Let $A\in \mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R})$ such that $\det(A)=d\neq 0$ and $\det(A+dA^*)=0$. Prove that $\det(A-dA^*)=4$. [i]Daniel Jinga[/i]

A fair 100-sided die is rolled twice, giving the numbers $a$ and $b$ in that order. If the probability that $a^2-4b$ is a perfect square is $\frac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers, compute $100m+n$. [i] Proposed by Justin Stevens [/i]

Find the least a. positive real number b. positive integer $t$ such that the equation $(x^2+y^2)^2 + 2tx(x^2 + y^2) = t^2y^2$ has a solution where $x,y$ are positive integers.

A blackboard contains $2018$ instances of the digit $1$ separated by spaces. Georg and his mother play a game where they take turns filling in one of the spaces between the digits with either a $+$ or a $\times$. Georg begins, and the game ends when all spaces have been filled. Georg wins if the value of the expression is even, and his mother wins if it is odd. Which player may prepare a strategy which secures him/her victory?

Show that for any positive integer $n$ there is an integer $N$ such that the product $x_1x_2\cdots x_n$ can be expressed identically in the form \[x_1x_2\cdots x_n=\sum_{i=1}^Nc_i(a_{i1}x_1+a_{i2}x_2+\cdots +a_{in}x_n)^n\] where the $c_i$ are rational numbers and each $a_{ij}$ is one of the numbers, $-1,0,1.$

Suppose that $a, b, c$ are positive real numbers and $a + b + c = 3$. Prove that $$\frac{a+b}{c+2} + \frac{b+c}{a+2} + \frac{c+a}{b+2} \geq 2$$ and determine when equality holds.

Find some antiderivative of the function $y = 1/x^3$, the graph of which has exactly three common points with the graph of the function $y = |x|$.

a) Find the largest possible value of the number $x_1x_2 + x_2x_3 + ... + x_{n-1}x_n$, if $x_1, x_2, ... , x_n$ ($n \ge 2$) are non-negative integers and their sum is $2011$. b) Find the numbers $x_1, x_2, ... , x_n$ for which the maximum value determined at a) is obtained

Let $a$ and $b$ be the roots of the polynomial $x^2+2020x+c$. Given that $\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{a}=98$, compute $\sqrt c$.

Determine the number of polynomials of degree $ 3 $ that are irreducible over the field of integers modulo a prime.

Let $P(x)=ax^3+(b-a)x^2-(c+b)x+c$ and $Q(x)=x^4+(b-1)x^3+(a-b)x^2-(c+a)x+c$ be polynomials of $x$ with $a,b,c$ non-zero real numbers and $b>0$.If $P(x)$ has three distinct real roots $x_0,x_1,x_2$ which are also roots of $Q(x)$ then: A)Prove that $abc>28$, B)If $a,b,c$ are non-zero integers with $b>0$,find all their possible values.

Find all triangles whose side lengths are consecutive integers, and one of whose angles is twice another.

Let $S$ be a finite set, and let $\mathcal{A}$ be the set of all functions from $S$ to $S$. Let $f$ be an element of $\mathcal{A}$, and let $T=f(S)$ be the image of $S$ under $f$. Suppose that $f\circ g\circ f\ne g\circ f\circ g$ for every $g$ in $\mathcal{A}$ with $g\ne f$. Show that $f(T)=T$.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Show that \begin{align*}&\quad\,\,\frac{1}{\binom{n}{1}}+\frac{1}{2\binom{n}{2}}+\frac{1}{3\binom{n}{3}}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n\binom{n}{n}}\\&=\frac{1}{2^{n-1}}+\frac{1}{2\cdot2^{n-2}}+\frac{1}{3\cdot2^{n-3}}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n\cdot2^0}.\end{align*}

A polynomial of degree four with leading coefficient 1 and integer coefficients has two zeros, both of which are integers. Which of the following can also be a zero of the polynomial? $ \textbf{(A)} \ \frac {1 \plus{} i \sqrt {11}}{2} \qquad \textbf{(B)} \ \frac {1 \plus{} i}{2} \qquad \textbf{(C)} \ \frac {1}{2} \plus{} i \qquad \textbf{(D)} \ 1 \plus{} \frac {i}{2} \qquad \textbf{(E)} \ \frac {1 \plus{} i \sqrt {13}}{2}$

Prove that the polynomial $$P(x) = nx^{n+2} -(n + 2)x^{n+1} + (n + 2)x-n$$ is divisible by the polynomial $(x - 1)^3$.

Prove that for positive real numbers $a, b, c$ the following inequality holds: \begin{align*} \frac{a}{9bc+1}+\frac{b}{9ca+1}+\frac{c}{9ab+1}\geq \frac{a+b+c}{1+(a+b+c)^2} \end{align*} When does equality occur?

[b]p1.[/b] Let $ABCD$ be a square with side length $1$, $\Gamma_1$ be a circle centered at $B$ with radius 1, $\Gamma_2$ be a circle centered at $D$ with radius $1$, $E$ be a point on the segment $AB$ with $|AE| = x$ $(0 < x \le 1)$, and $\Gamma_3$ be a circle centered at $A$ with radius $|AE|$. $\Gamma_3$ intersects $\Gamma_1$ and $\Gamma_2$ inside the square at $G$ and $F$, respectively. Let region $I$ be the region bounded by the segment $GC$ and the minor arc $GC$ of $\Gamma_1$, and region II be the region bounded by the segment $FG$ and the minor arc $FG$ of $\Gamma_3$, as illustrated in the graph below. Let $r(x)$ be the ratio of the area of region I to the area of region II. (i) Find $r(1)$. Justify your answer. (ii) Find an explicit formula of $r(x)$ in terms of $x$ $(0 < x \le 1)$. Justify your answer. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/0/bd2379a1390a578d78dc7e9f4cde756d5f4723.png[/img] [b]p2.[/b] We call a [i]party [/i] any set of people $V$ . If $v_1 \in V$ knows $v_2 \in V$ in a party, we always assume that $v_2$ also knows $v_1$. For a person $v \in V$ in some party, the degree of v, denoted by $deg\,\,(v)$, is the number of people $v$ knows in the party. (i) Suppose that a party has four people with $V = \{v_1, v_2, v_3, v_4\}$, and that $deg\,\,(v_i) = i$ for $i = 1, 2, 3$ show that $deg\,\,(v_4) = 2$. (ii) Suppose that a party is attended by $n = 4k$ ($k \ge 1$) people with $V = \{v_1, v_2, ..., v_{4k}\}$, and that $deg\,\,(v_i) = i$ for $1 \le i \le n - 1$. Show that $deg\,\,(v_n) = \frac{n}{2}$ . [b]p3.[/b] Let $a, b$ be two real number parameters and consider the function $f(x) =\frac{b + \sin x}{a + \cos x}$. (i) Find an example of $(a, b)$ such that $f(x) \ge 2$ for all real numbers $x$. Justify your answer. (ii) If $a > 1$ and the range of the function $f(x)$ (when x varies over the set of all real numbers) is $[-1, 1]$, find the values of $a$ and $b$. Justify your answer. [b]p4.[/b] Let $f$ be the function that assigns to each positive multiple $x$ of $8$ the number of ways in which $x$ can be written as a difference of squares of positive odd integers. (For example, $f(8) = 1$, because $8 = 3^2 -1^2$, and $f(24) = 2$, because $24 = 5^2 - 1^2 = 7^2 - 5^2$.) (a) Determine with proof the value of $f(120)$. (b) Determine with proof the smallest value $x$ for which $f(x) = 8$. (c) Show that the range of this function is the set of all positive integers. [b]p5.[/b] Consider the binomial coefficients $C_{n,r} ={n \choose r}= \frac{n!}{r!(n - r)!}$, for $n \ge 2$. Prove that $C_{n,r}$ are even, for all $1 \le r \le n - 1$, if and only if $n = 2^m$, for some counting number $m$. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

The sequence $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n$ of positive real numbers satisfies the following conditions: \begin{align*} \sum_{i=1}^n \frac{1}{a_i} \le 1 \ \ \ \ \hbox{and} \ \ \ \ a_i \le a_{i-1}+1 \end{align*} for all $i\in \lbrace 1, 2, \ldots, n \rbrace$, where $a_0$ is an integer. Prove that \begin{align*} n \le 4a_0 \cdot \sum_{i=1}^n \frac{1}{a_i} \end{align*}

Let $a_1 \le a_2 \le ... \le a_n$ be real numbers for which $$\sum_{i=1}^{n} a_i^{2k+1} = 0$$ holds for all integers $0 \le k < n$. Show that in this case, $a_i = -a_{n+1-i}$ holds for all $1 \le i \le n$.

Determine the polynomial $P\in \mathbb{R}[x]$ for which there exists $n\in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ such that for all $x\in \mathbb{Q}$ we have: \[P\left(x+\frac1n\right)+P\left(x-\frac1n\right)=2P(x).\] [i]Dumitru Bușneag[/i]

Prove that all continuous solutions of the functional equation $\left(f(x)-f(y)\right)\left(f\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)-f\left(\sqrt{xy}\right)\right)=0 \ , \ \forall x,y\in (0,+\infty)$ are the constant functions.

A set $S$ consists of $k$ sequences of $0,1,2$ of length $n$. For any two sequences $(a_i),(b_i)\in S$ we can construct a new sequence $(c_i)$ such that $c_i=\left\lfloor\frac{a_i+b_i+1}2\right\rfloor$ and include it in $S$. Assume that after performing finitely many such operations we obtain all the $3n$ sequences of $0,1,2$ of length $n$. Find the least possible value of $k$.

Find all functions $f:\mathbb R\to\mathbb R$ so that the following relation holds for all $x, y\in\mathbb R$. $$f(f(x)f(y)-1) = xy - 1$$

Find all functions $ f: (0, \infty) \mapsto (0, \infty)$ (so $ f$ is a function from the positive real numbers) such that \[ \frac {\left( f(w) \right)^2 \plus{} \left( f(x) \right)^2}{f(y^2) \plus{} f(z^2) } \equal{} \frac {w^2 \plus{} x^2}{y^2 \plus{} z^2} \] for all positive real numbers $ w,x,y,z,$ satisfying $ wx \equal{} yz.$ [i]Author: Hojoo Lee, South Korea[/i]