In a $44\times 44$ board, some of the cells are blue, and the rest are red. No blue cells borders another blue cell on the side. The red cells, on the other hand, form a connected component (one may get from any red cell to any other red cell only by traversing edge-adjacent red cells). Prove that less than one third of the cells on the board are blue. [i]Proposed by B. Frenkin[/i]

Given 2005 distinct numbers $a_1,\,a_2,\dots,a_{2005}$. By one question, we may take three different indices $1\le i<j<k\le 2005$ and find out the set of numbers $\{a_i,\,a_j,\,a_k\}$ (unordered, of course). Find the minimal number of questions, which are necessary to find out all numbers $a_i$.

In a room, there are $100$ light switches, labeled with the positive integers ${1,2, . . . ,100}$. They’re all initially turned off. On the $i$ th day for $1 \le i \le 100$, Bob flips every light switch with label number $k$ divisible by $i$ a total of $\frac{k}{i}$ times. Find the sum of the labels of the light switches that are turned on at the end of the $100$th day.

Midori and Momoi are arguing over chores. Each of $5$ chores may either be done by Midori, done by Momoi, or put off for tomorrow. Today, each of them must complete at least one chore, and more than half of the chores must be completed. How many ways can they assign chores for today? (The order in which chores are completed does not matter.)

Zeroes and ones are arranged in all the squares of $n\times n$ table. All the squares of the left column are filled by ones, and the sum of numbers in every figure of the form [asy]size(50); draw((2,1)--(0,1)--(0,2)--(2,2)--(2,0)--(1,0)--(1,2));[/asy] (consisting of a square and its neighbours from left and from below) is even. Prove that no two rows of the table are identical. [i]Proposed by O. Vanyushina[/i]

A non-empty set $ S$ of positive integers is said to be [i]good[/i] if there is a coloring with $ 2008$ colors of all positive integers so that no number in $ S$ is the sum of two different positive integers (not necessarily in $ S$) of the same color. Find the largest value $ t$ can take so that the set $ S\equal{}\{a\plus{}1,a\plus{}2,a\plus{}3,\ldots,a\plus{}t\}$ is good, for any positive integer $ a$. [hide="P.S."]I have the feeling that I've seen this problem before, so if I'm right, maybe someone can post some links...[/hide]

$n, k$ are positive integers. $A_0$ is the set $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$. $A_i$ is a randomly chosen subset of $A_{i-1}$ (with each subset having equal probability). Show that the expected number of elements of $A_k$ is $\dfrac{n}{2^k}$

Let $n$ be a fixed positive integer. Ben is playing a computer game. The computer picks a tree $T$ such that no vertex of $T$ has degree $2$ and such that $T$ has exactly $n$ leaves, labeled $v_1,\ldots, v_n$. The computer then puts an integer weight on each edge of $T$, and shows Ben neither the tree $T$ nor the weights. Ben can ask queries by specifying two integers $1\leq i < j \leq n$, and the computer will return the sum of the weights on the path from $v_i$ to $v_j$. At any point, Ben can guess whether the tree's weights are all zero. He wins the game if he is correct, and loses if he is incorrect. (a) Show that if Ben asks all $\binom n2$ possible queries, then he can guarantee victory. (b) Does Ben have a strategy to guarantee victory in less than $\binom n2$ queries? [i]Brandon Wang[/i]

A point $(x,y)$ is a [i]lattice point[/i] if $x,y\in\Bbb Z$. Let $E=\{(x,y):x,y\in\Bbb Z\}$. In the coordinate plane, $P$ and $Q$ are both sets of points in and on the boundary of a convex polygon with vertices on lattice points. Let $T=P\cap Q$. Prove that if $T\ne\emptyset$ and $T\cap E=\emptyset$, then $T$ is a non-degenerate convex quadrilateral region.

Given are two positive integers $k$ and $n$ with $k \le n \le 2k - 1$. Julian has a large stack of rectangular $k \times 1$ tiles. Merlin calls a positive integer $m$ and receives $m$ tiles from Julian to place on an $n \times n$ board. Julian first writes on every tile whether it should be a horizontal or a vertical tile. Tiles may be used the board should not overlap or protrude. What is the largest number $m$ that Merlin can call if he wants to make sure that he has all tiles according to the rule of Julian can put on the plate?

There are $n\geq 2$ people at a meeting. Show that there exist two people at the meeting who have the same number of friends among the persons at the meeting. (It is assumed that if $A$ is a friend of $B,$ then $B$ is a friend of $A;$ moreover, nobody is his own friend.)

$162$ pluses and $144$ minuses are placed in a $30\times 30$ table in such a way that each row and each column contains at most $17$ signs. (No cell contains more than one sign.) For every plus we count the number of minuses in its row and for every minus we count the number of pluses in its column. Find the maximum of the sum of these numbers.

Is it possible to divide a $6 \times 6$ chessboard into $18$ rectangles, each either $1 \times 2$ or $2 \times 1$, and to draw exactly one diagonal on each rectangle such that no two of these diagonals have a common endpoint? (A Shapovalov)

Peter writes a positive integer on the whiteboard. Each minute Basil multiplies the last written number by 2 or by 3 and writes the product on the whiteboard too. Can Peter choose the starting integer such that, irrespective of Basil's strategy, at any given moment the number of integers on the whiteboard starting with 1 or 2 would exceed the number of the ones starting with 7, 8 or 9 ? Maxim Didin

In a tennis tournament of $10$ players, everyone played against everyone once. In this tournament, if player $i$ won the match against player $j$, then the total number of matches $i$ lost plus the total number of matches $j$ won is greater than or equal to $8$. We will say that three players $i$, $j$, $k$ form an [i]atypical tri[/i]o if $i$ beat $j$, $j$ beat $k$ and $k$ beat $i$. Prove that in the tournament there were exactly $40$ atypical trios.

Cynthia loves Pokemon and she wants to catch them all. In Victory Road, there are a total of $80$ Pokemon. Cynthia wants to catch as many of them as possible. However, she cannot catch any two Pokemon that are enemies with each other. After exploring around for a while, she makes the following two observations: 1. Every Pokemon in Victory Road is enemies with exactly two other Pokemon. 2. Due to her inability to catch Pokemon that are enemies with one another, the maximum number of the Pokemon she can catch is equal to $n$. What is the sum of all possible values of $n$?

Three schools have $200$ students each. Every student has at least one friend in each school (if the student $a$ is a friend of the student $b$ then $b$ is a friend of $a$). It is known that there exists a set $E$ of $300$ students (among the $600$) such that for any school $S$ and any two students $x,y\in E$ but not in $S$, the number of friends in $S$ of $x$ and $y$ are different. Show that one can find a student in each school such that they are friends with each other.

A teacher and her 30 students play a game on an infinite cell grid. The teacher starts first, then each of the 30 students makes a move, then the teacher and so on. On one move the person can color one unit segment on the grid. A segment cannot be colored twice. The teacher wins if, after the move of one of the 31 players, there is a $1\times 2$ or $2\times 1$ rectangle , such that each segment from it's border is colored, but the segment between the two adjacent squares isn't colored. Prove that the teacher can win.

[b]p1.[/b] Give a fake proof that $0 = 1$ on the back of this page. The most convincing answer to this question at this test site will receive a point. [b]p2.[/b] It is often said that once you assume something false, anything can be derived from it. You may assume for this question that $0 = 1$, but you can only use other statements if they are generally accepted as true or if your prove them from this assumption and other generally acceptable mathematical statements. With this in mind, on the back of this page prove that every number is the same number. [b]p3.[/b] Suppose you write out all integers between $1$ and $1000$ inclusive. (The list would look something like $1$, $2$, $3$, $...$ , $10$, $11$, $...$ , $999$, $1000$.) Which digit occurs least frequently? [b]p4.[/b] Pick a real number between $0$ and $1$ inclusive. If your response is $r$ and the standard deviation of all responses at this site to this question is $\sigma$, you will receive $r(1 - (r - \sigma)^2)$ points. [b]p5.[/b] Find the sum of all possible values of $x$ that satisfy $243^{x+1} = 81^{x^2+2x}$. [b]p6.[/b] How many times during the day are the hour and minute hands of a clock aligned? [b]p7.[/b] A group of $N + 1$ students are at a math competition. All of them are wearing a single hat on their head. $N$ of the hats are red; one is blue. Anyone wearing a red hat can steal the blue hat, but in the process that person’s red hat disappears. In fact, someone can only steal the blue hat if they are wearing a red hat. After stealing it, they would wear the blue hat. Everyone prefers the blue hat over a red hat, but they would rather have a red hat than no hat at all. Assuming that everyone is perfectly rational, find the largest prime $N$ such that nobody will ever steal the blue hat. [b]p8.[/b] On the back of this page, prove there is no function f$(x)$ for which there exists a (finite degree) polynomial $p(x)$ such that $f(x) = p(x)(x + 3) + 8$ and $f(3x) = 2f(x)$. [b]p9.[/b] Given a cyclic quadrilateral $YALE$ with $Y A = 2$, $AL = 10$, $LE = 11$, $EY = 5$, what is the area of $YALE$? [b]p10.[/b] About how many pencils are made in the U.S. every year? If your answer to this question is $p$, and our (good) estimate is $\rho$, then you will receive $\max(0, 1 -\frac 12 | \log_{10}(p) - \log_{10}(\rho)|)$ points. [b]p11.[/b] The largest prime factor of $520, 302, 325$ has $5$ digits. What is this prime factor? [b]p12.[/b] The previous question was on the individual round from last year. It was one of the least frequently correctly answered questions. The first step to solving the problem and spotting the pattern is to divide $520, 302, 325$ by an appropriate integer. Unfortunately, when solving the problem many people divide it by $n$ instead, and then they fail to see the pattern. What is $n$? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

The numbers $1$ and $2$ are written on an empty blackboard. Whenever the numbers $m$ and $n$ appear on the blackboard the number $m + n + mn$ may be written. Can we obtain : (1) $13121$, (2) $12131$?

Determine all values of $n$ such that it is possible to divide a triangle in $n$ smaller triangles such that there are not three collinear vertices and such that each vertex belongs to the same number of segments.

For a fixed positive integer $n \geq 3$ we are given a $n$ $\times$ $n$ board with all unit squares initially white. We define a [i]floating plus [/i]as a $5$-tuple $(M,L,R,A,B)$ of unit squares such that $L$ is in the same row and left of $M$, $R$ is in the same row and right of $M$, $A$ is in the same column and above $M$ and $B$ is in the same column and below $M$. It is possible for $M$ to form a floating plus with unit squares that are not next to it. Find the largest positive integer $k$ (depending on $n$) such that we can color some $k$ squares black in such a way that there is no black colored floating plus. [i]Authored by Nikola Velov[/i]

We number a hundred blank cards on both sides with the numbers $1$ to $100$. The cards are then stacked in order, with the card with the number $1$ on top. The order of the cards is changed step by step as follows: at the $1$st step the top card is turned around, and is put back on top of the stack (nothing changes, of course), at the $2$nd step the topmost $2$ cards are turned around, and put back on top of the stack, up to the $100$th step, in which the entire stack of $100$ cards is turned around. At the $101$st step, again only the top card is turned around, at the $102$nd step, the top most $2$ cards are turned around, and so on. Show that after a finite number of steps, the cards return to their original positions.

It is known that in a group of $2024$ students each student has at least $1011$ acquaintances among the remaining members of the group. What is more, there exists a student that has at least $1012$ acquaintances in the group. Prove that for every pair of students $X, Y$, there exist students $X_0 = X, X_1, ..., X_{n - 1}, X_n = Y$ in the group such that for every index $i = 0, ..., n - 1$, the students $X_i$ and $X_{i + 1}$ are acquaintances. [i]Proposed by Mirko Petruševski[/i]

For n points \[ P_1;P_2;...;P_n \] in that order on a straight line. We colored each point by 1 in 5 white, red, green, blue, and purple. A coloring is called acceptable if two consecutive points \[ P_i;P_{i+1} (i=1;2;...n-1) \] is the same color or 2 points with at least one of 2 points are colored white. How many ways acceptable color?