Let $n$ be a positive integer. The numbers $\{1, 2, ..., n^2\}$ are placed in an $n \times n$ grid, each exactly once. The grid is said to be [i]Muirhead-able[/i] if the sum of the entries in each column is the same, but for every $1 \le i,k \le n-1$, the sum of the first $k$ entries in column $i$ is at least the sum of the first $k$ entries in column $i+1$. For which $n$ can one construct a Muirhead-able array such that the entries in each column are decreasing? [i]Proposed by Evan Chen[/i]

In the Rainbow Nation there are two airways: Red Rockets and Blue Boeings. For any two cities in the Rainbow Nation it is possible to travel from the one to the other using either or both of the airways. It is known, however, that it is impossible to travel from Beanville to Mieliestad using only Red Rockets - not directly nor by travelling via other cities. Show that, using only Blue Boeings, one can travel from any city to any other city by stopping at at most one city along the way.

$39$ students participated in a math competition. The exam consisted of $6$ problems and each problem was worth $1$ point for a correct solution and $0$ points for an incorrect solution. For any $3$ students, there is at most $1$ problem that was not solved by any of the three. Let $B$ be the sum of all of the scores of the $39$ students. Find the smallest possible value of $B$.

Let $d$ be a positive real number. The scorpion tries to catch the flea on a $10\times 10$ chessboard. The length of the side of each small square of the chessboard is $1$. In this game, the flea and the scorpion move alternately. The flea is always on one of the $121$ vertexes of the chessboard and, in each turn, can jump from the vertex where it is to one of the adjacent vertexes. The scorpion moves on the boundary line of the chessboard, and, in each turn, it can walk along any path of length less than $d$. At the beginning, the flea is at the center of the chessboard and the scorpion is at a point that he chooses on the boundary line. The flea is the first one to play. The flea is said to [i]escape[/i] if it reaches a point of the boundary line, which the scorpion can't reach in the next turn. Obviously, for big values of $d$, the scorpion has a strategy to prevent the flea's escape. For what values of $d$ can the flea escape? Justify your answer.

We say that a finite set $\mathcal{S}$ of points in the plane is [i]balanced[/i] if, for any two different points $A$ and $B$ in $\mathcal{S}$, there is a point $C$ in $\mathcal{S}$ such that $AC=BC$. We say that $\mathcal{S}$ is [i]centre-free[/i] if for any three different points $A$, $B$ and $C$ in $\mathcal{S}$, there is no points $P$ in $\mathcal{S}$ such that $PA=PB=PC$. (a) Show that for all integers $n\ge 3$, there exists a balanced set consisting of $n$ points. (b) Determine all integers $n\ge 3$ for which there exists a balanced centre-free set consisting of $n$ points. Proposed by Netherlands

Consider a triple $(a, b, c)$ of pairwise distinct positive integers satisfying $a + b + c = 2013$. A step consists of replacing the triple $(x, y, z)$ by the triple $(y + z - x,z + x - y,x + y - z)$. Prove that, starting from the given triple $(a, b,c)$, after $10$ steps we obtain a triple containing at least one negative number.

[b]p1.[/b] A boy has as many sisters as brothers. How ever, his sister has twice as many brothers as sisters. How many boys and girls are there in the family? [b]p2.[/b] Solve each of the following problems. (1) Find a pair of numbers with a sum of $11$ and a product of $24$. (2) Find a pair of numbers with a sum of $40$ and a product of $400$. (3) Find three consecutive numbers with a sum of $333$. (4) Find two consecutive numbers with a product of $182$. [b]p3.[/b] $2008$ integers are written on a piece of paper. It is known that the sum of any $100$ numbers is positive. Show that the sum of all numbers is positive. [b]p4.[/b] Let $p$ and $q$ be prime numbers greater than $3$. Prove that $p^2 - q^2$ is divisible by $24$. [b]p5.[/b] Four villages $A,B,C$, and $D$ are connected by trails as shown on the map. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/4/9/33ecc416792dacba65930caa61adbae09b8296.png[/img] On each path $A \to B \to C$ and $B \to C \to D$ there are $10$ hills, on the path $A \to B \to D$ there are $22$ hills, on the path $A \to D \to B$ there are $45$ hills. A group of tourists starts from $A$ and wants to reach $D$. They choose the path with the minimal number of hills. What is the best path for them? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Consider 2009 cards which are lying in sequence on a table. Initially, all cards have their top face white and bottom face black. The cards are enumerated from 1 to 2009. Two players, Amir and Ercole, make alternating moves, with Amir starting. Each move consists of a player choosing a card with the number $k$ such that $k < 1969$ whose top face is white, and then this player turns all cards at positions $k,k+1,\ldots,k+40.$ The last player who can make a legal move wins. (a) Does the game necessarily end? (b) Does there exist a winning strategy for the starting player? [i]Also compare shortlist 2009, combinatorics problem C1.[/i]

On a rectangular board with $m \times n$ squares ($m, n \ge 3$) there are dominoes ($2 \times 1$ or $1\times 2$ tiles), which do not overlap and do not extend beyond the board. Every domino covers exactly two squares of the board. Assume that the dominos cover the has the property that no more dominos can be added to the board and that the four corner spaces of the board are not all empty. Prove that at least $2/3$ of the squares of the board are covered with dominos.

$3n$ ($n \ge 2, n \in N$) people attend a gathering, in which any two acquaintances have exactly $n$ common acquaintances, and any two unknown people have exactly $2n$ common acquaintances. If three people know each other, it is called a [i]Taoyuan Group[/i]. (1) Find the number of all Taoyuan groups; (2) Prove that these $3n$ people can be divided into three groups, with $n$ people in each group, and the three people obtained by randomly selecting one person from each group constitute a Taoyuan group. Note: Acquaintance means that two people know each other, otherwise they are not acquaintances. Two people who know each other are called acquaintances.

Suppose we have a $n$-gon. Some $n-3$ diagonals are coloured black and some other $n-3$ diagonals are coloured red (a side is not a diagonal), so that no two diagonals of the same colour can intersect strictly inside the polygon, although they can share a vertex. Find the maximum number of intersection points between diagonals coloured differently strictly inside the polygon, in terms of $n$. [i]Proposed by Alexander Ivanov, Bulgaria[/i]

The $T_0$ set consists of all the numbers, representable as $(2k)!, k = 0, 1, 2, ... , n, ...$. The $T_m$ set is obtained from $T_{m-1}$ by adding all the finite sums of different numbers, that belong to $T_{m-1}$. Prove that there is a natural number, that doesn't belong to $T_{1987}$.

All the streets in a city run in one of two perpendicular directions, forming unit squares. Organizers of a car race want to mark down a closed race track in the city in such a way that it would not go through any of the crossings twice and that the track would turn 90◦ right or left at every crossing. Find all possible values of the length of the track.

Let $a,b$ be arbitrary co-prime natural numbers. Alice writes the natural number $t < b$ on a blackboard. Every second she replaces the number on the blackboard, say $x$, with the smallest natural number in $\{x \pm a, x \pm b \}$ that she has not yet ever written. She keeps doing this as long as possible. Prove that this process goes on indefinitely and that Alice will write down every natural number. [i]~Pranjal Srivastava and Rohan Goyal[/i]

There are $n$ students. Denoted the number of the selections to select two students (with their weights are $a$ and $b$) such that $\left| {a - b} \right| \le 1$ (kg) and $\left| {a - b} \right| \le 2$ (kg) by $A_1$ and $A_2$, respectively. Prove that $A_2<3A_1+n$.

Let $m,k$ be positive integers, $k<m$ and $M$ a set with $m$ elements. Prove that the maximal number of subsets $A_1,A_2,\ldots ,A_p$ of $M$ for which $A_i\cap A_j$ has at most $k$ elements, for every $1\le i<j\le p$, equals \[ p_{max}=\binom{m}{0}+\binom{m}{1}+\binom{m}{2}+\ldots+\binom{m}{k+1}\]

10. Let $n \ge 5$ be an odd number and let $r$ be an integer such that $1\le r \le (n-1)/2$. IN a sports tournament, $n$ players take part in a series of contests. In each contest, $2r+1$ players participate, and the scores obtained by the players are the numbers $$-r, -(r-1),\cdots, -1, 0, 1 \cdots, r-1, r$$ in some order. Each possible subset of $2r+1$ players takes part together in exactly one contest. let the final score of player $i$ be $S_i$, for each $i=1, 2,\cdots,n$. Define $N$ to be the smallest difference between the final scores of two players, i.e., $$N = \min_{i<j}|S_i - S_j|.$$ Determine, with proof, the maximum possible value of $N$.

$4026$ points were noted on the plane, not three of which lie on a straight line. The $2013$ points are the vertices of a convex polygon, and the other $2013$ vertices are inside this polygon. It is allowed to paint each point in one of two colors. Coloring will be good if some pairs of dots can be combined segments with the following conditions: $\bullet$ Each segment connects dots of the same color. $\bullet$ No two drawn segments intersect at their inner points. $\bullet$ For an arbitrary pair of dots of the same color, there is a path along the lines from one point to another. Please note that the sides of the convex $2013$ rectangle are not automatically drawn segments, although some (or all) can be drawn as needed. Prove that the total number of good colors does not depend on the specific locations of the points and find that number.

Let $S$ be the set of words made from the letters $a,b$ and $c$. The equivalence relation $\sim$ on $S$ satisfies \[uu \sim u \] \[u \sim v \Rightarrow uw \sim vw \; \text{and} \; wu \sim wv\] for all words $u, v$ and $w$. Prove that every word in $S$ is equivalent to a word of length $\leq 8$.

A tree $T$ is given. Starting with the complete graph on $n$ vertices, subgraphs isomorphic to $T$ are erased at random until no such subgraph remains. For what trees does there exist a positive constant $c$ such that the expected number of edges remaining is at least $cn^2$ for all positive integers $n$? [i]David Yang.[/i]

In the plane, $2022$ points are chosen such that no three points lie on the same line. Each of the points is coloured red or blue such that each triangle formed by three distinct red points contains at least one blue point. What is the largest possible number of red points? [i]Proposed by Art Waeterschoot, Belgium[/i]

A coin is flipped until there is a head followed by two tails. What is the probability that this will take exactly $12$ flips?

Let $n \ge 3$ be an integer, and consider a circle with $n + 1$ equally spaced points marked on it. Consider all labellings of these points with the numbers $0, 1, ... , n$ such that each label is used exactly once; two such labellings are considered to be the same if one can be obtained from the other by a rotation of the circle. A labelling is called [i]beautiful[/i] if, for any four labels $a < b < c < d$ with $a + d = b + c$, the chord joining the points labelled $a$ and $d$ does not intersect the chord joining the points labelled $b$ and $c$. Let $M$ be the number of beautiful labelings, and let N be the number of ordered pairs $(x, y)$ of positive integers such that $x + y \le n$ and $\gcd(x, y) = 1$. Prove that $$M = N + 1.$$

Each of the 450 members of a parliament gives a slap in the face to exactly one of his colleagues. Prove that after that they can choose a committee consisting of 150 members, none of whom has been slapped in the face by any other member of the committee. (Folklore)

You have to organize a fair procedure to randomly select someone from $ n$ people so that every one of them would be chosen with the probability $ \frac{1}{n}$. You are allowed to choose two real numbers $ 0<p_1<1$ and $ 0<p_2<1$ and order two coins which satisfy the following requirement: the probability of tossing "heads" on the first coin $ p_1$ and the probability of tossing "heads" on the second coin is $ p_2$. Before starting the procedure, you are supposed to announce an upper bound on the total number of times that the two coins are going to be flipped altogether. Describe a procedure that achieves this goal under the given conditions.