Starting with an arbitrary pair (a,b) of vectors on the plane, we are allowed to perform the operations of the following two types: (1) To replace $(a,b)$ with $(a+2kb,b)$ for an arbitrary integer $k \ne 0$; (2) To replace $(a,b)$ with $(a,b+2ka)$ for an arbitrary integer $ k \ne 0$. However, we must change the type of operetion in any step. (a) Is it possible to obtain $((1,0), (2,1))$ from $((1,0), (0,1))$, if the first operation is of the type (1)? (b) Find all pairs of vectors that can be obtained from $((1,0), (0,1))$ (the type of first operation can be selected arbitrarily).

We are given sufficiently many stones of the forms of a rectangle $2\times 1$ and square $1\times 1$. Let $n > 3$ be a natural number. In how many ways can one tile a rectangle $3 \times n$ using these stones, so that no two $2 \times 1$ rectangles have a common point, and each of them has the longer side parallel to the shorter side of the big rectangle?

The audience arranges $n$ coins in a row. The sequence of heads and tails is chosen arbitrarily. The audience also chooses a number between $1$ and $n$ inclusive. Then the assistant turns one of the coins over, and the magician is brought in to examine the resulting sequence. By an agreement with the assistant beforehand, the magician tries to determine the number chosen by the audience. [list][b](a)[/b] Prove that if this is possible for some $n$, then it is also possible for $2n$. [b](b)[/b] Determine all $n$ for which this is possible.[/list]

Sheldon and Bella play a game on an infinite grid of cells. On each of his turns, Sheldon puts one of the following tetrominoes (reflections and rotations aren't permitted) [asy] size(200); draw((0, 0)--(1, 0)--(1, 2)--(0, 2)--cycle); draw((1, 1)--(2, 1)--(2, 3)--(1, 3)--cycle); draw((0,1)--(1,1)); draw((1,2)--(2,2)); draw((5, 0.5)--(6, 0.5)--(6, 1.5)--(5, 1.5)--cycle); draw((6, 0.5)--(7, 0.5)--(7, 1.5)--(6, 1.5)--cycle); draw((6, 1.5)--(7, 1.5)--(7, 2.5)--(6, 2.5)--cycle); draw((7, 1.5)--(8, 1.5)--(8, 2.5)--(7, 2.5)--cycle); [/asy] somewhere on the grid without overlap. Then, Bella colors that tetromino such that it has a different color from any other tetromino that shares a side with it. After $2631$ such moves by each player, the game ends, and Sheldon's score is the number of colors used by Bella. What's the maximum $N$ such that Sheldon can guarantee that his score will be at least $N$?

The cells of a table [b]m x n[/b], $m \geq 5$, $n \geq 5$ are colored in 3 colors where: (i) Each cell has an equal number of adjacent (by side) cells from the other two colors; (ii) Each of the cells in the 4 corners of the table doesn’t have an adjacent cell in the same color. Find all possible values for $m$ and $n$.

$99$ different points $P_1, P_2, ..., P_{99}$ are marked on circle $O$. For each $P_i$, define $n_i$ as the number of marked points you encounter starting from $P_i$ to its antipode, moving clockwise. Prove the following inequality. $$n_1+n_2+\cdots+n_{99} \leq \frac{99\cdot 98}{2}+49=4900$$

We are given a combination lock consisting of $6$ rotating discs. Each disc consists of digits $0, 1, 2,\ldots , 9$ in that order (after digit $9$ comes $0$). Lock is opened by exactly one combination. A move consists of turning one of the discs one digit in any direction and the lock opens instantly if the current combination is correct. Discs are initially put in the position $000000$, and we know that this combination is not correct. [list] a) What is the least number of moves necessary to ensure that we have found the correct combination? b) What is the least number of moves necessary to ensure that we have found the correct combination, if we know that none of the combinations $000000, 111111, 222222, \ldots , 999999$ is correct?[/list] [i]Proposed by Ognjen Stipetić and Grgur Valentić[/i]

On Mars a basketball team consists of 6 players. The coach of the team Mars can select any line-up of 6 players among 100 candidates. The coach considers some line-ups as [i]appropriate[/i] while the other line-ups are not (there exists at least one appropriate line-up). A set of 5 candidates is called [i]perspective[/i] if one more candidate could be added to it to obtain an appropriate line-up. A candidate is called [i]universal[/i] if he completes each perspective set of 5 candidates (not containing him) upto an appropriate line-up. The coach has selected a line-up of 6 universal candidates. Determine if it follows that this line-up is appropriate.

For what values of $ n$ does there exist an $ n \times n$ array of entries -1, 0 or 1 such that the $ 2 \cdot n$ sums obtained by summing the elements of the rows and the columns are all different?

[b]p1.[/b] Four positive numbers are placed at the vertices of a rectangle. Each number is at least as large as the average of the two numbers at the adjacent vertices. Prove that all four numbers are equal. [b]p2.[/b] The sum $498+499+500+501=1998$ is one way of expressing $1998$ as a sum of consecutive positive integers. Find all ways of expressing $1998$ as a sum of two or more consecutive positive integers. Prove your list is complete. [b]p3.[/b] An infinite strip (two parallel lines and the region between them) has a width of $1$ inch. What is the largest value of $A$ such that every triangle with area $A$ square inches can be placed on this strip? Justify your answer. [b]p4.[/b] A plane divides space into two regions. Two planes that intersect in a line divide space into four regions. Now suppose that twelve planes are given in space so that a) every two of them intersect in a line, b) every three of them intersect in a point, and c) no four of them have a common point. Into how many regions is space divided? Justify your answer. [b]p5.[/b] Five robbers have stolen $1998$ identical gold coins. They agree to the following: The youngest robber proposes a division of the loot. All robbers, including the proposer, vote on the proposal. If at least half the robbers vote yes, then that proposal is accepted. If not, the proposer is sent away with no loot and the next youngest robber makes a new proposal to be voted on by the four remaining robbers, with the same rules as above. This continues until a proposed division is accepted by at least half the remaining robbers. Each robber guards his best interests: He will vote for a proposal if and only if it will give him more coins than he will acquire by rejecting it, and the proposer will keep as many coins for himself as he can. How will the coins be distributed? Explain your reasoning. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

An integer is written in each cell of a board of$ N$ rows and $N + 1$ columns. Prove that some columns (possibly none) can be deleted so that in each row the sum of the numbers left uncrossed out is even.

The Wonder Island Intelligence Service has $16$ spies in Tartu. Each of them watches on some of his colleagues. It is known that if spy $A$ watches on spy $B$, then $B$ does not watch on $A$. Moreover, any $10$ spies can numbered in such a way that the first spy watches on the second, the second watches on the third and so on until the tenth watches on the first. Prove that any $11$ spies can also be numbered is a similar manner.

There are 1$2$ people labeled $1, ..., 12$ working together on $12$ missions, with people $1, ... , i $working on the $i$th mission. There is exactly one spy among them. If the spy is not working on a mission, it will be a huge success, but if the spy is working on the mission, it will fail with probability $1/2$. Given that the first $11$ missions succeed, and the $12$th mission fails, what is the probability that person $12$ is the spy?

Let $n \geq 2$ be a positive integer. A total of $2n$ balls are coloured with $n$ colours so that there are two balls of each colour. These balls are put inside $n$ cylindrical boxes with two balls in each box, one on top of the other. Phoe Wa Lone has an empty cylindrical box and his goal is to sort the balls so that balls of the same colour are grouped together in each box. In a [i]move[/i], Phoe Wa Lone can do one of the following: [list] [*]Select a box containing exactly two balls and reverse the order of the top and the bottom balls. [*]Take a ball $b$ at the top of a non-empty box and either put it in an empty box, or put it in the box only containing the ball of the same colour as $b$. [/list] Find the smallest positive integer $N$ such that for any initial placement of the balls, Phoe Wa Lone can always achieve his goal using at most $N$ moves in total.

5. Alice and Bob have found 100 bricks of the same size, 50 white and 50 black. They came up with the following game. A tower will mean one or several bricks standing on top of one another. At the start of the game all bricks lie separately, so there are 100 towers. In a single turn a player must put one of the towers on top of another tower (no flipping towers allowed) so that the resulting tower has no same-colored bricks next to each other. The players make moves in turns, Alice starts first. The one unable to make the next move loses the game. Who can guarantee the win regardless of the opponent's strategy?

Centuries ago, the pirate Captain Blackboard buried a vast amount of treasure in a single cell of a $2 \times 4$ grid-structured island. Treasure was buried in a single cell of an $M\times N$ ($2\le M$, $N$) grid. You and your crew have reached the island and have brought special treasure detectors to find the cell with the treasure For each detector, you can set it up to scan a specific subgrid $[a,b]\times[c,d]$ with $1\le a\le b\le 2$ and $1\le c\le d\le 4$. Running the detector will tell you whether the treasure is in the region or not, though it cannot say where in the region the treasure was detected. You plan on setting up $Q$ detectors, which may only be run simultaneously after all $Q$ detectors are ready. What is the minimum $Q$ required to gaurantee to determine the location of the Blackboard’s legendary treasure?

Let $n > 1$ be a positive integer and $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2n} \in \{ -n, -n + 1, \dots, n - 1, n \}$. Suppose \[ a_1 + a_2 + a_3 + \dots + a_{2n} = n + 1 \] Prove that some of $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2n}$ have sum 0.

Let $l_1,l_2,l_3,...,L_n$ be lines in the plane such that no two of them are parallel and no three of them are concurrent. Let $A$ be the intersection point of lines $l_i,l_j$. We call $A$ an "Interior Point" if there are points $C,D$ on $l_i$ and $E,F$ on $l_j$ such that $A$ is between $C,D$ and $E,F$. Prove that there are at least $\frac{(n-2)(n-3)}{2}$ Interior points.($n>2$) note: by point here we mean the points which are intersection point of two of $l_1,l_2,...,l_n$.

Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $\alpha_n $ be the number of $1$'s within binary representation of $n$. Show that for all positive integers $r$, \[2^{2n-\alpha_n}\phantom{-1} \bigg|^{\phantom{0}}_{\phantom{-1}} \sum_{k=-n}^{n} \binom{2n}{n+k} k^{2r}.\]

A $2008 \times 2009$ rectangle is divided into unit squares. In how many ways can you remove a pair of squares such that the remainder can be covered with $1 \times 2$ dominoes?

The cell of a $(2m +1) \times (2n +1)$ board are painted in two colors - white and black. The unit cell of a row (column) is called [i]dominant[/i] on the row (the column) if more than half of the cells that row (column) have the same color as this cell. Prove that at least $m + n-1$ cells on the board are dominant in both their row and column.

A set of $n$ distinct integer weights $w_1,w_2,\ldots, w_n$ is said to be [i]balanced[/i] if after removing any one of weights, the remaining $(n-1)$ weights can be split into two subcollections (not necessarily with equal size)with equal sum. $a)$ Prove that if there exist [i]balanced[/i] sets of sizes $k,j$ then also a [i]balanced[/i] set of size $k+j-1$. $b)$ Prove that for all [i]odd[/i] $n\geq 7$ there exist a [i]balanced[/i] set of size $n$.

100 unit squares of an infinite squared plane form a $ 10\times 10$ square. Unit segments forming these squares are coloured in several colours. It is known that the border of every square with sides on grid lines contains segments of at most two colours. (Such square is not necessarily contained in the original $ 10\times 10$ square.) What maximum number of colours may appear in this colouring? [i]Author: S. Berlov[/i]

A fox stands in the centre of the field which has the form of an equilateral triangle, and a rabbit stands at one of its vertices. The fox can move through the whole field, while the rabbit can move only along the border of the field. The maximal speeds of the fox and rabbit are equal to $u$ and $v$, respectively. Prove that: (a) If $2u>v$, the fox can catch the rabbit, no matter how the rabbit moves. (b) If $2u\le v$, the rabbit can always run away from the fox.

Suppose 100 people are gathered around at a park, each with an envelope with their name on it (all their names are distinct). Then, the envelopes are uniformly and randomly permuted between the people. If $N$ is the number of people who end up with their original envelope, find the expected value of $N^5$. [i]Proposed by Michael Duncan[/i]