Let $(A,+,\cdot)$ be a finite unit ring, with $n\geq 3$ elements in which there exist [b]exactly[/b] $\dfrac {n+1}2$ perfect squares (e.g. a number $b\in A$ is called a perfect square if and only if there exists an $a\in A$ such that $b=a^2$). Prove that a) $1+1$ is invertible; b) $(A,+,\cdot)$ is a field. [i]Proposed by Marian Andronache[/i]

Let $n>3$ be an integer. Integers $a_1, \dots, a_n$ are given so that $a_k\in \{k, -k\}$ for all $1\leq k\leq n$. Prove that there is a sequence of indices $1\leq k_1, k_2, \dots, k_n\leq n$, not necessarily distinct, for which the sums \[a_{k_1}\] \[a_{k_1}+a_{k_2}\] \[a_{k_1}+a_{k_2}+a_{k_3}\] \[\vdots\] \[a_{k_1}+a_{k_2}+\cdots+a_{k_n}\] have distinct residues modulo $2n+1$, and so that the last one is divisible by $2n+1$.

Let $A$ be an non-invertible of order $n$, $n>1$, with the elements in the set of complex numbers, with all the elements having the module equal with 1 a)Prove that, for $n=3$, two rows or two columns of the $A$ matrix are proportional b)Does the conclusion from the previous exercise remains true for $n=4$?

The sides of a 99-gon are initially colored so that consecutive sides are red, blue, red, blue, $\,\ldots, \,$ red, blue, yellow. We make a sequence of modifications in the coloring, changing the color of one side at a time to one of the three given colors (red, blue, yellow), under the constraint that no two adjacent sides may be the same color. By making a sequence of such modifications, is it possible to arrive at the coloring in which consecutive sides are red, blue, red, blue, red, blue, $\, \ldots, \,$ red, yellow, blue?

Let $\mathbb{L}$ be a finite field with $q$ elements. Prove that: a) If $q \equiv 3 \pmod 4$ and $n \ge 2$ is a positive integer divisible by $q-1,$ then $x^n=(x^2+1)^n$ for all $x \in \mathbb{L}^{\times}.$ b) If there exists a positive integer $n \ge 2$ such that $x^n=(x^2+1)^n$ for all $x \in \mathbb{L}^{\times},$ then $q \equiv 3 \pmod 4$ and $q-1$ divides $n.$

Given $n\ge 2$ a natural number, $(K,+,\cdot )$ a body with commutative property that $\underbrace{1+...+}_{m}1\ne 0,m=2,...,n,f\in K[X]$ a polynomial of degree $n$ and $G$ a subgroup of the additive group $(K,+,\cdot )$, $G\ne K.$Show that there is $a\in K$ so$f(a)\notin G$.

A subset $W$ of the set of real numbers is called a ring if it contains $1$ and if for all $a,b\in W$, the numbers $a-b$ and $ab$ are also in $W$. Let $S=\left\{\frac m{2^n}|m,n\in\mathbb Z\right\}$ and $T=\left\{\frac pq|p,q\in\mathbb Z,q\text{ odd}\right\}$. Then $\textbf{(A)}~\text{neither }S\text{ nor }T\text{ is a ring}$ $\textbf{(B)}~S\text{ is a ring, }T\text{ is not a ring}$ $\textbf{(C)}~T\text{ is a ring, }S\text{ is not a ring}$ $\textbf{(D)}~\text{both }S\text{ and }T\text{ are rings}$

Let $ H$ be an arbitrary subgroup of the diffeomorphism group $ \mathsf{Diff}^\infty(M)$ of a differentiable manifold $ M$. We say that an $ \mathcal C^\infty$-vector field $ X$ is [i]weakly tangent[/i] to the group $ H$, if there exists a positive integer $ k$ and a $ \mathcal C^\infty$-differentiable map $ \varphi \mathrel{: } \mathord{]} \minus{} \varepsilon,\varepsilon\mathord{[}^k\times M\to M$ such that (i) for fixed $ t_1,\dots,t_k$ the map \[ \varphi_{t_1,\dots,t_k} : x\in M\mapsto \varphi(t_1,\dots,t_k,x)\] is a diffeomorphism of $ M$, and $ \varphi_{t_1,\dots,t_k}\in H$; (ii) $ \varphi_{t_1,\dots,t_k}\in H \equal{} \mathsf{Id}$ whenever $ t_j \equal{} 0$ for some $ 1\leq j\leq k$; (iii) for any $ \mathcal C^\infty$-function $ f: M\to \mathbb R$ \[ X f \equal{} \left.\frac {\partial^k(f\circ\varphi_{t_1,\dots,t_k})}{\partial t_1\dots\partial t_k}\right|_{(t_1,\dots,t_k) \equal{} (0,\dots,0)}.\] Prove, that the commutators of $ \mathcal C^\infty$-vector fields that are weakly tangent to $ H\subset \textsf{Diff}^\infty(M)$ are also weakly tangent to $ H$.

Let $ G$ be a finite non-commutative group of order $ t \equal{} 2^nm$, where $ n, m$ are positive and $ m$ is odd. Prove, that if the group contains an element of order $ 2^n$, then (i) $ G$ is not simple; (ii) $ G$ contains a normal subgroup of order $ m$.

Let $R$ ba a finite ring with the following property: for any $a,b\in R$ there exists an element $c\in R$ (depending on $a$ and $b$) such that $a^2+b^2=c^2$. Prove that for any $a,b,c\in R$ there exists $d\in R$ such that $2abc=d^2$. (Here $2abc$ denotes $abc+abc$. The ring $R$ is assumed to be associative, but not necessarily commutative and not necessarily containing a unit.

Each rational number is painted either white or red. Call such a coloring of the rationals [i]sanferminera[/i] if for any distinct rationals numbers $x$ and $y$ satisfying one of the following three conditions: [list=1][*]$xy=1$, [*]$x+y=0$, [*]$x+y=1$,[/list]we have $x$ and $y$ painted different colors. How many sanferminera colorings are there?

Let be a group with $ 10 $ elements for which there exist two non-identity elements, $ a,b, $ having the property that $ a^2 $ and $ b^2 $ are the identity. Show that this group is not commutative.

Show that $$ \left\{ X\in\mathcal{M}_2\left( \mathbb{Z}_3 \right)\left| \begin{pmatrix} 1&1\\2&2 \end{pmatrix} X\begin{pmatrix} 1&2\\2&1 \end{pmatrix} =0 \right. \right\} $$ is a multiplicative ring. [i]Cătălin Țigăeru[/i]

Let be the set $ G=\{ (u,v)\in \mathbb{C}^2| u\neq 0 \} $ and a function $ \varphi :\mathbb{C}\setminus\{ 0\}\longrightarrow\mathbb{C}\setminus\{ 0\} $ having the property that the operation $ *:G^2\longrightarrow G $ defined as $$ (a,b)*(c,d)=(ac,bc+d\varphi (a)) $$ is associative. [b]a)[/b] Show that $ (G,*) $ is a group. [b]b)[/b] Describe $ \varphi , $ knowing that $(G,*) $ is a commutative group. [i]Marius Perianu[/i]

Let $A$ be a ring and let $D$ be the set of its non-invertible elements. If $a^2=0$ for any $a \in D,$ prove that: [b]a)[/b] $axa=0$ for all $a \in D$ and $x \in A$; [b]b)[/b] if $D$ is a finite set with at least two elements, then there is $a \in D,$ $a \neq 0,$ such that $ab=ba=0,$ for every $b \in D.$ [i]Ioan Băetu[/i]

Prove that $ C_G\left( N_G(H) \right)\subset N_G\left( C_G(H) \right) , $ for any subgroup $ H $ of $ G, $ and characterize the groups $ G $ for which equality in this relation holds for all $ H\le G. $ [i]Here,[/i] $ C_G,N_G $ [i]are the centralizer, respectively, the normalizer of[/i] $ G. $

Consider the functions $f,g,h:\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}\to\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}$ and the binary operation $*:\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}\times \mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}\to \mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}$ defined as \[x*y=f(x)+g(y)+h(x)\cdot|x-y|,\]for all $x,y\in\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}$. Suppose that $(\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0},*)$ is a commutative monoid. Determine the functions $f,g,h$.

$ i(L) $ denotes the number of multiplicative binary operations over the set of elements of the finite additive group $ L $ such that the set of elements of $ L, $ along with these additive and multiplicative operations, form a ring. Prove that [b]a)[/b] $ i\left( \mathbb{Z}_{12} \right) =4. $ [b]b)[/b] $ i(A\times B)\ge i(A)i(B) , $ for any two finite commutative groups $ B $ and $ A. $ [b]c)[/b] there exist two sequences $ \left( G_k \right)_{k\ge 1} ,\left( H_k \right)_{k\ge 1} $ of finite commutative groups such that $$ \lim_{k\to\infty }\frac{\# G_k }{i\left( G_k \right)} =0 $$ and $$ \lim_{k\to\infty }\frac{\# H_k }{i\left( H_k \right)} =\infty. $$ [i]Barbu Berceanu[/i]

Prove that the number of nilpotent elements of a commutative ring with an order greater than $ 8 $ and congruent to $ 3 $ modulo $ 6 $ is at most a third of the order of the ring.

We say that the abelian group $ G $ has property [i](P)[/i] if, for any commutative group $ H, $ any $ H’\le H $ and any momorphism $ \mu’:H\longrightarrow G, $ there exists a morphism $ \mu :H\longrightarrow G $ such that $ \mu\bigg|_{H’} =\mu’ . $ Show that: [b]a)[/b] the group $ \left( \mathbb{Q}^*,\cdot \right) $ hasn’t property [i](P).[/i] [b]b)[/b] the group $ \left( \mathbb{Q}, +\right) $ has property [i](P).[/i]

Find all positive integers $n$ for which there exists a polynomial $P(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ such that for every positive integer $m\geq 1$, the numbers $P^m(1), \ldots, P^m(n)$ leave exactly $\lceil n/2^m\rceil$ distinct remainders when divided by $n$. (Here, $P^m$ means $P$ applied $m$ times.) [i]Proposed by Carl Schildkraut, USA[/i]

Let $\mathcal K$ be a field of characteristic $p$, $p \equiv 1 \left( \bmod 4 \right)$. (a) Prove that $-1$ is the square of an element from $\mathcal K.$ (b) Prove that any element $\neq 0$ from $\mathcal K$ can be written as the sum of three squares, each $\neq 0$, of elements from $\mathcal K$. (c) Can $0$ be written in the same way? [i]Marian Andronache[/i]

Suppose that $ a_1$, $ a_2$, $ \ldots$, $ a_n$ are integers such that $ n\mid a_1 \plus{} a_2 \plus{} \ldots \plus{} a_n$. Prove that there exist two permutations $ \left(b_1,b_2,\ldots,b_n\right)$ and $ \left(c_1,c_2,\ldots,c_n\right)$ of $ \left(1,2,\ldots,n\right)$ such that for each integer $ i$ with $ 1\leq i\leq n$, we have \[ n\mid a_i \minus{} b_i \minus{} c_i \] [i]Proposed by Ricky Liu & Zuming Feng, USA[/i]

How many minimal left ideals does the full matrix ring $M_n(K)$ of $n\times n$ matrices over a field $K$ have?

Let $F$ be a field whose characteristic is not $2$, let $F^*=F\setminus\left\{0\right\}$ be its multiplicative group and let $T$ be the subgroup of $F^*$ constituted by its finite order elements. Prove that if $T$ is finite, then $T$ is cyclic and its order is even.