_i}$
Show that there exists prime $p$ such that $p\not|x_n$ for any $n$.
2024 Tuymaada Olympiad, 3
All perfect squares, and all perfect squares multiplied by two, are written in a row in increasing order. let $f(n)$ be the $n$-th number in this sequence. (For instance, $f(1)=1,f(2)=2,f(3)=4,f(4)=8$.) Is there an integer $n$ such that all the numbers
\[f(n),f(2n),f(3n),\dots,f(10n^2)\]
are perfect squares?
2018 Turkey Team Selection Test, 6
$a_0, a_1, \ldots, a_{100}$ and $b_1, b_2,\ldots, b_{100}$ are sequences of real numbers, for which the property holds: for all $n=0, 1, \ldots, 99$, either
$$a_{n+1}=\frac{a_n}{2} \quad \text{and} \quad b_{n+1}=\frac{1}{2}-a_n,$$
or
$$a_{n+1}=2a_n^2 \quad \text{and} \quad b_{n+1}=a_n.$$
Given $a_{100}\leq a_0$, what is the maximal value of $b_1+b_2+\cdots+b_{100}$?
2016 China Team Selection Test, 4
Let $c,d \geq 2$ be naturals. Let $\{a_n\}$ be the sequence satisfying $a_1 = c, a_{n+1} = a_n^d + c$ for $n = 1,2,\cdots$.
Prove that for any $n \geq 2$, there exists a prime number $p$ such that $p|a_n$ and $p \not | a_i$ for $i = 1,2,\cdots n-1$.
2024 Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad, P4
Let $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_{11}$ be integers. Prove that there exist numbers $b_1, b_2, \ldots, b_{11}$ such that
[list]
[*] $b_i$ is equal to $-1,0$ or $1$ for all $i \in \{1, 2,\dots, 11\}$.
[*] all numbers can't be zero at a time.
[*] the number $N=a_1b_1+a_2b_2+\ldots+a_{11}b_{11}$ is divisible by $2024$.
[/list]
1982 IMO Longlists, 4
[b](a)[/b] Find the rearrangement $\{a_1, \dots , a_n\}$ of $\{1, 2, \dots, n\}$ that maximizes
\[a_1a_2 + a_2a_3 + \cdots + a_na_1 = Q.\]
[b](b)[/b] Find the rearrangement that minimizes $Q.$
2017 Baltic Way, 1
Let $a_0,a_1,a_2,...$ be an infinite sequence of real numbers satisfying $\frac{a_{n-1}+a_{n+1}}{2}\geq a_n$ for all positive integers $n$. Show that $$\frac{a_0+a_{n+1}}{2}\geq \frac{a_1+a_2+...+a_n}{n}$$ holds for all positive integers $n$.
2015 IFYM, Sozopol, 2
Let $a_0,a_1,a_2...$ be a sequence of natural numbers with the following property: $a_n^2$ divides $a_{n-1} a_{n+1}$ for $\forall$ $n\in \mathbb{N}$. Prove that, if for some natural $k\geq 2$ the numbers $a_1$ and $a_k$ are coprime, then $a_1$ divides $a_0$.
2005 Taiwan TST Round 2, 3
Let $k$ be a fixed integer greater than 1, and let ${m=4k^2-5}$. Show that there exist positive integers $a$ and $b$ such that the sequence $(x_n)$ defined by \[x_0=a,\quad x_1=b,\quad x_{n+2}=x_{n+1}+x_n\quad\text{for}\quad n=0,1,2,\dots,\] has all of its terms relatively prime to $m$.
[i]Proposed by Jaroslaw Wroblewski, Poland[/i]
1985 IMO, 6
For every real number $x_1$, construct the sequence $x_1,x_2,\ldots$ by setting: \[ x_{n+1}=x_n(x_n+{1\over n}). \] Prove that there exists exactly one value of $x_1$ which gives $0<x_n<x_{n+1}<1$ for all $n$.
2022 Thailand Mathematical Olympiad, 8
Determine all possible values of $a_1$ for which there exists a sequence $a_1, a_2, \dots$ of rational numbers satisfying $$a_{n+1}^2-a_{n+1}=a_n$$
for all positive integers $n$.
1980 Austrian-Polish Competition, 1
Given three infinite arithmetic progressions of natural numbers such that each of the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 belongs to at least one of them, prove that the number 1980 also belongs to at least one of them.
2025 District Olympiad, P4
Let $(x_n)_{n\geq 1}$ be an increasing and unbounded sequence of positive integers such that $x_1=1$ and $x_{n+1}\leq 2x_n$ for all $n\geq 1$. Prove that every positive integer can be written as a finite sum of distinct terms of the sequence.
[i]Note:[/i] Two terms $x_i$ and $x_j$ of the sequence are considered distinct if $i\neq j$.
2010 China Northern MO, 1
It is known that the sequence $\{a_n\}$ satisfies $a_1=2$, $a_n=2^{2n}a_{n-1}+n\cdot 2^{n^2}$, $(n \ge 2)$, find the general term of $a_n$.
2011 Indonesia TST, 4
Let $a, b$, and $c$ be positive integers such that $gcd(a, b) = 1$. Sequence $\{u_k\}$, is given such that $u_0 = 0$, $u_1 = 1$, and u$_{k+2} = au_{k+1} + bu_k$ for all $k \ge 0$. Let $m$ be the least positive integer such that $c | u_m$ and $n$ be an arbitrary positive integer such that $c | u_n$. Show that $m | n$.
[hide=PS.] There was a typo in the last line, as it didn't define what n does. Wording comes from [b]tst-2011-1.pdf[/b] from [url=https://sites.google.com/site/imoidn/idntst/2011tst]here[/url]. Correction was made according to #2[/hide]
2015 Dutch BxMO/EGMO TST, 2
Given are positive integers $r$ and $k$ and an infi nite sequence of positive integers $a_1 \le a_2 \le ...$ such that $\frac{r}{a_r}= k + 1$. Prove that there is a $t$ satisfying $\frac{t}{a_t}=k$.
1975 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 217
Given a polynomial $P(x)$ with
a) natural coefficients;
b) integer coefficients;
Let us denote with $a_n$ the sum of the digits of $P(n)$ value. Prove that there is a number encountered in the sequence $a_1, a_2, ... , a_n, ...$ infinite times.
2022 Greece Team Selection Test, 3
Find largest possible constant $M$ such that, for any sequence $a_n$, $n=0,1,2,...$ of real numbers, that satisfies the conditions :
i) $a_0=1$, $a_1=3$
ii) $a_0+a_1+...+a_{n-1} \ge 3 a_n - a_{n+1}$ for any integer $n\ge 1$
to be true that
$$\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n} >M$$ for any integer $n\ge 0$.
2012 Estonia Team Selection Test, 2
For a given positive integer $n$ one has to choose positive integers $a_0, a_1,...$ so that the following conditions hold:
(1) $a_i = a_{i+n}$ for any $i$,
(2) $a_i$ is not divisible by $n$ for any $i$,
(3) $a_{i+a_i}$ is divisible by $a_i$ for any $i$.
For which positive integers $n > 1$ is this possible only if the numbers $a_0, a_1, ...$ are all equal?
1990 Tournament Of Towns, (271) 5
The numerical sequence $\{x_n\}$ satisfies the condition $$x_{n+1}=|x_n|-x_{n-1}$$ for all $n > 1$. Prove that the sequence is periodic with period $9$, i.e. for any $n > 1$ we have $x_n = x_{n+9}$.
(M Kontsevich, Moscow)
2019 Danube Mathematical Competition, 3
Let be a sequence of $ 51 $ natural numbers whose sum is $ 100. $ Show that for any natural number $ 1\le k<100 $ there are some consecutive numbers from this sequence whose sum is $ k $ or $ 100-k. $
2022 Durer Math Competition Finals, 1
Let $c \ge 2$ be a fixed integer. Let $a_1 = c$ and for all $n \ge 2$ let $a_n = c \cdot \phi (a_{n-1})$. What are the numbers $c$ for which sequence $(a_n)$ will be bounded?
$\phi$ denotes Euler’s Phi Function, meaning that $\phi (n)$ gives the number of integers within the set $\{1, 2, . . . , n\}$ that are relative primes to $n$. We call a sequence $(x_n)$ bounded if there exist a constant $D$ such that $|x_n| < D$ for all positive integers $n$.