Consider pairs of the sequences of positive real numbers \[a_1\geq a_2\geq a_3\geq\cdots,\qquad b_1\geq b_2\geq b_3\geq\cdots\] and the sums \[A_n = a_1 + \cdots + a_n,\quad B_n = b_1 + \cdots + b_n;\qquad n = 1,2,\ldots.\] For any pair define $c_n = \min\{a_i,b_i\}$ and $C_n = c_1 + \cdots + c_n$, $n=1,2,\ldots$. (1) Does there exist a pair $(a_i)_{i\geq 1}$, $(b_i)_{i\geq 1}$ such that the sequences $(A_n)_{n\geq 1}$ and $(B_n)_{n\geq 1}$ are unbounded while the sequence $(C_n)_{n\geq 1}$ is bounded? (2) Does the answer to question (1) change by assuming additionally that $b_i = 1/i$, $i=1,2,\ldots$? Justify your answer.

Let $R$ be the set of real numbers and $f : R \to R$ be a function that satisfies: $$f(xy) + y + f(x + f(y)) = (y + 1)f(x),$$ for all real numbers $x, y$. a) Determine the value of $f(0)$. b) Prove that $f(x) = 2-x$ for every real number $x$.

Prove that for all $a,b,c \in \mathbb{R}^+_0$ we have \[\frac{a}{bc}+\frac{b}{ac}+\frac{c}{ab} \ge \frac2a+\frac2b-\frac2c\] and determine when equality occurs.

Let $n$ be a fixed positive integer. Find the maximum possible value of \[ \sum_{1 \le r < s \le 2n} (s-r-n)x_rx_s, \] where $-1 \le x_i \le 1$ for all $i = 1, \cdots , 2n$.

Find all sets of four real numbers $x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4$ such that the sum of any one and the product of the other three is equal to 2.

Given $v = (a,b,c,d) \in \mathbb{N}^4$, let $\Delta^{1} (v) = (|a-b|,|b-c|,|c-d|,|d-a|)$ and $\Delta^{k} (v) = \Delta(\Delta^{k-1} (v))$ for $k > 1$. Define $f(v) = \min\{k \in \mathbb{N} : \Delta^k (v) = (0,0,0,0)\}$ and $\max(v) = \max\{a,b,c,d\}.$ Show that $f(v) < 1000\log \max(v)$ for all sufficiently large $v$ and $f(v) > 0.001 \log \max (v)$ for infinitely many $v$.

Let $f$ be a function defined from $((x,y) : x,y$ real, $xy\ne 0)$ to the set of all positive real numbers such that $ (i) f(xy,z)= f(x,z)\cdot f(y,z)$ for all $x,y \ne 0$ $ (ii) f(x,yz)= f(x,y)\cdot f(x,z)$ for all $x,y \ne 0$ $ (iii) f(x,1-x) = 1 $ for all $x \ne 0,1$ Prove that $ (a) f(x,x) = f(x,-x) = 1$ for all $x \ne 0$ $(b) f(x,y)\cdot f(y,x) = 1 $ for all $x,y \ne 0$ The condition (ii) was left out in the paper leading to an incomplete problem during contest.

In a video game, there is a board divided into squares, with $27$ rows and $27$ columns. The squares are painted alternately in black, gray and white as follows: $\bullet$ in the first row, the first square is black, the next is gray, the next is white, the next is black, and so on; $\bullet$ in the second row, the first is white, the next is black, the next is gray, the next is white, and so on; $\bullet$ in the third row, the order would be gray-white-black-gray and so on; $\bullet$ the fourth row is painted the same as the first, the fifth the same as the second, $\bullet$ the sixth the same as the third, and so on. In the box in row $i$ and column $j$, there are $ij$ coins. For example, in the box in row $15$ and column $20$ there are $(15) (20) = 300$ coins. Verify that in total there are, in the black squares, $9^2 (13^2 + 14^2 + 15^2)$ coins.

Let $a,b,c \ge 0$. Prove that $$\frac{(1+a^2)(1+b^2)(1+c^2)}{(1+a)(1+b)(1+c)}\ge \frac12 (1+abc)$$

Let $a, b, c, d, e$ and $f$ be some numbers, and $ a \cdot c \cdot e \ne 0$.It is known that the values of the expressions $|ax+b|+|cx+d| $and $|ex+f|$ equal at all values of $x$. Prove that $ad = bc$.

Given are the real numbers $x_1,x_2,...,x_n$ and $t_1,t_2,...,t_n$ for which holds: $\sum_{i=1}^n x_i = 0$. Prove that $$\sum_{i=1}^n \left( \sum_{j=1}^n (t_i-t_j)^2x_ix_j \right)\le 0.$$

Bucket $A$ contains 3 litres of syrup. Bucket $B$ contains $n$ litres of water. Bucket $C$ is empty. We can perform any combination of the following operations: - Pour away the entire amount in bucket $X$, - Pour the entire amount in bucket $X$ into bucket $Y$, - Pour from bucket $X$ into bucket $Y$ until buckets $Y$ and $Z$ contain the same amount. [b](a)[/b] How can we obtain 10 litres of 30% syrup if $n = 20$? [b](b)[/b] Determine all possible values of $n$ for which the task in (a) is possible.

The positive real numbers $a, b, c$ satisfy the equality $a + b + c = 1$. For every natural number $n$ find the minimal possible value of the expression $$E=\frac{a^{-n}+b}{1-a}+\frac{b^{-n}+c}{1-b}+\frac{c^{-n}+a}{1-c}$$

Prove that for all $ n\ge 2 $ natural numbers there exist $ a_n\in\mathbb{Q} $ such that $$ X^{2n}+a_nX^n+1\Huge\vdots X^2+\frac{1}{2}X+1, $$ and that there isn´t any $ a_n\in\mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q} $ with this property.

Let $P$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients. Suppose that for $n=1,2,3,\ldots ,1998$ the number $P(n)$ is a three-digit positive integer. Prove that the polynomial $P$ has no integer roots.

We distribute $n\ge1$ labelled balls among nine persons $A,B,C, \dots , I$. How many ways are there to do this so that $A$ gets the same number of balls as $B,C,D$ and $E$ together?

Let $a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4, a_5$ be non-negative real numbers satisfied \[\sum_{k = 1}^{5} a_k = 20 \ \ \ \ \text{and} \ \ \ \ \sum_{k=1}^{5} a_k^2 = 100\] Find the minimum and maximum of $\text{max} \{a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4, a_5\}$

One considers the positive integers $a < b \leq c < d $ such that $ad=bc$ and $\sqrt d - \sqrt a \leq 1 $. Prove that $a$ is a perfect square.

Show that for each non-negative integer $n$ there are unique non-negative integers $x$ and $y$ such that we have \[n=\frac{(x+y)^2+3x+y}{2}.\]

For each positive integer $n$, let $I_n$ denote the number of integers $p$ for which $50^n<7^p<50^{n+1}$. (a) Prove that, for each $n$, $I_n$ is either $2$ or $3$. (b) Prove that $I_n=3$ for infinitely many $n\in\mathbb N$, and find at least one such $n$.

A sequence $(a_n)$ is defined recursively by $a_1=0, a_2=1$ and for $n\ge 3$, \[a_n=\frac12na_{n-1}+\frac12n(n-1)a_{n-2}+(-1)^n\left(1-\frac{n}{2}\right).\] Find a closed-form expression for $f_n=a_n+2\binom{n}{1}a_{n-1}+3\binom{n}{2}a_{n-2}+\ldots +(n-1)\binom{n}{n-2}a_2+n\binom{n}{n-1}a_1$.

The function $f: \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}$ is called [i]“Sozopolian”[/i], if it satisfies the following two properties: For each two $x,y\in \mathbb{Z}$ which aren’t multiples of 17 the number $f(xy)-f(x)-f(y)$ is divisible by 8; For $\forall x\in \mathbb{Z}$ the number $f(x+17)-f(x)$ is divisible by 8. Does there exist a [i]Sozopolian[/i] function for which a) $f(2)=1; \quad$ b) $f(3)=1$?

Find all values of $a$ for which the inequality $$a^2x^2 + y^2 + z^2 \ge ayz+xy+xz$$ holds for all $x$, $y$ and $z$.

A function $f$ is defined on the set of all real numbers except $0$ and takes all real values except $1$. It is also known that $\color{white}\ . \ \color{black}\ \quad f(xy)=f(x)f(-y)-f(x)+f(y)$ for any $x,y\not= 0$ and that $\color{white}\ . \ \color{black}\ \quad f(f(x))=\frac{1}{f(\frac{1}{x})}$ for any $x\not\in\{ 0,1\}$. Determine all such functions $f$.

Let $k$ be a positive number and $P$ a Polynomio with integer coeficients. Prove that exists a $n$ positive integer such that: $P(1)+P(2)+\dots+P(N)$ is divisible by $k$.