In a permutation $(x_1, x_2, \dots , x_n)$ of the set $1, 2, \dots , n$ we call a pair $(x_i, x_j )$ discordant if $i < j$ and $x_i > x_j$. Let $d(n, k)$ be the number of such permutations with exactly $k$ discordant pairs. Find $d(n, 2)$ and $d(n, 3).$

Find the value of $n$ such that $\frac{2019 + n}{2019 - n}= 5$

Determine all $n$ for which the system with of equations can be solved in $\mathbb{R}$: \[\sum^{n}_{k=1} x_k = 27\] and \[\prod^{n}_{k=1} x_k = \left( \frac{3}{2} \right)^{24}.\]

Let ${a_1,a_2,\dots,a_n}$ be positive real numbers, ${n>1}$. Denote by $g_n$ their geometric mean, and by $A_1,A_2,\dots,A_n$ the sequence of arithmetic means defined by \[ A_k=\frac{a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_k}{k},\qquad k=1,2,\dots,n. \] Let $G_n$ be the geometric mean of $A_1,A_2,\dots,A_n$. Prove the inequality \[ n \root n\of{\frac{G_n}{A_n}}+ \frac{g_n}{G_n}\le n+1 \] and establish the cases of equality. [i]Proposed by Finbarr Holland, Ireland[/i]

Justify your answer whether $A=\left( \begin{array}{ccc} -4 & -1& -1 \\ 1 & -2& 1 \\ 0 & 0& -3 \end{array} \right)$ is similar to $B=\left( \begin{array}{ccc} -2 & 1& 0 \\ -1 & -4& 1 \\ 0 & 0& -3 \end{array} \right),\ A,\ B\in{M(\mathbb{C})}$ or not.

If $a_1/b_1=a_2/b_2=a_3/b_3$ and $p_1,p_2,p_3$ are not all zero, show that for all $n\in\mathbb{N}$, \[ \left(\frac{a_1}{b_1}\right)^n = \frac{p_1a_1^n+p_2a_2^n+p_3a_3^n}{p_1b_1^n+p_2b_2^n+p_3b_3^n}. \]

Let a sequence $\{a_n\}$, $n \in \mathbb{N}^{*}$ given, satisfying the condition \[0 < a_{n+1} - a_n \leq 2001\] for all $n \in \mathbb{N}^{*}$ Show that there are infinitely many pairs of positive integers $(p, q)$ such that $p < q$ and $a_p$ is divisor of $a_q$.

Prove that it is impossible to arrange the numbers $1,2,\ldots,1997$ around a circle in such a way that, if $x$ and $y$ are any two neighboring numbers, then $499\le|x-y|\le997$.

Prove that there exist two functions $f,g \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$, such that $f\circ g$ is strictly decreasing and $g\circ f$ is strictly increasing. [i](Poland) Andrzej Komisarski and Marcin Kuczma[/i]

For any natural number $ n\ge 2, $ define $ m(n) $ to be the minimum number of elements of a set $ S $ that simultaneously satisfy: $ \text{(i)}\quad \{ 1,n\} \subset S\subset \{ 1,2,\ldots ,n\} $ $ \text{(ii)}\quad $ any element of $ S, $ distinct from $ 1, $ is equal to the sum of two (not necessarily distinct) elements from $ S. $ [b]a)[/b] Prove that $ m(n)\ge 1+\left\lfloor \log_2 n \right\rfloor ,\quad\forall n\in\mathbb{N}_{\ge 2} . $ [b]b)[/b] Prove that there are infinitely many natural numbers $ n\ge 2 $ such that $ m(n)=m(n+1). $ $ \lfloor\rfloor $ denotes the usual integer part.

A [i]quadratic[/i] number is a real root of the equations $ax^2 + bx + c = 0$ where $|a|,|b|,|c|\in\{1,2,\ldots,10\}$. Find the smallest positive integer $n$ for which at least one of the intervals$$\left(n-\dfrac{1}{3}, n\right)\quad \text{and}\quad\left(n, n+\dfrac{1}{3}\right)$$does not contain any quadratic number.

Let $f:\mathbb{N}^*\rightarrow \mathbb{N}^*$ be a function such that $\frac{x^3+3x^2f(y)}{x+f(y)}+\frac{y^3+3y^2f(x)}{y+f(x)}=\frac{(x+y)^3}{f(x+y)},~(\forall)x,y\in\mathbb{N}^*.$ $a)$ Prove that $f(1)=1.$ $b)$ Find function $f.$

Let $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_m$ be a finite sequence of positive integers. Prove that there exist nonnegative integers $b,c,$ and $N$ such that $$\left\lfloor \sum_{i=1}^m \sqrt{n+a_i} \right\rfloor =\left\lfloor \sqrt{bn+c} \right\rfloor$$ holds for all integers $n>N.$ [i]Proposed by Carl Schildkraut[/i]

Suppose $r$, $s$, and $t$ are nonzero reals such that the polynomial $x^2 + rx + s$ has $s$ and $t$ as roots, and the polynomial $x^2 + tx + r$ has $5$ as a root. Compute $s$.

Determine all functions $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ that satisfy \[f(f(x)+y)=2x+f(f(y)-x)\quad\text{for all real}\ x,y. \]

Suppose that there are $16$ variables $\{a_{i,j}\}_{0\leq i,j\leq 3}$, each of which may be $0$ or $1$. For how many settings of the variables $a_{i,j}$ do there exist positive reals $c_{i,j}$ such that the polynomial \[f(x,y)=\sum_{0\leq i,j\leq 3}a_{i,j}c_{i,j}x^iy^j\] $(x,y\in\mathbb{R})$ is bounded below?

Let $n\geq 3$ be an integer. Find the number of functions $f:\{1,2,\ldots,n\}\to\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ such that \[ f(f(k)) = f^3(k) - 6f^2(k) + 12f(k) - 6 , \ \textrm{ for all } k \geq 1 . \]

Given a polynomial with integer coefficients $$P(x) = x^{20} + a_{19}x^{19} +... + a_1x + a_0,$$ having $20$ different real roots. Determine the maximum number of roots such a polynomial $P$ can have in the interval $(99, 100)$.

Let $a_1,a_2,...,a_9$ be a sequence of numbers satisfying $0 < p \le a_i \le q$ for each $i = 1,2,..., 9$. Prove that $\frac{a_1}{a_9}+\frac{a_2}{a_8}+...+\frac{a_9}{a_1} \le 1 + \frac{4(p^2+q^2)}{pq}$

In the $xyz$-plane given points $P,\ Q$ on the planes $z=2,\ z=1$ respectively. Let $R$ be the intersection point of the line $PQ$ and the $xy$-plane. (1) Let $P(0,\ 0,\ 2)$. When the point $Q$ moves on the perimeter of the circle with center $(0,\ 0,\ 1)$ , radius 1 on the plane $z=1$, find the equation of the locus of the point $R$. (2) Take 4 points $A(1,\ 1,\ 1) , B(1,-1,\ 1), C(-1,-1,\ 1)$ and $D(-1,\ 1,\ 1)$ on the plane $z=2$. When the point $P$ moves on the perimeter of the circle with center $(0,\ 0,\ 2)$ , radius 1 on the plane $z=2$ and the point $Q$ moves on the perimeter of the square $ABCD$, draw the domain swept by the point $R$ on the $xy$-plane, then find the area.

Do there exist quadratic polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ with real coeffcients such that the polynomial $P(Q(x))$ has precisely the zeros $x = 2, x = 3, x =5$ and $x = 7$?

Let $(f_n) _{n\ge 0}$ be the sequence defined by$ f_0 = 0, f_1 = 1, f_{n + 2 }= f_{n + 1} + f_n$ for $n> 0$ (Fibonacci string) and let $t_n =$ ${n+1}\choose{2}$ for $n \ge 1$ . Prove that: a) $f_1^2+f_2^2+...+f_n^2 = f_n \cdot f_{n+1}$ for $n \ge 1$ b) $\frac{1}{n^2} \cdot \Sigma_{k=1}^{n}\left( \frac{t_k}{f_k}\right)^2 \ge \frac{t_{n+1}^2}{9 f_n \cdot f_{n+1}}$

Can you find three polynomials $P,Q,R$ of three variables $x,y,z$, providing the condition: a)$P(x-y+z)^3 + Q(y-z-1)^3 +R(z-2x+1)^3 = 1$ b)$P(x-y+z)^3 + Q(y-z-1)^3 +R(z-x+1)^3 = 1$ for all $x,y,z$?

Let $x, y, z > 0$ be real numbers such that $xyz + xy + yz + zx = 4$. Prove that $x + y + z \ge 3$.

[i]20 problems for 20 minutes.[/i] [b]p1.[/b] Evaluate $=\frac{1}{2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4}+\frac{1}{3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5}$. [b]p2.[/b] A regular hexagon and a regular $n$-sided polygon have the same perimeter. If the ratio of the side length of the hexagon to the side length of the $n$-sided polygon is $2 : 1$, what is $n$? [b]p3.[/b] How many nonzero digits are there in the decimal representation of $2 \cdot 10\cdot 500 \cdot 2500$? [b]p4.[/b] When the numerator of a certain fraction is increased by $2012$, the value of the fraction increases by $2$. What is the denominator of the fraction? [b]p5.[/b] Sam did the computation $1 - 10 \cdot a + 22$, where $a$ is some real number, except he messed up his order of operations and computed the multiplication last; that is, he found the value of $(1 - 10) \cdot (a + 22)$ instead. Luckily, he still ended up with the right answer. What is $a$? [b]p6.[/b] Let $n! = n \cdot(n-1) \cdot\cdot\cdot 2 \cdot 1$. For how many integers $n$ between $1$ and $100$ inclusive is $n!$ divisible by $36$? [b]p7.[/b] Simplify the expression $\sqrt{\frac{3 \cdot 27^3}{27 \cdot 3^3}}$ [b]p8.[/b] Four points $A,B,C,D$ lie on a line in that order such that $\frac{AB}{CB}=\frac{AD}{CD}$ . Let $M$ be the midpoint of segment $AC$. If $AB = 6$, $BC = 2$, compute $MB \cdot MD$. [b]p9.[/b] Allan has a deck with $8$ cards, numbered $1$, $1$, $2$, $2$, $3$, $3$, $4$, $4$. He pulls out cards without replacement, until he pulls out an even numbered card, and then he stops. What is the probability that he pulls out exactly $2$ cards? [b]p10.[/b] Starting from the sequence $(3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ... )$, one applies the following operation repeatedly. In each operation, we change the sequence $$(a_1, a_2, a_3, ... , a_{a_1-1}, a_{a_1} , a_{a_1+1},...)$$ to the sequence $$(a_2, a_3, ... , a_{a_1} , a_1, a_{a_1+1}, ...) .$$ (In other words, for a sequence starting with$ x$, we shift each of the next $x-1$ term to the left by one, and put x immediately to the right of these numbers, and keep the rest of the terms unchanged. For example, after one operation, the sequence is $(4, 5, 3, 6, 7, 8, ... )$, and after two operations, the sequence becomes $(5, 3, 6, 4, 7, 8,... )$. How many operations will it take to obtain a sequence of the form $(7, ... )$ (that is, a sequence starting with $7$)? [b]p11.[/b] How many ways are there to place $4$ balls into a $4\times 6$ grid such that no column or row has more than one ball in it? (Rotations and reflections are considered distinct.) [b]p12.[/b] Point $P$ lies inside triangle $ABC$ such that $\angle PBC = 30^o$ and $\angle PAC = 20^o$. If $\angle APB$ is a right angle, find the measure of $\angle BCA$ in degrees. [b]p13.[/b] What is the largest prime factor of $9^3 - 4^3$? [b]p14.[/b] Joey writes down the numbers $1$ through $10$ and crosses one number out. He then adds the remaining numbers. What is the probability that the sum is less than or equal to $47$? [b]p15.[/b] In the coordinate plane, a lattice point is a point whose coordinates are integers. There is a pile of grass at every lattice point in the coordinate plane. A certain cow can only eat piles of grass that are at most $3$ units away from the origin. How many piles of grass can she eat? [b]p16.[/b] A book has 1000 pages numbered $1$, $2$, $...$ , $1000$. The pages are numbered so that pages $1$ and $2$ are back to back on a single sheet, pages $3$ and $4$ are back to back on the next sheet, and so on, with pages $999$ and $1000$ being back to back on the last sheet. How many pairs of pages that are back to back (on a single sheet) share no digits in the same position? (For example, pages $9$ and $10$, and pages $89$ and $90$.) [b]p17.[/b] Find a pair of integers $(a, b)$ for which $\frac{10^a}{a!}=\frac{10^b}{b!}$ and $a < b$. [b]p18.[/b] Find all ordered pairs $(x, y)$ of real numbers satisfying $$\begin{cases} -x^2 + 3y^2 - 5x + 7y + 4 = 0 \\ 2x^2 - 2y^2 - x + y + 21 = 0 \end{cases}$$ [b]p19.[/b] There are six blank fish drawn in a line on a piece of paper. Lucy wants to color them either red or blue, but will not color two adjacent fish red. In how many ways can Lucy color the fish? [b]p20.[/b] There are sixteen $100$-gram balls and sixteen $99$-gram balls on a table (the balls are visibly indistinguishable). You are given a balance scale with two sides that reports which side is heavier or that the two sides have equal weights. A weighing is defined as reading the result of the balance scale: For example, if you place three balls on each side, look at the result, then add two more balls to each side, and look at the result again, then two weighings have been performed. You wish to pick out two different sets of balls (from the $32$ balls) with equal numbers of balls in them but different total weights. What is the minimal number of weighings needed to ensure this? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].