This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

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Found problems: 1385

A soccer coach named $C$ does a header drill with two players $A$ and $B$, but they all forgot to put sunscreen on their foreheads. They solve this issue by dunking the ball into a vat of sunscreen before starting the drill. Coach $C$ heads the ball to $A$, who heads the ball back to $C$, who then heads the ball to $B$, who heads the ball back to $C$; this pattern $CACBCACB\ldots\,$ repeats ad infinitum. Each time a person heads the ball, $1/10$ of the sunscreen left on the ball ends up on the person's forehead. In the limit, what fraction of the sunscreen originally on the ball will end up on the coach's forehead?
[b]p1.[/b] What is the maximal number of pieces of two shapes, [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/a/5/6c567cf6a04b0aa9e998dbae3803b6eeb24a35.png[/img] and [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/8/a/7a7754d0f2517c93c5bb931fb7b5ae8f5e3217.png[/img], that can be used to tile a $7\times 7$ square? [b]p2.[/b] Six shooters participate in a shooting competition. Every participant has $5$ shots. Each shot adds from $1$ to $10$ points to shooter’s score. Every person can score totally for all five shots from $5$ to $50$ points. Each participant gets $7$ points for at least one of his shots. The scores of all participants are different. We enumerate the shooters $1$ to $6$ according to their scores, the person with maximal score obtains number $1$, the next one obtains number $2$, the person with minimal score obtains number $6$. What score does obtain the participant number $3$? The total number of all obtained points is $264$. [b]p2.[/b] There are exactly $n$ students in a high school. Girls send messages to boys. The first girl sent messages to $5$ boys, the second to $7$ boys, the third to $6$ boys, the fourth to $8$ boys, the fifth to $7$ boys, the sixth to $9$ boys, the seventh to $8$, etc. The last girl sent messages to all the boys. Prove that $n$ is divisible by $3$. [b]p4.[/b] In what minimal number of triangles can one cut a $25 \times 12$ rectangle in such a way that one can tile by these triangles a $20 \times 15$ rectangle. [b]p5.[/b] There are $2014$ stones in a pile. Two players play the following game. First, player $A$ takes some number of stones (from $1$ to $30$) from the pile, then player B takes $1$ or $2$ stones, then player $A$ takes $2$ or $3$ stones, then player $B$ takes $3$ or $4$ stones, then player A takes $4$ or $5$ stones, etc. The player who gets the last stone is the winner. If no player gets the last stone (there is at least one stone in the pile but the next move is not allowed) then the game results in a draw. Who wins the game using the right strategy? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].
Let $a$, $b$, $n$ be positive integers such that $a + b \leq n^2$. Alice and Bob play a game on an (initially uncoloured) $n\times n$ grid as follows: - First, Alice paints $a$ cells green. - Then, Bob paints $b$ other (i.e.uncoloured) cells blue. Alice wins if she can find a path of non-blue cells starting with the bottom left cell and ending with the top right cell (where a path is a sequence of cells such that any two consecutive ones have a common side), otherwise Bob wins. Determine, in terms of $a$, $b$ and $n$, who has a winning strategy.
To each vertex of a regular pentagon an integer is assigned, so that the sum of all five numbers is positive. If three consecutive vertices are assigned the numbers $x,y,z$ respectively, and $y<0$, then the following operation is allowed: $x,y,z$ are replaced by $x+y,-y,z+y$ respectively. Such an operation is performed repeatedly as long as at least one of the five numbers is negative. Determine whether this procedure necessarily comes to an end after a finite number of steps.
A person is locked in a room with a password-protected computer. If they enter the correct password, the door opens and they are freed. However, the password changes every time it is entered incorrectly. The person knows that the password is always a 10-digit number, and they also know that the password change follows a fixed pattern. This means that if the current password is \( b \) and \( a \) is entered, the new password is \( c \), which is determined by \( b \) and \( a \) (naturally, the person does not know \( c \) or \( b \)). Prove that regardless of the characteristics of this computer, the prisoner can free themselves. Proposed by Reza Tahernejad Karizi
An $ (n, k) \minus{}$ tournament is a contest with $ n$ players held in $ k$ rounds such that: $ (i)$ Each player plays in each round, and every two players meet at most once. $ (ii)$ If player $ A$ meets player $ B$ in round $ i$, player $ C$ meets player $ D$ in round $ i$, and player $ A$ meets player $ C$ in round $ j$, then player $ B$ meets player $ D$ in round $ j$. Determine all pairs $ (n, k)$ for which there exists an $ (n, k) \minus{}$ tournament. [i]Proposed by Carlos di Fiore, Argentina[/i]
Let $n>1$ be a given positive integer. Petro and Vasyl play the following game. They take turns making moves and Petro goes first. In one turn, a player chooses one of the numbers from $1$ to $n$ that wasn't selected before and writes it on the board. The first player after whose turn the product of the numbers on the board will be divisible by $n$ loses. Who wins if every player wants to win? Find answer for each $n>1$. [i]Proposed by Mykhailo Shtandenko, Anton Trygub[/i]
[b]p1.[/b] Prove that no matter what digits are placed in the four empty boxes, the eight-digit number $9999\Box\Box\Box\Box$ is not a perfect square. [b]p2.[/b] Prove that the number $m/3+m^2/2+m^3/6$ is integral for all integral values of $m$. [b]p3.[/b] An elevator in a $100$ store building has only two buttons: UP and DOWN. The UP button makes the elevator go $13$ floors up, and the DOWN button makes it go $8$ floors down. Is it possible to go from the $13$th floor to the $8$th floor? [b]p4.[/b] Cut the triangle shown in the picture into three pieces and rearrange them into a rectangle. (Pieces can not overlap.) [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/4/b/ca707bf274ed54c1b22c4f65d3d0b0a5cfdc56.png[/img] [b]p5.[/b] Two players Tom and Sid play the following game. There are two piles of rocks, $7$ rocks in the first pile and $9$ rocks in the second pile. Each of the players in his turn can take either any amount of rocks from one pile or the same amount of rocks from both piles. The winner is the player who takes the last rock. Who does win in this game if Tom starts the game? [b]p6.[/b] In the next long multiplication example each letter encodes its own digit. Find these digits. $\begin{tabular}{ccccc} & & & a & b \\ * & & & c & d \\ \hline & & c & e & f \\ + & & a & b & \\ \hline & c & f & d & f \\ \end{tabular}$ PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].
Consider $2018$ pairwise crossing circles no three of which are concurrent. These circles subdivide the plane into regions bounded by circular $edges$ that meet at $vertices$. Notice that there are an even number of vertices on each circle. Given the circle, alternately colour the vertices on that circle red and blue. In doing so for each circle, every vertex is coloured twice- once for each of the two circle that cross at that point. If the two colours agree at a vertex, then it is assigned that colour; otherwise, it becomes yellow. Show that, if some circle contains at least $2061$ yellow points, then the vertices of some region are all yellow. Proposed by [i]India[/i]
We define a [i]chessboard polygon[/i] to be a polygon whose sides are situated along lines of the form $ x \equal{} a$ or $ y \equal{} b$, where $ a$ and $ b$ are integers. These lines divide the interior into unit squares, which are shaded alternately grey and white so that adjacent squares have different colors. To tile a chessboard polygon by dominoes is to exactly cover the polygon by non-overlapping $ 1 \times 2$ rectangles. Finally, a [i]tasteful tiling[/i] is one which avoids the two configurations of dominoes shown on the left below. Two tilings of a $ 3 \times 4$ rectangle are shown; the first one is tasteful, while the second is not, due to the vertical dominoes in the upper right corner. [asy]size(300); pathpen = linewidth(2.5); void chessboard(int a, int b, pair P){ for(int i = 0; i < a; ++i) for(int j = 0; j < b; ++j) if((i+j) % 2 == 1) fill(shift(P.x+i,P.y+j)*unitsquare,rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6)); D(P--P+(a,0)--P+(a,b)--P+(0,b)--cycle); } chessboard(2,2,(2.5,0));fill(unitsquare,rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6));fill(shift(1,1)*unitsquare,rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6)); chessboard(4,3,(6,0)); chessboard(4,3,(11,0)); MP("\mathrm{Distasteful\ tilings}",(2.25,3),fontsize(12)); /* draw lines */ D((0,0)--(2,0)--(2,2)--(0,2)--cycle); D((1,0)--(1,2)); D((2.5,1)--(4.5,1)); D((7,0)--(7,2)--(6,2)--(10,2)--(9,2)--(9,0)--(9,1)--(7,1)); D((8,2)--(8,3)); D((12,0)--(12,2)--(11,2)--(13,2)); D((13,1)--(15,1)--(14,1)--(14,3)); D((13,0)--(13,3));[/asy] a) Prove that if a chessboard polygon can be tiled by dominoes, then it can be done so tastefully. b) Prove that such a tasteful tiling is unique.
[b]p1.[/b] Two robots race on the plane from $(0, 0)$ to $(a, b)$, where $a$ and $b$ are positive real numbers with $a < b$. The robots move at the same constant speed. However, the first robot can only travel in directions parallel to the lines $x = 0$ or $y = 0$, while the second robot can only travel in directions parallel to the lines $y = x$ or $y = -x$. Both robots take the shortest possible path to $(a, b)$ and arrive at the same time. Find the ratio $\frac{a}{b}$ . [b]p2.[/b] Suppose $x + \frac{1}{x} + y + \frac{1}{y} = 12$ and $x^2 + \frac{1}{x^2} + y^2 + \frac{1}{y^2} = 70$. Compute $x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3} + y^3 + \frac{1}{y^3}$. [b]p3.[/b] Find the largest non-negative integer $a$ such that $2^a$ divides $$3^{2^{2018}}+ 3.$$ [b]p4.[/b] Suppose $z$ and $w$ are complex numbers, and $|z| = |w| = z \overline{w}+\overline{z}w = 1$. Find the largest possible value of $Re(z + w)$, the real part of $z + w$. [b]p5.[/b] Two people, $A$ and $B$, are playing a game with three piles of matches. In this game, a move consists of a player taking a positive number of matches from one of the three piles such that the number remaining in the pile is equal to the nonnegative difference of the numbers of matches in the other two piles. $A$ and $B$ each take turns making moves, with $A$ making the first move. The last player able to make a move wins. Suppose that the three piles have $10$, $x$, and $30$ matches. Find the largest value of $x$ for which $A$ does not have a winning strategy. [b]p6.[/b] Let $A_1A_2A_3A_4A_5A_6$ be a regular hexagon with side length $1$. For $n = 1$,$...$, $6$, let $B_n$ be a point on the segment $A_nA_{n+1}$ chosen at random (where indices are taken mod $6$, so $A_7 = A_1$). Find the expected area of the hexagon $B_1B_2B_3B_4B_5B_6$. [b]p7.[/b] A termite sits at the point $(0, 0, 0)$, at the center of the octahedron $|x| + |y| + |z| \le 5$. The termite can only move a unit distance in either direction parallel to one of the $x$, $y$, or $z$ axes: each step it takes moves it to an adjacent lattice point. How many distinct paths, consisting of $5$ steps, can the termite use to reach the surface of the octahedron? [b]p8.[/b] Let $$P(x) = x^{4037} - 3 - 8 \cdot \sum^{2018}_{n=1}3^{n-1}x^n$$ Find the number of roots $z$ of $P(x)$ with $|z| > 1$, counting multiplicity. [b]p9.[/b] How many times does $01101$ appear as a not necessarily contiguous substring of $0101010101010101$? (Stated another way, how many ways can we choose digits from the second string, such that when read in order, these digits read $01101$?) [b]p10.[/b] A perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its proper positive divisors, that is, the sum of its positive divisors excluding the number itself. For example, $28$ is a perfect number because $1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28$. Let $n_i$ denote the ith smallest perfect number. Define $$f(x) =\sum_{i|n_x}\sum_{j|n_i}\frac{1}{j}$$ (where $\sum_{i|n_x}$ means we sum over all positive integers $i$ that are divisors of $n_x$). Compute $f(2)$, given there are at least $50 $perfect numbers. [b]p11.[/b] Let $O$ be a circle with chord $AB$. The perpendicular bisector to $AB$ is drawn, intersecting $O$ at points $C$ and $D$, and intersecting $AB$ at the midpoint $E$. Finally, a circle $O'$ with diameter $ED$ is drawn, and intersects the chord $AD$ at the point $F$. Given $EC = 12$, and $EF = 7$, compute the radius of $O$. [b]p12.[/b] Suppose $r$, $s$, $t$ are the roots of the polynomial $x^3 - 2x + 3$. Find $$\frac{1}{r^3 - 2}+\frac{1}{s^3 - 2}+\frac{1}{t^3 - 2}.$$ [b]p13.[/b] Let $a_1$, $a_2$,..., $a_{14}$ be points chosen independently at random from the interval $[0, 1]$. For $k = 1$, $2$,$...$, $7$, let $I_k$ be the closed interval lying between $a_{2k-1}$ and $a_{2k}$ (from the smaller to the larger). What is the probability that the intersection of $I_1$, $I_2$,$...$, $I_7$ is nonempty? [b]p14.[/b] Consider all triangles $\vartriangle ABC$ with area $144\sqrt3$ such that $$\frac{\sin A \sin B \sin C}{ \sin A + \sin B + \sin C}=\frac14.$$ Over all such triangles $ABC$, what is the smallest possible perimeter? [b]p15.[/b] Let $N$ be the number of sequences $(x_1,x_2,..., x_{2018})$ of elements of $\{1, 2,..., 2019\}$, not necessarily distinct, such that $x_1 + x_2 + ...+ x_{2018}$ is divisible by $2018$. Find the last three digits of $N$. PS. You had better use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].
Let $n\geq 3$ be a positive integer. Alice and Bob are playing a game in which they take turns colouring the vertices of a regular $n$-gon. Alice plays the first move. Initially, no vertex is coloured. Both players start the game with $0$ points. In their turn, a player colours a vertex $V$ which has not been coloured and gains $k$ points where $k$ is the number of already coloured neighbouring vertices of $V$. (Thus, $k$ is either $0$, $1$ or $2$.) The game ends when all vertices have been coloured and the player with more points wins; if they have the same number of points, no one wins. Determine all $n\geq 3$ for which Alice has a winning strategy and all $n\geq 3$ for which Bob has a winning strategy.
Two players are playing a game with $n$ pieces. At each turn, the player takes $2^i$ pieces where $i \geq 0$. The player who takes the last piece will win the game. If the game is played for each $n=1000, 2000, 2011, 3000, 4000$ once, in how many of them the first player can guarantee to win? $\textbf{(A)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None}$
Given a cube and two colours. Two players paint in turn a triple of arbitrary unpainted edges with his colour. (Everyone makes two moves.) The first wins if he has painted all the edges of some face with his colour. Can he always win?
Mr. Ganzgenau would like to take his tea mug out of the microwave right at the front. But Mr. Ganzgenau's microwave doesn't really want to be very precise play along. To be precise, the two of them play the following game: Let $n$ be a positive integer. The turntable of the microwave makes one in $n$ seconds full turn. Each time the microwave is switched on, an integer number of seconds turned either clockwise or counterclockwise so that there are n possible positions in which the tea mug can remain. One of these positions is right up front. At the beginning, the microwave turns the tea mug to one of the $n$ possible positions. After that Mr. Ganzgenau enters an integer number of seconds in each move, and the microwave decides either clockwise or counterclockwise this number of spin for seconds. For which $n$ can Mr. Ganzgenau force the tea cup after a finite number of puffs to be able to take it out of the microwave right up front? (Birgit Vera Schmidt) [hide=original wording, in case it doesn't make much sense]Herr Ganzgenau möchte sein Teehäferl ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle herausnehmen. Die Mikrowelle von Herrn Ganzgenau möchte da aber so ganz genau gar nicht mitspielen. Ganz genau gesagt spielen die beiden das folgende Spiel: Sei n eine positive ganze Zahl. In n Sekunden macht der Drehteller der Mikrowelle eine vollständige Umdrehung. Bei jedem Einschalten der Mikrowelle wird eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn gedreht, sodass es n mögliche Positionen gibt, auf denen das Teehäferl stehen bleiben kann. Eine dieser Positionen ist ganz genau vorne. Zu Beginn dreht die Mikrowelle das Teehäferl auf eine der n möglichen Positionen. Danach gibt Herr Ganzgenau in jedem Zug eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden ein, und die Mikrowelle entscheidet, entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn diese Anzahl von Sekunden lang zu drehen. Für welche n kann Herr Ganzgenau erzwingen, das Teehäferl nach endlich vielen Zügen ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle nehmen zu können? (Birgit Vera Schmidt) [/hide]
All positive divisors of a positive integer $N$ are written on a blackboard. Two players $A$ and $B$ play the following game taking alternate moves. In the firt move, the player $A$ erases $N$. If the last erased number is $d$, then the next player erases either a divisor of $d$ or a multiple of $d$. The player who cannot make a move loses. Determine all numbers $N$ for which $A$ can win independently of the moves of $B$. [i](4th Middle European Mathematical Olympiad, Individual Competition, Problem 2)[/i]
Two pupils $A$ and $B$ play the following game. They begin with a pile of $1998$ matches and $A$ plays first. A player who is on turn must take a nonzero square number of matches from the pile. The winner is the one who makes the last move. Decide who has the winning strategy and give one such strategy.
Chris and Michael play a game on a board which is a rhombus of side length $n$ (a positive integer) consisting of two equilateral triangles, each of which has been divided into equilateral triangles of side length $ 1$. Each has a single token, initially on the leftmost and rightmost squares of the board, called the “home” squares (the illustration shows the case $n = 4$). [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/b/8135203c22ce77c03c144850099ad1c575edb8.png[/img] A move consists of moving your token to an adjacent triangle (two triangles are adjacent only if they share a side). To win the game, you must either capture your opponent’s token (by moving to the triangle it occupies), or move on to your opponent’s home square. Supposing that Chris moves first, which, if any, player has a winning strategy?
Ahmad and Salem play the following game. Ahmad writes two integers (not necessarily different) on a board. Salem writes their sum and product. Ahmad does the same thing: he writes the sum and product of the two numbers which Salem has just written. They continue in this manner, not stopping unless the two players write the same two numbers one after the other (for then they are stuck!). The order of the two numbers which each player writes is not important. Thus if Ahmad starts by writing $3$ and $-2$, the first five moves (or steps) are as shown: (a) Step 1 (Ahmad) $3$ and $-2$ (b) Step 2 (Salem) $1$ and $-6$ (c) Step 3 (Ahmad) $-5$ and $-6$ (d) Step 4 (Salem) $-11$ and $30$ (e) Step 5 (Ahmad) $19$ and $-330$ (i) Describe all pairs of numbers that Ahmad could write, and ensure that Salem must write the same numbers, and so the game stops at step 2. (ii) What pair of integers should Ahmad write so that the game finishes at step 4? (iii) Describe all pairs of integers which Ahmad could write at step 1, so that the game will finish after finitely many steps. (iv) Ahmad and Salem decide to change the game. The first player writes three numbers on the board, $u, v$ and $w$. The second player then writes the three numbers $u + v + w,uv + vw + wu$ and $uvw$, and they proceed as before, taking turns, and using this new rule describing how to work out the next three numbers. If Ahmad goes first, determine all collections of three numbers which he can write down, ensuring that Salem has to write the same three numbers at the next step.
A point in the cartesian plane with integer coordinates is called a lattice point. Consider the following one player game. A finite set of selected lattice points and finite set of selected segments is called a position in this game if the following hold: (i) The endpoints of each selected segment are lattice points; (ii) Each selected segment is parallel to a coordinate axis or to one of the lines $y = \pm x$, (iii) Each selected segment contains exactly five lattice points, all of which are selected, (iv) Every two selected segments have at most one common point. A move in this game consists of selecting a lattice point and a segment such that the new set of selected lattice points and segments is a position. Prove or disprove that there exists an initial position such that the game can have infinitely many moves.
Ana and Natalia alternately play on a $ n \times n$ board (Ana rolls first and $n> 1$). At the beginning, Ana's token is placed in the upper left corner and Natalia's in the lower right corner. A turn consists of moving the corresponding piece in any of the four directions (it is not allowed to move diagonally), without leaving the board. The winner is whoever manages to place their token on the opponent's token. Determine if either of them can secure victory after a finite number of turns.
$2002$ cards with numbers $1,2,\ldots ,2002$ written on them are put on a table face up. Two players $A,B$ take turns to pick up a card until all are gone. $A$ goes first. The player who gets the last digit of the sum of his cards larger than his opponent wins. Who has a winning strategy and how should one play to win?
There are 2019 cards in a box. Each card has a number written on one of its sides and a letter on the other side. Amy and Ben play the following game: in the beginning Amy takes all the cards, places them on a line and then she flips as many cards as she wishes. Each time Ben touches a card he has to flip it and its neighboring cards. Ben is allowed to have as many as 2019 touches. Ben wins if all the cards are on the numbers' side, otherwise Amy wins. Determine who has a winning strategy.
A round robin tournament is held with $2016$ participants. Each round, after seeing the results from the previous round, the tournament organizer chooses two players to play a game with each other that will result in a win for one of the players and a loss for the other. The tournament organizer wants each person to have a different total number of wins at the end of $k$ rounds. Find the minimum possible value of $k$ for which this can always be guaranteed. [i]Proposed by Nathan Ramesh
Alice and Bob play a game on a complete graph $G$ with $2014$ vertices. They take moves in turn with Alice beginning. At each move Alice directs one undirected edge of $G$. At each move Bob chooses a positive integer number $m,$ $1 \le m \le 1000$ and after that directs $m$ undirected edges of $G$. The game ends when all edges are directed. If there is some directed cycle in $G$ Alice wins. Determine whether Alice has a winning strategy.