Consider any rectangular table having finitely many rows and columns, with a real number $a(r, c)$ in the cell in row $r$ and column $c$. A pair $(R, C)$, where $R$ is a set of rows and $C$ a set of columns, is called a [i]saddle pair[/i] if the following two conditions are satisfied: [list] [*] $(i)$ For each row $r^{\prime}$, there is $r \in R$ such that $a(r, c) \geqslant a\left(r^{\prime}, c\right)$ for all $c \in C$; [*] $(ii)$ For each column $c^{\prime}$, there is $c \in C$ such that $a(r, c) \leqslant a\left(r, c^{\prime}\right)$ for all $r \in R$. [/list] A saddle pair $(R, C)$ is called a [i]minimal pair[/i] if for each saddle pair $\left(R^{\prime}, C^{\prime}\right)$ with $R^{\prime} \subseteq R$ and $C^{\prime} \subseteq C$, we have $R^{\prime}=R$ and $C^{\prime}=C$. Prove that any two minimal pairs contain the same number of rows.

Three coins lie on integer points on the number line. A move consists of choosing and moving two coins, the first one $ 1$ unit to the right and the second one $ 1$ unit to the left. Under which initial conditions is it possible to move all coins to one single point?

A $9\times 9$ table is filled with zeroes.In every step we can either take a row add $1$ to every cell and shift it one unit to right or take a column reduce every cell by $1$ and shift it one cell down. Can the table with the top right $-1$ and bottom left $+1$ and all other cells zero be reached?

Find all positive integers $n \geq 3$, for which it is possible to draw $n$ chords on a circle, with their $2n$ endpoints being pairwise distinct, such that each chords intersects exactly $k$ others for: (a) $k=n-2$, (b) $k=n-3$.

[b]a)[/b] Prove that $a>0$ exists such that for each natural number $n$, there exists a convex $n$-gon $P$ in plane with lattice points as vertices such that the area of $P$ is less than $an^3$. [b]b)[/b] Prove that there exists $b>0$ such that for each natural number $n$ and each $n$-gon $P$ in plane with lattice points as vertices, the area of $P$ is not less than $bn^2$. [b]c)[/b] Prove that there exist $\alpha,c>0$ such that for each natural number $n$ and each $n$-gon $P$ in plane with lattice points as vertices, the area of $P$ is not less than $cn^{2+\alpha}$. [i]Proposed by Mostafa Eynollahzade[/i]

In a country, there are \( n \) cities. Each pair of cities is connected either by a paved road or a dirt road. It is known that there exists a pair of cities such that it is impossible to travel between them using only paved roads. Show that, in this case, it is possible to travel between any two cities using only dirt roads.

Let a cube of side $1$ be given. Prove that there exists a point $A$ on the surface $S$ of the cube such that every point of $S$ can be joined to $A$ by a path on $S$ of length not exceeding $2$. Also prove that there is a point of $S$ that cannot be joined with $A$ by a path on $S$ of length less than $2$.

A sequence $a_1,a_2,\cdots$ of positive integers contains each positive integer exactly once. Moreover for every pair of distinct positive integer $m$ and $n$, $\frac{1}{1998} < \frac{|a_n- a_m|}{|n-m|} < 1998$, show that $|a_n - n | <2000000$ for all $n$.

A robotic lawnmower is located in the middle of a large lawn. Due a manufacturing defect, the robot can only move straight ahead and turn in directions that are multiples of $60^o$. A fence must be set up so that it delimits the entire part of the lawn that the robot can get to, by traveling along a curve with length no more than $10$ meters from its starting position, given that it is facing north when it starts. How long must the fence be?

Let $N>s$ be positive integers. Electricity park has a number of buildings; exactly $N$ of them are power plants, and another one of them is the headquarter. Some pairs of buildings have one-way power cables between them, satisfying: (i) The cables connected to a power plant will only send the power out of the plant. (ii) For each non-headquarter building, there is a unique sequence of cables that can transport the power from that building to the headquarter. A building is [b]$s$-electrifed[/b] if, after removing any one cable from the park, the building can still receive power from at least $s$ different power plants. Find the maximum possible number of $s$-electrifed buildings. [i]Note: There seems to be confusion about whether a power plant is $1$-electrified. For the sake of simplicity let's say that any power plant is not $s$-electrified for any $s\geq 1$.[/i] [i]Proposed by usjl[/i]

Numbers 1 and −1 are written in the cells of a board 2000×2000. It is known that the sum of all the numbers in the board is positive. Show that one can select 1000 rows and 1000 columns such that the sum of numbers written in their intersection cells is at least 1000. [i]D. Karpov[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer relatively prime to $6$. We paint the vertices of a regular $n$-gon with three colours so that there is an odd number of vertices of each colour. Show that there exists an isosceles triangle whose three vertices are of different colours.

Let $m$ and $n$ be positive integers. Some squares of an $m \times n$ board are coloured red. A sequence $a_1, a_2, \ldots , a_{2r}$ of $2r \ge 4$ pairwise distinct red squares is called a [i]bishop circuit[/i] if for every $k \in \{1, \ldots , 2r \}$, the squares $a_k$ and $a_{k+1}$ lie on a diagonal, but the squares $a_k$ and $a_{k+2}$ do not lie on a diagonal (here $a_{2r+1}=a_1$ and $a_{2r+2}=a_2$). In terms of $m$ and $n$, determine the maximum possible number of red squares on an $m \times n$ board without a bishop circuit. ([i]Remark.[/i] Two squares lie on a diagonal if the line passing through their centres intersects the sides of the board at an angle of $45^\circ$.)

Consider three sides of an $n \times n \times n$ cube that meet at one of the corners of the cube. For which $n$ is it possible to use this completely and without overlapping to cover strips of paper of size $3 \times 1$? The paper strips can also do this glued over the edges between these cube faces.

Given are two sets of positive numbers with the same sum. The first set has $m$ numbers and the second $n$. Prove that you can find a set of less than $m+n$ positive numbers which can be arranged to part fill an $m \times n$ array, so that the row and column sums are the two given sets.

There were $2n,$ $n\ge2,$ teams in a tournament. Each team played against every other team once without draws. A team gets 0 points for a loss and gets as many points for a win as its current number of losses. For which $n$ all the teams could end up with the same non-zero number of points?

There are $n\ge 2$ lamps, each with two states: $\textbf{on}$ or $\textbf{off}$. For each non-empty subset $A$ of the set of these lamps, there is a $\textit{soft-button}$ which operates on the lamps in $A$; that is, upon $\textit{operating}$ this button each of the lamps in $A$ changes its state(on to off and off to on). The buttons are identical and it is not known which button corresponds to which subset of lamps. Suppose all the lamps are off initially. Show that one can always switch all the lamps on by performing at most $2^{n-1}+1$ operations.

A $10$ digit number is called interesting if its digits are distinct and is divisible by $11111$. Then find the number of interesting numbers.

Five distinct points and five distinct lines are given in the plane. Prove that one can select two of the points and two of the lines so that none of the selected lines contains any of the selected points.

A real number $f(X)\neq 0$ is assigned to each point $X$ in the space. It is known that for any tetrahedron $ABCD$ with $O$ the center of the inscribed sphere, we have : \[ f(O)=f(A)f(B)f(C)f(D). \] Prove that $f(X)=1$ for all points $X$. [i]Proposed by Aleksandar Ivanov[/i]

Some squares of the infinite sheet of cross-lined paper are red. Each $2\times 3$ rectangle (of $6$ squares) contains exactly two red squares. How many red squares can be in the $9\times 11$ rectangle of $99$ squares?

Let $r>1$ be a rational number. Alice plays a solitaire game on a number line. Initially there is a red bead at $0$ and a blue bead at $1$. In a move, Alice chooses one of the beads and an integer $k \in \mathbb{Z}$. If the chosen bead is at $x$, and the other bead is at $y$, then the bead at $x$ is moved to the point $x'$ satisfying $x'-y=r^k(x-y)$. Find all $r$ for which Alice can move the red bead to $1$ in at most $2021$ moves.

Let $n\ge2$ be a positive integer. Given a sequence $\left(s_i\right)$ of $n$ distinct real numbers, define the "class" of the sequence to be the sequence $\left(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_{n-1}\right)$, where $a_i$ is $1$ if $s_{i+1} > s_i$ and $-1$ otherwise. Find the smallest integer $m$ such that there exists a sequence $\left(w_i\right)$ of length $m$ such that for every possible class of a sequence of length $n$, there is a subsequence of $\left(w_i\right)$ that has that class. [i]David Yang.[/i]

Bob plotted $2003$ green points on the plane, so all triangles with three green vertices have area less than $1$. Prove that the $2003$ green points are contained in a triangle $T$ of area less than $4$.

[i]20 problems for 20 minutes. [/i] [b]p1.[/b] Evaluate $\frac{\sqrt2 \cdot \sqrt6}{\sqrt3}.$ [b]p2.[/b] If $6\%$ of a number is $1218$, what is $18\%$ of that number? [b]p3.[/b] What is the median of $\{42, 9, 8, 4, 5, 1,13666, 3\}$? [b]p4.[/b] Define the operation $\heartsuit$ so that $i\heartsuit u = 5i - 2u$. What is $3\heartsuit 4$? p5. How many $0.2$-inch by $1$-inch by $1$-inch gold bars can fit in a $15$-inch by $12$-inch by $9$-inch box? [b]p6.[/b] A tetrahedron is a triangular pyramid. What is the sum of the number of edges, faces, and vertices of a tetrahedron? [b]p7.[/b] Ron has three blue socks, four white socks, five green socks, and two black socks in a drawer. Ron takes socks out of his drawer blindly and at random. What is the least number of socks that Ron needs to take out to guarantee he will be able to make a pair of matching socks? [b]p8.[/b] One segment with length $6$ and some segments with lengths $10$, $8$, and $2$ form the three letters in the diagram shown below. Compute the sum of the perimeters of the three figures. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/0/9f7d6d42b1d68cd6554d7d5f8dd9f3181054fa.png[/img] [b]p9.[/b] How many integer solutions are there to the inequality $|x - 6| \le 4$? [b]p10.[/b] In a land for bad children, the flavors of ice cream are grass, dirt, earwax, hair, and dust-bunny. The cones are made out of granite, marble, or pumice, and can be topped by hot lava, chalk, or ink. How many ice cream cones can the evil confectioners in this ice-cream land make? (Every ice cream cone consists of one scoop of ice cream, one cone, and one topping.) [b]p11.[/b] Compute the sum of the prime divisors of $245 + 452 + 524$. [b]p12.[/b] In quadrilateral $SEAT$, $SE = 2$, $EA = 3$, $AT = 4$, $\angle EAT = \angle SET = 90^o$. What is the area of the quadrilateral? [b]p13.[/b] What is the angle, in degrees, formed by the hour and minute hands on a clock at $10:30$ AM? [b]p14.[/b] Three numbers are randomly chosen without replacement from the set $\{101, 102, 103,..., 200\}$. What is the probability that these three numbers are the side lengths of a triangle? [b]p15.[/b] John takes a $30$-mile bike ride over hilly terrain, where the road always either goes uphill or downhill, and is never flat. If he bikes a total of $20$ miles uphill, and he bikes at $6$ mph when he goes uphill, and $24$ mph when he goes downhill, what is his average speed, in mph, for the ride? [b]p16.[/b] How many distinct six-letter words (not necessarily in any language known to man) can be formed by rearranging the letters in $EXETER$? (You should include the word EXETER in your count.) [b]p17.[/b] A pie has been cut into eight slices of different sizes. Snow White steals a slice. Then, the seven dwarfs (Sneezy, Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Happy, Bashful, Grumpy) take slices one by one according to the alphabetical order of their names, but each dwarf can only take a slice next to one that has already been taken. In how many ways can this pie be eaten by these eight persons? [b]p18.[/b] Assume that $n$ is a positive integer such that the remainder of $n$ is $1$ when divided by $3$, is $2$ when divided by $4$, is $3$ when divided by $5$, $...$ , and is $8$ when divided by $10$. What is the smallest possible value of $n$? [b]p19.[/b] Find the sum of all positive four-digit numbers that are perfect squares and that have remainder $1$ when divided by $100$. [b]p20.[/b] A coin of radius $1$ cm is tossed onto a plane surface that has been tiled by equilateral triangles with side length $20\sqrt3$ cm. What is the probability that the coin lands within one of the triangles? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].