Let $k\ge 1$ be a positive integer. We consider $4k$ chips, $2k$ of which are red and $2k$ of which are blue. A sequence of those $4k$ chips can be transformed into another sequence by a so-called move, consisting of interchanging a number (possibly one) of consecutive red chips with an equal number of consecutive blue chips. For example, we can move from $r\underline{bb}br\underline{rr}b$ to $r\underline{rr}br\underline{bb}b$ where $r$ denotes a red chip and $b$ denotes a blue chip. Determine the smallest number $n$ (as a function of $k$) such that starting from any initial sequence of the $4k$ chips, we need at most $n$ moves to reach the state in which the first $2k$ chips are red.

Let $E$ be a family of subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ with the property that for each $A\subset \{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ there exist $B\in F$ such that $\frac{n-d}2\leq |A \bigtriangleup B| \leq \frac{n+d}2$. (where $A \bigtriangleup B = (A\setminus B) \cup (B\setminus A)$ is the symmetric difference). Denote by $f(n,d)$ the minimum cardinality of such a family. a) Prove that if $n$ is even then $f(n,0)\leq n$. b) Prove that if $n-d$ is even then $f(n,d)\leq \lceil \frac n{d+1}\rceil$. c) Prove that if $n$ is even then $f(n,0) = n$

Let $A$ be the set $A = \{ 1,2, \ldots, n\}$. Determine the maximum number of elements of a subset $B\subset A$ such that for all elements $x,y$ from $B$, $x+y$ cannot be divisible by $x-y$. [i]Mircea Lascu, Dorel Mihet[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Consider a triangular array of nonnegative integers as follows: \[ \begin{array}{rccccccccc} \text{Row } 1: &&&&& a_{0,1} &&&& \smallskip\\ \text{Row } 2: &&&& a_{0,2} && a_{1,2} &&& \smallskip\\ &&& \vdots && \vdots && \vdots && \smallskip\\ \text{Row } n-1: && a_{0,n-1} && a_{1,n-1} && \cdots && a_{n-2,n-1} & \smallskip\\ \text{Row } n: & a_{0,n} && a_{1,n} && a_{2,n} && \cdots && a_{n-1,n} \end{array} \] Call such a triangular array [i]stable[/i] if for every $0 \le i < j < k \le n$ we have \[ a_{i,j} + a_{j,k} \le a_{i,k} \le a_{i,j} + a_{j,k} + 1. \] For $s_1, \ldots s_n$ any nondecreasing sequence of nonnegative integers, prove that there exists a unique stable triangular array such that the sum of all of the entries in row $k$ is equal to $s_k$.

Find all functions $f:\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ such that\[f\left(\Big \lceil \frac{f(m)}{n} \Big \rceil\right)=\Big \lceil \frac{m}{f(n)} \Big \rceil\]for all $m,n \in \mathbb{N}$. [i]Proposed by Md. Ashraful Islam Fahim[/i]

At a tourist camp, each person has at least $50$ and at most $100$ friends among the other persons at the camp. Show that one can hand out a t-shirt to every person such that the t-shirts have (at most) $1331$ different colors, and any person has $20$ friends whose t-shirts all have pairwisely different colors.

Let $ n\ge12$ be an integer, and let $ P_1,P_2,...P_n, Q$ be distinct points in a plane. Prove that for some $ i$, at least $ \frac{n}{6}\minus{}1$ of the distances $ P_1P_i,P_2P_i,...P_{i\minus{}1}P_i,P_{i\plus{}1}P_i,...P_nP_i$ are less than $ P_iQ$.

Graphistan has $2011$ cities and Graph Air (GA) is running one-way flights between all pairs of these cities. Determine the maximum possible value of the integer $k$ such that no matter how these flights are arranged it is possible to travel between any two cities in Graphistan riding only GA flights as long as the absolute values of the difference between the number of flights originating and terminating at any city is not more than $k.$

Expanding $(1+0.2)^{1000}$ by the binomial theorem and doing no further manipulation gives \begin{eqnarray*} &\ & \binom{1000}{0}(0.2)^0+\binom{1000}{1}(0.2)^1+\binom{1000}{2}(0.2)^2+\cdots+\binom{1000}{1000}(0.2)^{1000}\\ &\ & = A_0 + A_1 + A_2 + \cdots + A_{1000}, \end{eqnarray*} where $A_k = \binom{1000}{k}(0.2)^k$ for $k = 0,1,2,\ldots,1000$. For which $k$ is $A_k$ the largest?

Let $A$ be a family of subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ such that no member of $A$ is contained in another. Sperner’s Theorem states that $|A|\leq{n\choose{\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor}}$. Find all the families for which the equality holds.

[b]a)[/b] Among the $21$ pairwise distances between the $7$ points of the plane, prove that one and the same number occurs not more than $12$ times. [b]b)[/b] Find a maximum number of times may meet the same number among the $15$ pairwise distances between $6$ points of the plane.

There are $ 1993$ towns in a country, and at least $ 93$ roads going out of each town. It's known that every town can be reached from any other town. Prove that this can always be done with no more than $ 62$ transfers.

[b]Problem 3.[/b] Let $n\geq 3$ is given natural number, and $M$ is the set of the first $n$ primes. For any nonempty subset $X$ of $M$ with $P(X)$ denote the product of its elements. Let $N$ be a set of the kind $\ds\frac{P(A)}{P(B)}$, $A\subset M, B\subset M, A\cap B=\emptyset$ such that the product of any 7 elements of $N$ is integer. What is the maximal number of elements of $N$? [i]Alexandar Ivanov[/i]

Let $k\ge 1$ be a positive integer. We consider $4k$ chips, $2k$ of which are red and $2k$ of which are blue. A sequence of those $4k$ chips can be transformed into another sequence by a so-called move, consisting of interchanging a number (possibly one) of consecutive red chips with an equal number of consecutive blue chips. For example, we can move from $r\underline{bb}br\underline{rr}b$ to $r\underline{rr}br\underline{bb}b$ where $r$ denotes a red chip and $b$ denotes a blue chip. Determine the smallest number $n$ (as a function of $k$) such that starting from any initial sequence of the $4k$ chips, we need at most $n$ moves to reach the state in which the first $2k$ chips are red.

The first number in the following sequence is $1$. It is followed by two $1$'s and two $2$'s. This is followed by three $1$'s, three $2$'s, and three $3$'s. The sequence continues in this fashion. \[1,1,1,2,2,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,\dots.\] Find the $2014$th number in this sequence.

How many four-digit multiples of $8$ are greater than $2008$?

Let $a, b$ and $c$ be real numbers such that $$\lceil a \rceil + \lceil b \rceil + \lceil c \rceil + \lfloor a + b \rfloor + \lfloor b + c \rfloor + \lfloor c + a \rfloor = 2020$$ Prove that $$\lfloor a \rfloor + \lfloor b \rfloor + \lfloor c \rfloor + \lceil a + b + c \rceil \ge 1346$$ Note: $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$, and $\lceil x \rceil$ is the smallest integer greater than or equal to $x$. That is, $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is the unique integer satisfying $\lfloor x \rfloor \le x < \lfloor x \rfloor + 1$, and $\lceil x \rceil$ is the unique integer satisfying $\lceil x \rceil - 1 < x \le \lceil x \rceil$. [i]Proposed by Ariel García[/i]

Let $n\geq 1$ be an integer and let $X$ be a set of $n^2+1$ positive integers such that in any subset of $X$ with $n+1$ elements there exist two elements $x\neq y$ such that $x\mid y$. Prove that there exists a subset $\{x_1,x_2,\ldots, x_{n+1} \} \in X$ such that $x_i \mid x_{i+1}$ for all $i=1,2,\ldots, n$.

Let $a$ and $b$ be two positive integers. Prove that the integer \[a^2+\left\lceil\frac{4a^2}b\right\rceil\] is not a square. (Here $\lceil z\rceil$ denotes the least integer greater than or equal to $z$.) [i]Russia[/i]

Find the greatest natural number $N$ such that, for any arrangement of the numbers $1, 2, \ldots, 400$ in a chessboard $20 \times 20$, there exist two numbers in the same row or column, which differ by at least $N.$

For $m$ a positive integer, let $s(m)$ be the sum of the digits of $m$. For $n\ge 2$, let $f(n)$ be the minimal $k$ for which there exists a set $S$ of $n$ positive integers such that $s\left(\sum_{x\in X} x\right)=k$ for any nonempty subset $X\subset S$. Prove that there are constants $0<C_1<C_2$ with \[C_1 \log_{10} n \le f(n) \le C_2 \log_{10} n.\]

It is known that a certain mechanical balance can measure any object of integer mass anywhere between 1 and 2009 (both included). This balance has $k$ weights of integral values. What is the minimum $k$ for which there exist weights that satisfy this condition?

Let $G$ be a connected simple graph. When we add an edge to $G$ (between two unconnected vertices), then using at most $17$ edges we can reach any vertex from any other vertex. Find the maximum number of edges to be used to reach any vertex from any other vertex in the original graph, i.e. in the graph before we add an edge.

Let $k>1$ be an integer, set $n=2^{k+1}$. Prove that for any positive integers $a_1<a_2<\cdots<a_n$, the number $\prod_{1\leq i<j\leq n}(a_i+a_j)$ has at least $k+1$ different prime divisors.

Given a permutation $(a_{1}, a_{1},...,a_{n})$ of the numbers $1, 2,...,n$ one may interchange any two consecutive "blocks" - that is, one may transform ($a_{1}, a_{2},...,a_{i}$,$\underbrace {a_{i+1},... a_{i+p},}_{A} $ $ \underbrace{a_{i+p+1},...,a_{i+q},}_{B}...,a_{n}) $ into $ (a_{1}, a_{2},...,a_{i},$ $ \underbrace {a_{i+p+1},...,a_{i+q},}_{B} $ $ \underbrace {a_{i+1},... a_{i+p}}_{A}$$,...,a_{n}) $ by interchanging the "blocks" $A$ and $B$. Find the least number of such changes which are needed to transform $(n, n-1,...,1)$ into $(1,2,...,n)$