Consider the increasing sequence $1,2,4,5,7,9,10,12,14,16,17,19,\dots$ of positive integers, obtained by concatenating alternating blocks $\{1\},\{2,4\},\{5,7,9\},\{10,12,14,16\},\dots$ of odd and even numbers. Each block contains one more element than the previous one and the first element in each block is one more than the last element of the previous one. Prove that the $n$-th element of the sequence is given by \[2n-\Big\lfloor\frac{1+\sqrt{8n-7}}{2}\Big\rfloor.\] (Here $\lfloor x\rfloor$ denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$.)

Let real numbers $x_1, x_2, \cdots , x_n$ satisfy $0 < x_1 < x_2 < \cdots< x_n < 1$ and set $x_0 = 0, x_{n+1} = 1$. Suppose that these numbers satisfy the following system of equations: \[\sum_{j=0, j \neq i}^{n+1} \frac{1}{x_i-x_j}=0 \quad \text{where } i = 1, 2, . . ., n.\] Prove that $x_{n+1-i} = 1- x_i$ for $i = 1, 2, . . . , n.$

Consider a polynomial with coefficients of real numbers $ \phi(x)\equal{}ax^3\plus{}bx^2\plus{}cx\plus{}d$ with three positive real roots. Assume that $ \phi(0)<0$, prove that \[ 2b^3\plus{}9a^2d\minus{}7abc \le 0.\] [i]Hery Susanto, Malang[/i]

A sequence $(u_{n})$ is defined by \[ u_{0}=2 \quad u_{1}=\frac{5}{2}, u_{n+1}=u_{n}(u_{n-1}^{2}-2)-u_{1} \quad \textnormal{for } n=1,\ldots \] Prove that for any positive integer $n$ we have \[ [u_{n}]=2^{\frac{(2^{n}-(-1)^{n})}{3}} \](where $[x]$ denotes the smallest integer $\leq x)$

For each real number $x$, let $\lfloor x \rfloor$ denote the largest integer not exceeding $x$. A sequence $\{a_n \}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ is defined by $a_n = \frac{1}{4^{\lfloor -\log_4 n \rfloor}}, \forall n \geq 1.$ Let $b_n = \frac{1}{n^2} \left( \sum_{k=1}^n a_k - \frac{1}{a_1+a_2} \right), \forall n \geq 1.$ a) Find a polynomial $P(x)$ with real coefficients such that $b_n = P \left( \frac{a_n}{n} \right), \forall n \geq 1$. b) Prove that there exists a strictly increasing sequence $\{n_k \}_{k=1}^{\infty}$ of positive integers such that $$\lim_{k \to \infty} b_{n_k} = \frac{2024}{2025}.$$

Find all polynomials $P(x)$ with integral coefficients whose values at points $x = 1, 2, . . . , 2021$ are numbers $1, 2, . . . , 2021$ in some order.

Calculate $ \lfloor \log_3 5 +\log_5 7 +\log_7 3 \rfloor .$ [i]Petre Rău[/i]

Let $x, y$ be positive real numbers. Find the minimum of $$x^2 + xy +\frac{y^2}{2}+\frac{2^6}{x + y}+\frac{3^4}{x^3}$$

Let $a^2+b^2=1$ , $c^2+d^2=1$ , $ac+bd=0$ Prove that $a^2+c^2=1$ , $b^2+d^2=1$ , $ab+cd=0$ .

Prove that for any odd $ n $ there exists a unique polynomial $ P (x) $ $ n $ -th degree satisfying the equation $ P \left (x- \frac {1} {x} \right) = x ^ n- \frac {1} {x ^ n}. $ Is this true for any natural number $ n $?

[hide=C stands for Cantor, G stands for Gauss]they had two problem sets under those two names[/hide] [u] Set 4[/u] [b]C.16 / G.6[/b] Let $a, b$, and $c$ be real numbers. If $a^3 + b^3 + c^3 = 64$ and $a + b = 0$, what is the value of $c$? [b]C.17 / G.8[/b] Bender always turns $60$ degrees clockwise. He walks $3$ meters, turns, walks $2$ meters, turns, walks $1$ meter, turns, walks $4$ meters, turns, walks $1$ meter, and turns. How many meters does Bender have to walk to get back to his original position? [b]C.18 / G.13[/b] Guang has $4$ identical packs of gummies, and each pack has a red, a blue, and a green gummy. He eats all the gummies so that he finishes one pack before going on to the next pack, but he never eats two gummies of the same color in a row. How many different ways can Guang eat the gummies? [b]C.19[/b] Find the sum of all digits $q$ such that there exists a perfect square that ends in $q$. [b]C.20 / G.14[/b] The numbers $5$ and $7$ are written on a whiteboard. Every minute Stev replaces the two numbers on the board with their sum and difference. After $2017$ minutes the product of the numbers on the board is $m$. Find the number of factors of $m$. [u]Set 5[/u] [b]C.21 / G.10[/b] On the planet Alletas, $\frac{32}{33}$ of the people with silver hair have purple eyes and $\frac{8}{11}$ of the people with purple eyes have silver hair. On Alletas, what is the ratio of the number of people with purple eyes to the number of people with silver hair? [b]C.22 / G.15[/b] Let $P$ be a point on $y = -1$. Let the clockwise rotation of $P$ by $60^o$ about $(0, 0)$ be $P'$. Find the minimum possible distance between $P'$ and $(0, -1)$. [b]C.23 / G.18[/b] How many triangles can be made from the vertices and center of a regular hexagon? Two congruent triangles with different orientations are considered distinct. [b]C.24[/b] Jeremy and Kevin are arguing about how cool a sweater is on a scale of $1-5$. Jeremy says “$3$”, and Kevin says “$4$”. Jeremy angrily responds “$3.5$”, to which Kevin replies “$3.75$”. The two keep going at it, responding with the average of the previous two ratings. What rating will they converge to (and settle on as the coolness of the sweater)? [b]C.25 / G.20[/b] An even positive integer $n$ has an [i]odd factorization[/i] if the largest odd divisor of $n$ is also the smallest odd divisor of $n$ greater than $1$. Compute the number of even integers $n$ less than $50$ with an odd factorization. [u]Set 6[/u] [b]C.26 / G.26[/b] When $2018! = 2018 \times 2017 \times ... \times 1$ is multiplied out and written as an integer, find the number of $4$’s. If the correct answer is $A$ and your answer is $E$, you will receive $12 \min\, \, (A/E, E/A)^3$points. [b]C.27 / G.27[/b] A circle of radius $10$ is cut into three pieces of equal area with two parallel cuts. Find the width of the center piece. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/2/e0ab4a2d51052ee364dd14336677b053a40352.png[/img] If the correct answer is $A$ and your answer is $E$, you will receive $\max \, \,(0, 12 - 6|A - E|)$points. [b]C.28 / G.28[/b] An equilateral triangle of side length $1$ is randomly thrown onto an infinite set of lines, spaced $1$ apart. On average, how many times will the boundary of the triangle intersect one of the lines? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/0/1/773c3d3e0dfc1df54945824e822feaa9c07eb7.png[/img] For example, in the above diagram, the boundary of the triangle intersects the lines in $2$ places. If the correct answer is $A$ and your answer is $E$, you will receive $\max\, \,(0, 12-120|A-E|/A)$ points. [b]C.29 / G.29[/b] Call an ordered triple of integers $(a, b, c)$ nice if there exists an integer $x$ such that $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$. How many nice triples are there such that $-100 \le a, b, c \le 100$? If the correct answer is $A$ and your answer is $E$, you will receive $12 \min\, \,(A/E, E/A)$ points. [b]C.30 / G.30[/b] Let $f(i)$ denote the number of MBMT volunteers to be born in the $i$th state to join the United States. Find the value of $1f(1) + 2f(2) + 3f(3) + ... + 50f(50)$. Note 1: Maryland was the $7$th state to join the US. Note 2: Last year’s MBMT competition had $42$ volunteers. If the correct answer is $A$ and your answer is $E$, you will receive $\max\, \,(0, 12 - 500(|A -E|/A)^2)$ points. PS. You should use hide for answers. C1-15/ G1-10 have been posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h2790674p24540132]here [/url] and G16-25 [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h2790679p24540159]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Consider the sytem of equations \[ a_{11}x_1+a_{12}x_2+a_{13}x_3 = 0 \]\[a_{21}x_1+a_{22}x_2+a_{23}x_3 =0\]\[a_{31}x_1+a_{32}x_2+a_{33}x_3 = 0 \] with unknowns $x_1, x_2, x_3$. The coefficients satisfy the conditions: a) $a_{11}, a_{22}, a_{33}$ are positive numbers; b) the remaining coefficients are negative numbers; c) in each equation, the sum ofthe coefficients is positive. Prove that the given system has only the solution $x_1=x_2=x_3=0$.

Let $a \ge1$ be a real number and $z$ be a complex number such that $| z + a | \le a$ and $|z^2+ a | \le a$. Show that $| z | \le a$.

Let $a_0, a_1,\dots, a_{19} \in \mathbb{R}$ and $$P(x) = x^{20} + \sum_{i=0}^{19}a_ix^i, x \in \mathbb{R}.$$ If $P(x)=P(-x)$ for all $x \in \mathbb{R}$, and $$P(k)=k^2,$$ for $k=0, 1, 2, \dots, 9$ then find $$\lim_{x\rightarrow 0} \frac{P(x)}{\sin^2x}.$$

The sequence $ (a_n)$ is given by $ a_1\equal{}1,a_2\equal{}0$ and: $ a_{2k\plus{}1}\equal{}a_k\plus{}a_{k\plus{}1}, a_{2k\plus{}2}\equal{}2a_{k\plus{}1}$ for $ k \in \mathbb{N}.$ Find $ a_m$ for $ m\equal{}2^{19}\plus{}91.$

Let $d\geq 13$ be an integer, and let $P(x) = a_dx^d + a_{d-1}x^{d-1} + \dots + a_1x+a_0$ be a polynomial of degree $d$ with complex coefficients such that $a_n = a_{d-n}$ for all $n\in\{0,1,\dots,d\}$. Prove that if $P$ has no double roots, then $P$ has two distinct roots $z_1$ and $z_2$ such that $|z_1-z_2|<1$.

Let $(a_n)_{n\in\mathbb N}$ be an increasing sequence of positive integers. A term $a_k$ in the sequence is said to be good if it a sum of some other terms (not necessarily distinct). Prove that all terms of the sequence, apart from finitely many of them, are good.

Let $ N$ denote the set of natural numbers. Let $ \phi: N\rightarrow N$ be a bijective function and assume that there exists a finite limit \[ \lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\frac{\phi(n)}{n}\equal{}L. \] What are the possible values of $ L$?

A sequence of positive integers is constructed as follows. If the last digit of $a_n$ is greater than $5$, then $a_{n+1}$ is $9a_n$. If the last digit of $a_n$ is $5$ or less and an has more than one digit, then $a_{n+1}$ is obtained from $a_n$ by deleting the last digit. If $a_n$ has only one digit, which is $5$ or less, then the sequence terminates. Can we choose the first member of the sequence so that it does not terminate?

A function $f : I \to \mathbb R$, defined on an interval $I$, is called concave if $f(\theta x + (1 - \theta)y) \geq \theta f(x) + (1 - \theta)f(y)$ for all $x, y \in I$ and $0 \leq \theta \leq 1$. Assume that the functions $f_1, \ldots , f_n$, having all nonnegative values, are concave. Prove that the function $(f_1f_2 \cdots f_n)^{1/n}$ is concave.

In the sixth-year exams of a Center, they pass Physics at least$70\%$ of the students, Mathematics at least $75\%$; Philosophy at least, the $90\%$ and the Language at least, $85\%$. How many students, at least, pass these four subjects?

[b](a)[/b] Prove that \[\frac {x^{2}}{\left(x \minus{} 1\right)^{2}} \plus{} \frac {y^{2}}{\left(y \minus{} 1\right)^{2}} \plus{} \frac {z^{2}}{\left(z \minus{} 1\right)^{2}} \geq 1\] for all real numbers $x$, $y$, $z$, each different from $1$, and satisfying $xyz=1$. [b](b)[/b] Prove that equality holds above for infinitely many triples of rational numbers $x$, $y$, $z$, each different from $1$, and satisfying $xyz=1$. [i]Author: Walther Janous, Austria[/i]

Suppose that $x_1, x_2, x_3, . . . x_n$ are real numbers between $0$ and $ 1$ with sum $s$. Prove that $$\prod_{i=1}^{n} \frac{x_i}{s + 1 - x_i} + \prod_{i=1}^{n} (1 - x_i) \le 1.$$

Let $a_0$ be a fixed positive integer. We define an infinite sequence of positive integers $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ in an inductive way as follows: if we are given the terms $a_0,a_1,...a_{n-1}$ , then $a_n$ is the smallest positive integer such that $\sqrt[n]{a_0\cdot a_1\cdot ...\cdot a_n}$ is a positive integer. Show that the sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ is eventually constant. [b]Note:[/b] The sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ is eventually constant if there exists a positive integer $k$ such that $a_n=c$, for every $n\ge k$.

Let $p$ be a prime number and let further $p + 1$ rational numbers $a_0,...,a_p$ with the following property given: If one removes any of the $p + 1$ numbers, then the remaining may be split in at least two groups , which all have the same mean value (for different distant numbers, however, these mean values ​​may be different). Prove that all $p + 1$ numbers are equal.