(a) Let $x$ be a real number with $x \ge 1$. Prove that $x^3 - 5x^2 + 8x - 4 \ge 0$. (b) Let $a, b \ge 1$ real numbers. Find the minimum value of the expression $ab(a + b - 10) + 8(a + b)$. Determine also the real number pairs $(a, b)$ that make this expression equal to this minimum value.

A spy airplane flies on the circle with the centre $A$ and radius $10$ km. Its speed is $1000$ km/h. At a certain moment, a rocket , that has same speed with the airplane, is launched from point $A$ and moves along on the straight line connecting the airplane and point $A$.How long after launch will the rocket hit the plane?

Sketch the graph of $x^3 + xy + y^3 = 3$.

(a) Solve for $\theta\in\mathbb{R}$: $\cos(4\theta) = \cos(3\theta)$ (b) $\cos\left(\frac{2\pi}{7}\right)$, $\cos\left(\frac{4\pi}{7}\right)$ and $\cos\left(\frac{6\pi}{7}\right)$ are the roots of an equation of the form $ax^3+bx^2+cx+d = 0$ where $a, b, c, d$ are integers. Determine $a, b, c$ and $d$.

4.4. Prove that there exists a set X of 1996 positive integers with the following properties: (i) the elements of X are pairwise coprime; (ii) all elements of X and all sums of two or more distinct elements of X are composite numbers

For each positive integer $n$, determine the smallest possible value of the polynomial $$ W_n(x)=x^{2n}+2x^{2n-1}+3x^{2n-2}+\ldots + (2n-1)x^2+2nx. $$

Let \( x \) be a real number. Determine the solution to the following equation: \[ \frac{x^2 + 1}{1} + \frac{x^2 + 2}{2} + \frac{x^2 + 3}{3} + \ldots + \frac{x^2 + 2024}{2024} = 2024 \]

Let $x, y$ and $z$ be rational numbers satisfying $$x^3 + 3y^3 + 9z^3 - 9xyz = 0.$$ Prove that $x = y = z = 0$.

a) Each of the numbers $x_1,x_2,...,x_n$ can be $1, 0$, or $-1$. What is the minimal possible value of the sum of all products of couples of those numbers. b) Each absolute value of the numbers $x_1,x_2,...,x_n$ doesn't exceed $1$. What is the minimal possible value of the sum of all products of couples of those numbers.

(a) FInd the number of complex roots of $Z^6 = Z + \bar{Z}$ (b) Find the number of complex solutions of $Z^n = Z + \bar{Z}$ for $n \in \mathbb{Z}^+$

We say a ring $(A,+,\cdot)$ has property $(P)$ if : \[ \begin{cases} \text{the set } A \text{ has at least } 4 \text{ elements} \\ \text{the element } 1+1 \text{ is invertible}\\ x+x^4=x^2+x^3 \text{ holds for all } x \in A \end{cases} \] a) Prove that if a ring $(A,+,\cdot)$ has property $(P)$, and $a,b \in A$ are distinct elements, such that $a$ and $a+b$ are units, then $1+ab$ is also a unit, but $b$ is not a unit. b) Provide an example of a ring with property $(P)$.

Let $t\ge\frac{1}{2}$ be a real number and $n$ a positive integer. Prove that \[t^{2n}\ge (t-1)^{2n}+(2t-1)^n\]

Let $a, b$ be positive reals such that $a^3 + b^3 = ab + 1$. Prove that \[(a-b)^2 + a + b \geq 2\]

Let $f(x)$ and $g(x)$ be given by $f(x) = \frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{x-2} + \frac{1}{x-4} + \cdots + \frac{1}{x-2018}$ $g(x) = \frac{1}{x-1} + \frac{1}{x-3} + \frac{1}{x-5} + \cdots + \frac{1}{x-2017}$. Prove that $|f(x)-g(x)| >2$ for any non-integer real number $x$ satisfying $0 < x < 2018$.

Let $c$ be a positive real number. Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R}^+\to\mathbb{R}^+$ that satisfy $$x^2f(xf(y))f(x)f(y)=c$$ for all positive reals $x$ and $y$.

a) Consider the function $$f(x,y) = x^2 + xy + y^2$$ Prove that for the every point $(x,y)$ there exist such integers $(m,n)$, that $$f((x-m),(y-n)) \le 1/2$$ b) Let us denote with $g(x,y)$ the least possible value of the $f((x-m),(y-n))$ for all the integers $m,n$. The statement a) was equal to the fact $g(x,y) \le 1/2$. Prove that in fact, $$g(x,y) \le 1/3$$ Find all the points $(x,y)$, where $g(x,y)=1/3$. c) Consider function $$f_a(x,y) = x^2 + axy + y^2 \,\,\, (0 \le a \le 2)$$ Find any $c$ such that $g_a(x,y) \le c$. Try to obtain the closest estimation.

Petya and Vasya play the following game. Petya conceives a polynomial $P(x)$ having integer coefficients. On each move, Vasya pays him a ruble, and calls an integer $a$ of his choice, which has not yet been called by him. Petya has to reply with the number of distinct integer solutions of the equation $P(x)=a$. The game continues until Petya is forced to repeat an answer. What minimal amount of rubles must Vasya pay in order to win? [i](Anant Mudgal)[/i] (Translated from [url=http://sasja.shap.homedns.org/Turniry/TG/index.html]here.[/url])

Quadratic trinomial $f(x)$ is allowed to be replaced by one of the trinomials $x^2f(1+\frac{1}{x})$ or $(x-1)^2f(\frac{1}{x-1})$. With the use of these operations, is it possible to go from $x^2+4x+3$ to $x^2+10x+9$?

Prove that if $f$ is a non-constant real-valued function such that for all real $x$, $f(x+1) + f(x-1) = \sqrt{3} f(x)$, then $f$ is periodic. What is the smallest $p$, $p > 0$ such that $f(x+p) = f(x)$ for all $x$?

Prove that there do not exist polynomials $ P$ and $ Q$ such that \[ \pi(x)\equal{}\frac{P(x)}{Q(x)}\] for all $ x\in\mathbb{N}$.

Consider integers $m\ge 2$ and $n\ge 1$. Show that there is a polynomial $P(x)$ of degree equal to $n$ with integer coefficients such that $P(0),P(1),...,P(n)$ are all perfect powers of $m$ .

Given the integer $n > 1$ and the real number $a > 0$ determine the maximum of $\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} x_i x_{i+1}$ taken over all nonnegative numbers $x_i$ with sum $a.$

After multiplying out and simplifying polynomial $ (x \minus{} 1)(x^2 \minus{} 1)(x^3 \minus{} 1)\cdots(x^{2007} \minus{} 1),$ getting rid of all terms whose powers are greater than $ 2007,$ we acquire a new polynomial $ f(x).$ Find its degree and the coefficient of the term having the highest power. Find the degree of $ f(x) \equal{} (1 \minus{} x)(1 \minus{} x^{2})...(1 \minus{} x^{2007})$ $ (mod$ $ x^{2008}).$

[u]Round 1 [/u] [b]p1.[/b] A small pizza costs $\$4$ and has $6$ slices. A large pizza costs $\$9$ and has $14$ slices. If the MMATHS organizers got at least $400$ slices of pizza (having extra is okay) as cheaply as possible, how many large pizzas did they buy? [b]p2.[/b] Rachel flips a fair coin until she gets a tails. What is the probability that she gets an even number of heads before the tails? [b]p3.[/b] Find the unique positive integer $n$ that satisfies $n! \cdot (n + 1)! = (n + 4)!$. [u]Round 2 [/u] [b]p4.[/b] The Portland Malt Shoppe stocks $10$ ice cream flavors and $8$ mix-ins. A milkshake consists of exactly $1$ flavor of ice cream and between $1$ and $3$ mix-ins. (Mix-ins can be repeated, the number of each mix-in matters, and the order of the mix-ins doesn’t matter.) How many different milkshakes can be ordered? [b]p5.[/b] Find the minimum possible value of the expression $(x)^2 + (x + 3)^4 + (x + 4)^4 + (x + 7)^2$, where $x$ is a real number. [b]p6.[/b] Ralph has a cylinder with height $15$ and volume $\frac{960}{\pi}$ . What is the longest distance (staying on the surface) between two points of the cylinder? [u]Round 3 [/u] [b]p7.[/b] If there are exactly $3$ pairs $(x, y)$ satisfying $x^2 + y^2 = 8$ and $x + y = (x - y)^2 + a$, what is the value of $a$? [b]p8.[/b] If $n$ is an integer between $4$ and $1000$, what is the largest possible power of $2$ that $n^4 - 13n^2 + 36$ could be divisible by? (Your answer should be this power of $2$, not just the exponent.) [b]p9.[/b] Find the sum of all positive integers $n \ge 2$ for which the following statement is true: “for any arrangement of $n$ points in three-dimensional space where the points are not all collinear, you can always find one of the points such that the $n - 1$ rays from this point through the other points are all distinct.” [u]Round 4 [/u] [b]p10.[/b] Donald writes the number $12121213131415$ on a piece of paper. How many ways can he rearrange these fourteen digits to make another number where the digit in every place value is different from what was there before? [b]p11.[/b] A question on Joe’s math test asked him to compute $\frac{a}{b} +\frac34$ , where $a$ and $b$ were both integers. Because he didn’t know how to add fractions, he submitted $\frac{a+3}{b+4}$ as his answer. But it turns out that he was right for these particular values of $a$ and $b$! What is the largest possible value that a could have been? [b]p12.[/b] Christopher has a globe with radius $r$ inches. He puts his finger on a point on the equator. He moves his finger $5\pi$ inches North, then $\pi$ inches East, then $5\pi$ inches South, then $2\pi$ inches West. If he ended where he started, what is the largest possible value of $r$? PS. You should use hide for answers. Rounds 5-7 have be posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c4h2789002p24519497]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Determine all positive integers $n$ satisfying the following condition: for every monic polynomial $P$ of degree at most $n$ with integer coefficients, there exists a positive integer $k\le n$ and $k+1$ distinct integers $x_1,x_2,\cdots ,x_{k+1}$ such that \[P(x_1)+P(x_2)+\cdots +P(x_k)=P(x_{k+1})\]. [i]Note.[/i] A polynomial is [i]monic[/i] if the coefficient of the highest power is one.