What is the largest possible rational root of the equation $ax^2 + bx + c = 0{}$ where $a, b$ and $c{}$ are positive integers that do not exceed $100{}$?

[b]p1.[/b] Solve the equation: $\sqrt{x} +\sqrt{x + 1} - \sqrt{x + 2} = 0$. [b]p2.[/b] Solve the inequality: $\ln (x^2 + 3x + 2) \le 0$. [b]p3.[/b] In the trapezoid $ABCD$ ($AD \parallel BC$) $|AD|+|AB| = |BC|+|CD|$. Find the ratio of the length of the sides $AB$ and $CD$ ($|AB|/|CD|$). [b]p4.[/b] Gollum gave Bilbo a new riddle. He put $64$ stones that are either white or black on an $8 \times 8$ chess board (one piece per each of $64$ squares). At every move Bilbo can replace all stones of any horizontal or vertical row by stones of the opposite color (white by black and black by white). Bilbo can make as many moves as he needs. Bilbo needs to get a position when in every horizontal and in every vertical row the number of white stones is greater than or equal to the number of black stones. Can Bilbo solve the riddle and what should be his solution? [b]p5.[/b] Two trolls Tom and Bert caught Bilbo and offered him a game. Each player got a bag with white, yellow, and black stones. The game started with Tom putting some number of stones from his bag on the table, then Bert added some number of stones from his bag, and then Bilbo added some stones from his bag. After that three players started making moves. At each move a player chooses two stones of different colors, takes them away from the table, and puts on the table a stone of the color different from the colors of chosen stones. Game ends when stones of one color only remain on the table. If the remaining stones are white Tom wins and eats Bilbo, if they are yellow, Bert wins and eats Bilbo, if they are black, Bilbo wins and is set free. Can you help Bilbo to save his life by offering him a winning strategy? [b]p6.[/b] There are four roads in Mirkwood that are straight lines. Bilbo, Gandalf, Legolas, and Thorin were travelling along these roads, each along a different road, at a different constant speed. During their trips Bilbo met Gandalf, and both Bilbo and Gandalf met Legolas and Thorin, but neither three of them met at the same time. When meeting they did not stop and did not change the road, the speed, and the direction. Did Legolas meet Thorin? Justify your answer. PS. You should use hide for answers.

[u]Set 1[/u] [b]p1.[/b] Farmer John has $4000$ gallons of milk in a bucket. On the first day, he withdraws $10\%$ of the milk in the bucket for his cows. On each following day, he withdraws a percentage of the remaining milk that is $10\%$ more than the percentage he withdrew on the previous day. For example, he withdraws $20\%$ of the remaining milk on the second day. How much milk, in gallons, is left after the tenth day? [b]p2.[/b] Will multiplies the first four positive composite numbers to get an answer of $w$. Jeremy multiplies the first four positive prime numbers to get an answer of $j$. What is the positive difference between $w$ and $j$? [b]p3.[/b] In Nathan’s math class of $60$ students, $75\%$ of the students like dogs and $60\%$ of the students like cats. What is the positive difference between the maximum possible and minimum possible number of students who like both dogs and cats? [u]Set 2[/u] [b]p4.[/b] For how many integers $x$ is $x^4 - 1$ prime? [b]p5.[/b] Right triangle $\vartriangle ABC$ satisfies $\angle BAC = 90^o$. Let $D$ be the foot of the altitude from $A$ to $BC$. If $AD = 60$ and $AB = 65$, find the area of $\vartriangle ABC$. [b]p6.[/b] Define $n! = n \times (n - 1) \times ... \times 1$. Given that $3! + 4! + 5! = a^2 + b^2 + c^2$ for distinct positive integers $a, b, c$, find $a + b + c$. [u]Set 3[/u] [b]p7.[/b] Max nails a unit square to the plane. Let M be the number of ways to place a regular hexagon (of any size) in the same plane such that the square and hexagon share at least $2$ vertices. Vincent, on the other hand, nails a regular unit hexagon to the plane. Let $V$ be the number of ways to place a square (of any size) in the same plane such that the square and hexagon share at least $2$ vertices. Find the nonnegative difference between $M$ and $V$ . [b]p8.[/b] Let a be the answer to this question, and suppose $a > 0$. Find $\sqrt{a +\sqrt{a +\sqrt{a +...}}}$ . [b]p9.[/b] How many ordered pairs of integers $(x, y)$ are there such that $x^2 - y^2 = 2019$? [u]Set 4[/u] [b]p10.[/b] Compute $\frac{p^3 + q^3 + r^3 - 3pqr}{p + q + r}$ where $p = 17$, $q = 7$, and $r = 8$. [b]p11.[/b] The unit squares of a $3 \times 3$ grid are colored black and white. Call a coloring good if in each of the four $2 \times 2$ squares in the $3 \times 3$ grid, there is either exactly one black square or exactly one white square. How many good colorings are there? Consider rotations and reflections of the same pattern distinct colorings. [b]p12.[/b] Define a $k$-[i]respecting [/i]string as a sequence of $k$ consecutive positive integers $a_1$, $a_2$, $...$ , $a_k$ such that $a_i$ is divisible by $i$ for each $1 \le i \le k$. For example, $7$, $8$, $9$ is a $3$-respecting string because $7$ is divisible by $1$, $8$ is divisible by $2$, and $9$ is divisible by $3$. Let $S_7$ be the set of the first terms of all $7$-respecting strings. Find the sum of the three smallest elements in $S_7$. [u]Set 5[/u] [b]p13.[/b] A triangle and a quadrilateral are situated in the plane such that they have a finite number of intersection points $I$. Find the sum of all possible values of $I$. [b]p14.[/b] Mr. DoBa continuously chooses a positive integer at random such that he picks the positive integer $N$ with probability $2^{-N}$ , and he wins when he picks a multiple of 10. What is the expected number of times Mr. DoBa will pick a number in this game until he wins? [b]p15.[/b] If $a, b, c, d$ are all positive integers less than $5$, not necessarily distinct, find the number of ordered quadruples $(a, b, c, d)$ such that $a^b - c^d$ is divisible by $5$. PS. You had better use hide for answers. Last 4 sets have been posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c4h2777362p24370554]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

A man in a rowing boat is at point A at a distance of $2$ kilometers from a straight coastline. By first rowing in to a point P and then strolling along the coast he reaches point B, which is at a distance of $5$ kilometers from C, which is the point on the coast closest to A. The man's speed at rest is $3$ kilometers per hour and his strolling speed is $5$ kilometers per hour. Decide where P should go be placed between C and B so that the man gets from A to B in the shortest possible time.

In order to earn her vacation spending money, Alexis helped her mother remove weeds from the garden. When she was done, she came into the house to put away her gardening gloves and change into clean clothes. On her way to her room she notices Joshua with his face to the floor in the family room, looking pretty silly. "Josh, did you know you lose IQ points for sniffing the carpet?" "Shut up. I'm $\textit{not}$ sniffing the carpet. I'm $\textit{doing something}$." "Sure, if $\textit{sniffing the carpet}$ counts as $\textit{doing something}.$" At this point Alexis stands over her twin brother grinning, trying to see how silly she can make him feel. Joshua climbs to his feet and stands on his toes to make himself a half inch taller than his sister, who is ordinarily a half inch taller than Joshua. "I'm measuring something. I'm $\textit{designing}$ something." Alexis stands on her toes too, reminding her brother that she is still taller than he. "When you're done, can you design me a dress?" "Very funny." Joshua walks to the table and points to some drawings. "I'm designing the sand castle I want to build at the beach. Everything needs to be measured out so that I can build something awesome." "And this requires sniffing carpet?" inquires Alexis, who is just a little intrigued by her brother's project. "I was imagining where to put the base of a spiral staircase. Everything needs to be measured out correctly. See, the castle walls will be in the shape of a rectangle, like this room. The center of the staircase will be $9$ inches from one of the corners, $15$ inches from another, $16$ inches from another, and some whole number of inches from the furthest corner." Joshua shoots Alexis a wry smile. The twins liked to challenge each other, and Alexis knew she had to find the distance from the center of the staircase to the fourth corner of the castle on her own, or face Joshua's pestering, which might last for hours or days. Find the distance from the center of the staircase to the furthest corner of the rectangular castle, assuming all four of the distances to the corners are described as distances on the same plane (the ground).

Determine all bounded functions $f: R \to R$, such that $f (f (x) + y) = f (x) + f (y)$, for all real $x, y$.

Sum of all roots of the equation $$cos^{100} x + a_1 cos^{99} x + a_2cos^{98} x +... + a_99 cos x+ a_{100} = 0$$, in interval $\left[\pi, \frac{3\pi}{2} \right]$, is equal to $21\pi$, and the sum of all roots of the equation $$sin^{100} x + a_1 sin^{99} x + a_2sin ^{98} x +... + a_99sin x+ a_{100} = 0$$, in the same interval, is equal to $24\pi $. How many roots does the first equation have on the segment $\left[ \frac{\pi}{2}, \pi\right]$?

Let $a_1, a_2, ..., a_{2012}$ be pairwise distinct integers. Show that the equation $(x -a_1)(x - a_2)...(x - a_{2012}) = (1006!)^2$ has at most one integral solution.

a) Let $AB CD$ be a regular tetrahedron. On the sides $AB$, $AC$ and $AD$, the points $M$, $N$ and $P$, are considered. Determine the volume of the tetrahedron $AMNP$ in terms of $x, y, z$, where $x=AM$, $y=AN$, $z=AP$. b) Show that for any real numbers $x, y, z, t, u, v \in (0, 1)$ : $$xyz + uv(1- x) + (1- y)(1- v)t + (1- z)(1- w)(1- t) < 1.$$

Let $f(n) = 9n^5- 5n^3 - 4n$. Find the greatest common divisor of $f(17), f(18),... ,f(2009)$.

Let $p$ be a prime number,let $n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_p$ be positive integer numbers, and let $d$ be the greatest common divisor of the numbers $n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_p$. Prove that the polynomial \[\dfrac{X^{n_1} + X^{n_2} + \cdots + X^{n_p} - p}{X^d - 1}\] is irreducible in $\mathbb{Q}[X]$. [i]Beniamin Bogosel[/i]

Given $a,b,c$ ,$(a, b,c \in (0,2)$), with $a + b + c = ab+bc+ca$, prove that $$\frac{a^2}{a^2-a+1}+\frac{b^2}{b^2-b+1}+\frac{c^2}{c^2-c+1} \le 3$$ (D. Pirshtuk)

What percentage of twenty thousand is a quarter of a million?

Let $\mathbb{R}$ be the set of real numbers. Let $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ be a function such that \[f(x+y)f(x-y)\geqslant f(x)^2-f(y)^2\] for every $x,y\in\mathbb{R}$. Assume that the inequality is strict for some $x_0,y_0\in\mathbb{R}$. Prove that either $f(x)\geqslant 0$ for every $x\in\mathbb{R}$ or $f(x)\leqslant 0$ for every $x\in\mathbb{R}$.

Let $a_1,a_2,...,a_{2007}$ be real number such that $ a_1+a_2+...+a_{2007}\geq 2007^{2}$ and $a_1^{2}+a_2^{2}+...+a_{2007}^{2}\leq 2007^{3}-1 $. Prove that $ a_k\in[2006;2008]$ for all $k\in\left \{ 1,2,...,2007 \right \}$

$\{a_n\}$ is a positive integer sequence such that $ a_{i+2} = a_{i+1} + a_{i} (i \ge 1) $. For positive integer $n$, define $\{b_n\}$ as \[ b_n = \frac{1}{a_{2n+1}} \sum_{i=1}^{4n-2} { a_i } \] Prove that $b_n$ is positive integer, and find the general form of $b_n$.

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.

Let $ n>4$ be a positive integer such that $ n$ is composite (not a prime) and divides $ \varphi (n) \sigma (n) \plus{}1$, where $ \varphi (n)$ is the Euler's totient function of $ n$ and $ \sigma (n)$ is the sum of the positive divisors of $ n$. Prove that $ n$ has at least three distinct prime factors.

Let $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and $S_{n}$ the set of all permutations of $\{1,2,3,...,n\}$. For every permutation $\sigma \in S_{n}$ denote $I(\sigma) := \{ i: \sigma (i) \le i \}$. Compute the sum $\sum_ {\sigma \in S_{n}} \frac{1}{|I(\sigma )|} \sum_ {i \in I(\sigma)} (i+ \sigma(i))$.

Let $A$ and $B$ be given real numbers. Let the sum of real numbers $0\le x_1\le x_2\le\ldots \le x_n$ be $A$, and let the sum of real numbers $0\le y_1\le y_2\le \ldots\le y_n$ be $B$. Find the largest possible value of \[\sum_{i=1}^n (x_i-y_i)^2.\] [i]Proposed by Péter Csikvári, Budapest[/i]

Find all real number $x$ which could be represented as $x = \frac{a_0}{a_1a_2 . . . a_n} + \frac{a_1}{a_2a_3 . . . a_n} + \frac{a_2}{a_3a_4 . . . a_n} + . . . + \frac{a_{n-2}}{a_{n-1}a_n} + \frac{a_{n-1}}{a_n}$ , with $n, a_1, a_2, . . . . , a_n$ are positive integers and $1 = a_0 \leq a_1 < a_2 < . . . < a_n$

Find positive integer $n$ so that $\tfrac{80-6\sqrt{n}}{n}$ is the reciprocal of $\tfrac{80+6\sqrt{n}}{n}.$

Find all polynomials $f$ with integer coefficient such that, for every prime $p$ and natural numbers $u$ and $v$ with the condition: \[ p \mid uv - 1 \] we always have $p \mid f(u)f(v) - 1$.

Let $\mathbb{R}^{+}$ denote the set of positive real numbers. Find all functions $f : \mathbb{R}^{+} \to \mathbb{R}^{+}$ satisfying for all $x, y \in \mathbb{R}^{+}$ the equality \[f(xf(y))=f(xy)+x\]

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Assume that $n$ numbers are to be chosen from the table $\begin{array}{cccc}0 & 1 & \cdots & n-1\\ n & n+1 & \cdots & 2n-1\\ \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots\\(n-1)n & (n-1)n+1 & \cdots & n^2-1\end{array} $ with no two of them from the same row or the same column. Find the maximal value of the product of these $n$ numbers.