Found problems: 42
1979 IMO Longlists, 46
Let $K$ denote the set $\{a, b, c, d, e\}$. $F$ is a collection of $16$ different subsets of $K$, and it is known that any three members of $F$ have at least one element in common. Show that all $16$ members of $F$ have exactly one element in common.
1989 IMO Shortlist, 22
Prove that in the set $ \{1,2, \ldots, 1989\}$ can be expressed as the disjoint union of subsets $ A_i, \{i \equal{} 1,2, \ldots, 117\}$ such that
[b]i.)[/b] each $ A_i$ contains 17 elements
[b]ii.)[/b] the sum of all the elements in each $ A_i$ is the same.
1990 IMO Shortlist, 15
Determine for which positive integers $ k$ the set \[ X \equal{} \{1990, 1990 \plus{} 1, 1990 \plus{} 2, \ldots, 1990 \plus{} k\}\] can be partitioned into two disjoint subsets $ A$ and $ B$ such that the sum of the elements of $ A$ is equal to the sum of the elements of $ B.$
1987 IMO Shortlist, 18
For any integer $r \geq 1$, determine the smallest integer $h(r) \geq 1$ such that for any partition of the set $\{1, 2, \cdots, h(r)\}$ into $r$ classes, there are integers $a \geq 0 \ ; 1 \leq x \leq y$, such that $a + x, a + y, a + x + y$ belong to the same class.
[i]Proposed by Romania[/i]
1978 IMO Shortlist, 1
The set $M = \{1, 2, . . . , 2n\}$ is partitioned into $k$ nonintersecting subsets $M_1,M_2, \dots, M_k,$ where $n \ge k^3 + k.$ Prove that there exist even numbers $2j_1, 2j_2, \dots, 2j_{k+1}$ in $M$ that are in one and the same subset $M_i$ $(1 \le i \le k)$ such that the numbers $2j_1 - 1, 2j_2 - 1, \dots, 2j_{k+1} - 1$ are also in one and the same subset $M_j (1 \le j \le k).$
1999 IMO Shortlist, 7
Let $p >3$ be a prime number. For each nonempty subset $T$ of $\{0,1,2,3, \ldots , p-1\}$, let $E(T)$ be the set of all $(p-1)$-tuples $(x_1, \ldots ,x_{p-1} )$, where each $x_i \in T$ and $x_1+2x_2+ \ldots + (p-1)x_{p-1}$ is divisible by $p$ and let $|E(T)|$ denote the number of elements in $E(T)$. Prove that
\[|E(\{0,1,3\})| \geq |E(\{0,1,2\})|\]
with equality if and only if $p = 5$.
1979 IMO Longlists, 31
Let $R$ be a set of exactly $6$ elements. A set $F$ of subsets of $R$ is called an $S$-family over $R$ if and only if it satisfies the following three conditions:
(i) For no two sets $X, Y$ in $F$ is $X \subseteq Y$ ;
(ii) For any three sets $X, Y,Z$ in $F$, $X \cup Y \cup Z \neq R,$
(iii) $\bigcup_{X \in F} X = R$
2006 Romania Team Selection Test, 3
Let $n>1$ be an integer. A set $S \subset \{ 0,1,2, \ldots, 4n-1\}$ is called [i]rare[/i] if, for any $k\in\{0,1,\ldots,n-1\}$, the following two conditions take place at the same time
(1) the set $S\cap \{4k-2,4k-1,4k, 4k+1, 4k+2 \}$ has at most two elements;
(2) the set $S\cap \{4k+1,4k+2,4k+3\}$ has at most one element.
Prove that the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots,4n-1\}$ has exactly $8 \cdot 7^{n-1}$ rare subsets.
1988 IMO Longlists, 18
Let $ N \equal{} \{1,2 \ldots, n\}, n \geq 2.$ A collection $ F \equal{} \{A_1, \ldots, A_t\}$ of subsets $ A_i \subseteq N,$ $ i \equal{} 1, \ldots, t,$ is said to be separating, if for every pair $ \{x,y\} \subseteq N,$ there is a set $ A_i \in F$ so that $ A_i \cap \{x,y\}$ contains just one element. $ F$ is said to be covering, if every element of $ N$ is contained in at least one set $ A_i \in F.$ What is the smallest value $ f(n)$ of $ t,$ so there is a set $ F \equal{} \{A_1, \ldots, A_t\}$ which is simultaneously separating and covering?
1990 IMO Shortlist, 2
Given $ n$ countries with three representatives each, $ m$ committees $ A(1),A(2), \ldots, A(m)$ are called a cycle if
[i](i)[/i] each committee has $ n$ members, one from each country;
[i](ii)[/i] no two committees have the same membership;
[i](iii)[/i] for $ i \equal{} 1, 2, \ldots,m$, committee $ A(i)$ and committee $ A(i \plus{} 1)$ have no member in common, where $ A(m \plus{} 1)$ denotes $ A(1);$
[i](iv)[/i] if $ 1 < |i \minus{} j| < m \minus{} 1,$ then committees $ A(i)$ and $ A(j)$ have at least one member in common.
Is it possible to have a cycle of 1990 committees with 11 countries?
2000 China National Olympiad, 3
A test contains $5$ multiple choice questions which have $4$ options in each. Suppose each examinee chose one option for each question. There exists a number $n$, such that for any $n$ sheets among $2000$ sheets of answer papers, there are $4$ sheets of answer papers such that any two of them have at most $3$ questions with the same answers. Find the minimum value of $n$.
1979 IMO Shortlist, 12
Let $R$ be a set of exactly $6$ elements. A set $F$ of subsets of $R$ is called an $S$-family over $R$ if and only if it satisfies the following three conditions:
(i) For no two sets $X, Y$ in $F$ is $X \subseteq Y$ ;
(ii) For any three sets $X, Y,Z$ in $F$, $X \cup Y \cup Z \neq R,$
(iii) $\bigcup_{X \in F} X = R$
2014 Cono Sur Olympiad, 6
Let $F$ be a family of subsets of $S = \left \{ 1,2,...,n \right \}$ ($n \geq 2$). A valid play is to choose two disjoint sets $A$ and $B$ from $F$ and add $A \cup B$ to $F$ (without removing $A$ and $B$).
Initially, $F$ has all the subsets that contain only one element of $S$. The goal is to have all subsets of $n - 1$ elements of $S$ in $F$ using valid plays.
Determine the lowest number of plays required in order to achieve the goal.
1979 IMO Shortlist, 16
Let $K$ denote the set $\{a, b, c, d, e\}$. $F$ is a collection of $16$ different subsets of $K$, and it is known that any three members of $F$ have at least one element in common. Show that all $16$ members of $F$ have exactly one element in common.
2017 Romanian Masters In Mathematics, 3
Let $n$ be an integer greater than $1$ and let $X$ be an $n$-element set. A non-empty collection of subsets $A_1, ..., A_k$ of $X$ is tight if the union $A_1 \cup \cdots \cup A_k$ is a proper subset of $X$ and no element of $X$ lies in exactly one of the $A_i$s. Find the largest cardinality of a collection of proper non-empty subsets of $X$, no non-empty subcollection of which is tight.
[i]Note[/i]. A subset $A$ of $X$ is proper if $A\neq X$. The sets in a collection are assumed to be distinct. The whole collection is assumed to be a subcollection.
1972 Miklós Schweitzer, 1
Let $ \mathcal{F}$ be a nonempty family of sets with the following properties:
(a) If $ X \in \mathcal{F}$, then there are some $ Y \in \mathcal{F}$ and $ Z \in \mathcal{F}$ such that $ Y \cap Z =\emptyset$ and $ Y \cup Z=X$.
(b) If $ X \in \mathcal{F}$, and $ Y \cup Z =X , Y \cap Z=\emptyset$, then either $ Y \in \mathcal{F}$ or $ Z \in \mathcal{F}$.
Show that there is a decreasing sequence $ X_0 \supseteq X_1 \supseteq X_2 \supseteq ...$ of sets $ X_n \in \mathcal{F}$ such that \[ \bigcap_{n=0}^{\infty} X_n= \emptyset.\]
[i]F. Galvin[/i]
1988 IMO, 2
Let $ n$ be an even positive integer. Let $ A_1, A_2, \ldots, A_{n \plus{} 1}$ be sets having $ n$ elements each such that any two of them have exactly one element in common while every element of their union belongs to at least two of the given sets. For which $ n$ can one assign to every element of the union one of the numbers 0 and 1 in such a manner that each of the sets has exactly $ \frac {n}{2}$ zeros?
2010 Contests, 3
In an exam every question is solved by exactly four students, every pair of questions is solved by exactly one student, and none of the students solved all of the questions. Find the maximum possible number of questions in this exam.
1990 IMO Longlists, 4
Given $ n$ countries with three representatives each, $ m$ committees $ A(1),A(2), \ldots, A(m)$ are called a cycle if
[i](i)[/i] each committee has $ n$ members, one from each country;
[i](ii)[/i] no two committees have the same membership;
[i](iii)[/i] for $ i \equal{} 1, 2, \ldots,m$, committee $ A(i)$ and committee $ A(i \plus{} 1)$ have no member in common, where $ A(m \plus{} 1)$ denotes $ A(1);$
[i](iv)[/i] if $ 1 < |i \minus{} j| < m \minus{} 1,$ then committees $ A(i)$ and $ A(j)$ have at least one member in common.
Is it possible to have a cycle of 1990 committees with 11 countries?
1992 IMO Longlists, 39
Let $n \geq 2$ be an integer. Find the minimum $k$ for which there exists a partition of $\{1, 2, . . . , k\}$ into $n$ subsets $X_1,X_2, \cdots , X_n$ such that the following condition holds:
for any $i, j, 1 \leq i < j \leq n$, there exist $x_i \in X_1, x_j \in X_2$ such that $|x_i - x_j | = 1.$
2009 Serbia National Math Olympiad, 3
Determine the largest positive integer $n$ for which there exist pairwise different sets $\mathbb{S}_1 , ..., \mathbb{S}_n$ with the following properties:
$1$) $|\mathbb{S}_i \cup \mathbb{S}_j | \leq 2004$ for any two indices $1 \leq i, j\leq n$, and
$2$) $\mathbb{S}_i \cup \mathbb{S}_j \cup \mathbb{S}_k = \{ 1,2,...,2008 \}$ for any $1 \leq i < j < k \leq n$
[i]Proposed by Ivan Matic[/i]
1989 IMO Longlists, 68
Prove that in the set $ \{1,2, \ldots, 1989\}$ can be expressed as the disjoint union of subsets $ A_i, \{i \equal{} 1,2, \ldots, 117\}$ such that
[b]i.)[/b] each $ A_i$ contains 17 elements
[b]ii.)[/b] the sum of all the elements in each $ A_i$ is the same.
1978 IMO Longlists, 1
The set $M = \{1, 2, . . . , 2n\}$ is partitioned into $k$ nonintersecting subsets $M_1,M_2, \dots, M_k,$ where $n \ge k^3 + k.$ Prove that there exist even numbers $2j_1, 2j_2, \dots, 2j_{k+1}$ in $M$ that are in one and the same subset $M_i$ $(1 \le i \le k)$ such that the numbers $2j_1 - 1, 2j_2 - 1, \dots, 2j_{k+1} - 1$ are also in one and the same subset $M_j (1 \le j \le k).$
1988 IMO Shortlist, 5
Let $ n$ be an even positive integer. Let $ A_1, A_2, \ldots, A_{n \plus{} 1}$ be sets having $ n$ elements each such that any two of them have exactly one element in common while every element of their union belongs to at least two of the given sets. For which $ n$ can one assign to every element of the union one of the numbers 0 and 1 in such a manner that each of the sets has exactly $ \frac {n}{2}$ zeros?
2002 IMO Shortlist, 5
Let $r\geq2$ be a fixed positive integer, and let $F$ be an infinite family of sets, each of size $r$, no two of which are disjoint. Prove that there exists a set of size $r-1$ that meets each set in $F$.