Consider $A,B\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ for which there exist $p,q\in\mathbb{C}$ such that $pAB-qBA=I_n$. Prove that either $(AB-BA)^n=O_n$ or the fraction $\frac{p}{q}$ is well-defined ($q \neq 0$) and it is a root of unity. [i](Sergiu Novac)[/i]

Let $ a, b \in \mathbb{Z}$ which are not perfect squares. Prove that if \[ x^2 \minus{} ay^2 \minus{} bz^2 \plus{} abw^2 \equal{} 0\] has a nontrivial solution in integers, then so does \[ x^2 \minus{} ay^2 \minus{} bz^2 \equal{} 0.\]

Find all positive integers, representable uniquely as \[\frac{x^{2}+y}{xy+1},\] where $x$ and $y$ are positive integers.

Initially, Alice is given a positive integer $a_0$. At time $i$, Alice has two choices, $$\begin{cases}a_i\mapsto\frac1{a_{i-1}}\\a_i\mapsto2a_{i-1}+1\end{cases}$$ Note that it is dangerous to perform the first operation, so Alice cannot choose this operation in two consecutive turns. However, if $x>8763$, then Alice could only perform the first operation. Determine all $a_0$ so that $\{i\in\mathbb N\mid a_i\in\mathbb N\}$ is an infinite set.

Prove that if the numbers $3,4,5, \dots ,3^5$ are partitioned into two disjoint sets, then in one of the sets the number $a,b,c$ can be found such that $ab=c.$ ($a,b,c$ may not be pairwise distinct)

(V.Protasov, 8) For a given pair of circles, construct two concentric circles such that both are tangent to the given two. What is the number of solutions, depending on location of the circles?

In a triangle $ABC$, the lengths of the sides are consecutive integers and median drawn from $A$ is perpendicular to the bisector drawn from $B$. Find the lengths of the sides of triangle $ABC$.

For every positive integer $n$, determine the greatest possible value of the quotient $$\frac{1-x^{n}-(1-x)^{n}}{x(1-x)^n+(1-x)x^n}$$ where $0 < x < 1$.

Suppose $j$, $x$, and $u$ are positive real numbers such that $jxu=20$ and $x+u=24$. Find the minimum possible value of $j\max(x,u)$.

Let $k,m,n$ be natural numbers such that $m+k+1$ is a prime greater than $n+1$. Let $c_s=s(s+1)$. Prove that \[(c_{m+1}-c_k)(c_{m+2}-c_k)\ldots(c_{m+n}-c_k)\] is divisible by the product $c_1c_2\ldots c_n$.

Using $600$ cards, $200$ of them having written the number $5$, $200$ having a $2$, and the other $200$ having a $1$, a student wants to create groups of cards such that the sum of the card numbers in each group is $9$. What is the maximum amount of groups that the student may create?

Show that $ \det \left( I_n+A \right)\ge 1, $ for any $ n\times n $ antisymmetric real matrix $ A. $

A bitstring of length $\ell$ is a sequence of $\ell$ $0$'s or $1$'s in a row. How many bitstrings of length $2014$ have at least $2012$ consecutive $0$'s or $1$'s?

Let $n\geqslant 2$ be a positive integer. Paul has a $1\times n^2$ rectangular strip consisting of $n^2$ unit squares, where the $i^{\text{th}}$ square is labelled with $i$ for all $1\leqslant i\leqslant n^2$. He wishes to cut the strip into several pieces, where each piece consists of a number of consecutive unit squares, and then [i]translate[/i] (without rotating or flipping) the pieces to obtain an $n\times n$ square satisfying the following property: if the unit square in the $i^{\text{th}}$ row and $j^{\text{th}}$ column is labelled with $a_{ij}$, then $a_{ij}-(i+j-1)$ is divisible by $n$. Determine the smallest number of pieces Paul needs to make in order to accomplish this.

Let $n\geq 1$ be an integer. Show that there exists an integer between $\sqrt{2n}$ and $\sqrt{5n}$, exclusive.

Let $x_1, x_2, \ldots , x_n \ (n \geq 1)$ be real numbers such that $0 \leq x_j \leq \pi, \ j = 1, 2,\ldots, n.$ Prove that if $\sum_{j=1}^n (\cos x_j +1) $ is an odd integer, then $\sum_{j=1}^n \sin x_j \geq 1.$

Write $102$ as the sum of the largest number of distinct primes.

Find the fundamental group of the topology of $ \text{SL}_2\left(\mathbb{R}\right) $ on $ \mathbb{R}^4. $

Let $a$ be a positive integer. Find all prime numbers $ p $ with the following property: there exist exactly $ p $ ordered pairs of integers $ (x, y)$, with $ 0 \leq  x, y \leq p - 1 $, such that $ p $ divides $ y^2 - x^3 - a^2x $.

For any pair of coprime positive integers $a$ and $b$, define $f(a, b)$ to be the smallest nonnegative integer $k$ such that $b \mid ak+1$. Prove that if a and b are coprime positive integers satisfying $$f(a, b) - f(b, a) = 2,$$ then there exists a prime number $p$ such that $p^2\mid a + b$. [i]Proposed by usjl[/i]

We call a triple of positive integers $(a, b, c)$ [i]harmonic [/i] if $\frac{1}{a}=\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}$. Prove that, for any given positive integer $c$, the number of harmonic triples $(a, b, c)$ is equal to the number of positive divisors of $c^2$.

A grid of cells is tiled with dominoes such that every cell is covered by exactly one domino. A subset $S$ of dominoes is chosen. Is it true that at least one of the following 2 statements is false? (1) There are $2022$ more horizontal dominoes than vertical dominoes in $S$. (2) The cells covered by the dominoes in $S$ can be tiled completely and exactly by $L$-shaped tetrominoes.

Let $a, b, c$ be positive real numbers satisfying \[a+b+c = a^2 + b^2 + c^2.\] Let \[M = \max\left(\frac{2a^2}{b} + c, \frac{2b^2}{a} + c \right) \quad \text{ and } \quad N = \min(a^2 + b^2, c^2).\] Find the minimum possible value of $M/N$.

Let $\bigoplus$ and $\bigotimes$ be two binary boolean operators, i.e. functions that send $\{\text{True}, \text{False}\}\times \{\text{True}, \text{False}\}$ to $\{\text{True}, \text{False}\}$. Find the number of such pairs $(\bigoplus, \bigotimes)$ such that $\bigoplus$ and $\bigotimes$ distribute over each other, that is, for any three boolean values $a, b, c$, the following four equations hold: 1) $c \bigotimes (a \bigoplus b) = (c \bigotimes a) \bigoplus (c \bigotimes b);$ 2) $(a \bigoplus b) \bigotimes c = (a \bigotimes c) \bigoplus (b \bigotimes c);$ 3) $c \bigoplus (a \bigotimes b) = (c \bigoplus a) \bigotimes (c \bigoplus b);$ 4) $(a \bigotimes b) \bigoplus c = (a \bigoplus c) \bigotimes (b \bigoplus c).$ [i]Proposed by Yannick Yao

Let $S$ be a set of 6 integers taken from $\{1,2,\dots,12\}$ with the property that if $a$ and $b$ are elements of $S$ with $a<b$, then $b$ is not a multiple of $a$. What is the least possible value of an element in $S$? $\textbf{(A)}\ 2\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 3\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 4\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 5\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 7$