Let $\leftarrow$ denote the left arrow key on a standard keyboard. If one opens a text editor and types the keys "ab$\leftarrow$ cd $\leftarrow \leftarrow$ e $\leftarrow \leftarrow$ f", the result is "faecdb". We say that a string $B$ is [i]reachable[/i] from a string $A$ if it is possible to insert some amount of $\leftarrow$'s in $A$, such that typing the resulting characters produces $B$. So, our example shows that "faecdb" is reachable from "abcdef". Prove that for any two strings $A$ and $B$, $A$ is reachable from $B$ if and only if $B$ is reachable from $A$.

The diagonals of a convex $18$-gon are colored in $5$ different colors, each color appearing on an equal number of diagonals. The diagonals of one color are numbered $1, 2,\cdots$. One randomly chooses one-fifth of all the diagonals. Find the number of possibilities for which among the chosen diagonals there exist exactly $n$ pairs of diagonals of the same color and with fixed indices $i, j$.

$2018\times 2018$ field is covered with $1 \times 2$ dominos, such that every $2 \times 2$ or $1 \times 4,4 \times 1$ figure is not covered by only two dominos. Can be covered more than $99\%$ of field ?

Suppose there are $m$ Martians and $n$ Earthlings at an intergalactic peace conference. To ensure the Martians stay peaceful at the conference, we must make sure that no two Martians sit together, such that between any two Martians there is always at least one Earthling. (a) Suppose all $m + n$ Martians and Earthlings are seated in a line. How many ways can the Earthlings and Martians be seated in a line? (b) Suppose now that the $m+n$ Martians and Earthlings are seated around a circular round-table. How many ways can the Earthlings and Martians be seated around the round-table?

An integer set [i][b]T[/b][/i] is orensan if there exist integers[b] a<b<c[/b], where [b]a [/b]and [b]c[/b] are part of [i][b]T[/b][/i], but [b]b[/b] is not part of [b][i]T[/i][/b]. Count the number of subsets [b][i]T[/i][/b] of {1,2,...,2019} which are orensan.

We call $A_{1},A_{2},A_{3}$ [i]mangool[/i] iff there is a permutation $\pi$ that $A_{\pi(2)}\not\subset A_{\pi(1)},A_{\pi(3)}\not\subset A_{\pi(1)}\cup A_{\pi(2)}$. A good family is a family of finite subsets of $\mathbb N$ like $X,A_{1},A_{2},\dots,A_{n}$. To each goo family we correspond a graph with vertices $\{A_{1},A_{2},\dots,A_{n}\}$. Connect $A_{i},A_{j}$ iff $X,A_{i},A_{j}$ are mangool sets. Find all graphs that we can find a good family corresponding to it.

There is a set of control weights, each of them weighs a non-integer number of grams. Any integer weight from $1$ g to $40$ g can be balanced by some of these weights (the control weights are on one balance pan, and the measured weight on the other pan).What is the least possible number of the control weights? [i](Alexandr Shapovalov)[/i]

$6k+2$ people play in odd or even championship. In each odd or even match they participate exactly two people. Six rounds have been arranged so that in each round there are $3k + 1$ simultaneous matches, and no player participates in two games of the same round. It is known that two people do not play with each other more than one turn. Prove that there are $k + 1$ people where any two of them have not played each other. [hide=original wording] 6k+2 pessoas jogam em campeonato de par ou impar. Em cada partida de par ou impar participam exatamente duas pessoas. Seis rodadas foram organizadas, de modo que, em cada rodada, ha 3k + 1 partidas simultaneas, e nenhum jogador participa de dois jogos da mesma rodada. Sabe-se que duas pessoas nao jogam entre si mais de uma vez. Prove que existem k + 1 pessoas em que quaisquer duas delas nao jogaram entre si. [/quote]

A number from $1$ to $144$ is guessed. You are allowed to select a subset of the set of numbers from $ 1$ to $144$ and ask whether the guessed number belongs to it. For the answer “yes” you have to pay $2$ rubles, for the answer “no” - $1$ ruble. What is the smallest amount of money needed to surely guess that?

There is a board with three rows and $2023$ columns. In the first row the numbers are written from $1$ to $2023$, ordered from least to greatest. The devil writes those same numbers in the boxes in the second row, but ordered to his choice. Then, in each box in the third row he writes the difference between the two numbers already written in his own column (the largest minus the smallest). For example, if the first two boxes of a column are the numbers $21$ and $198$, in the third box it is written $198-21 = 177$. Explain why, no matter how the devil completed the second row of the board, it will never happen that multiplying them $2023$ numbers in the third row the result is odd.

A regular $1985$-gon is given in the plane. Let's pass a straight line through each side of it. Determine the number of parts into which these lines divide the plane.

The digits of a calculator (with the exception of 0) are shown in the form indicated by the figure below, where there is also a button ``+": [img]6965[/img] Two players $A$ and $B$ play in the following manner: $A$ turns on the calculator and presses a digit, and then presses the button ``+". $A$ passes the calculator to $B$, which presses a digit in the same row or column with the one pressed by $A$ that is not the same as the last one pressed by $A$; and then presses + and returns the calculator to $A$, repeating the operation in this manner successively. The first player that reaches or exceeds the sum of 31 loses the game. Which of the two players have a winning strategy and what is it?

Iskandar arranged $n \in N$ integer numbers in a circle, the sum of which is $2n-1$. Crescentia now selects one of these numbers and name the given numbers in clockwise direction with $a_1,a_2,...., a_n$. Show that she can choose the starting number such that for all $k \in \{1, 2,..., n\}$ the inequality $a_1 + a_2 +...+ a_k \le 2k -1$ holds.

In a party with $1982$ persons, among any group of four there is at least one person who knows each of the other three. What is the minimum number of people in the party who know everyone else?

Alice and Bob play a game on a strip of $n \ge 3$ squares with two game pieces. At the beginning, Alice’s piece is on the first square while Bob’s piece is on the last square. The figure shows the starting position for a strip of $ n = 7$ squares. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/7/c636115180fd624cbeec0c6adda31b4b89ed60.png[/img] The players alternate. In each move, they advance their own game piece by one or two squares in the direction of the opponent’s piece. The piece has to land on an empty square without jumping over the opponent’s piece. Alice makes the first move with her own piece. If a player cannot move, they lose. For which $n$ can Bob ensure a win no matter how Alice plays? For which $n$ can Alice ensure a win no matter how Bob plays? [i](Karl Czakler)[/i]

Let $n\geq 4$ be an integer. Find the maximum possible area of an $n-gon$ inscribed in a unit cicle and having two perpendicular diagonals.

For positive integers $n$ consider the lattice points $S_n=\{(x,y,z):1\le x\le n, 1\le y\le n, 1\le z\le n, x,y,z\in \mathbb N\}.$ Is it possible to find a positive integer $n$ for which it is possible to choose more than $n\sqrt{n}$ lattice points from $S_n$ such that for any two chosen lattice points at least two of the coordinates of one is strictly greater than the corresponding coordinates of the other? [I]Proposed by Endre Csóka, Budapest[/i]

Let $k$ and $n$ be positive integers and let $$S=\{(a_1,\ldots,a_k)\in \mathbb{Z}^{k}\;|\; 0\leq a_k\leq\cdots\leq a_1 \leq n,a_1+\cdots+a_k=n\}$$. Determine, with proof, the value of $$\sum_{(a_1,\ldots,a_k)\in S}\binom{n}{a_1}\binom{a_1}{a_2}\cdots\binom{a_{k-1}}{a_k}$$ in terms of $k$ and $n$, where the sum is over all $k$-tuples in $S$.

Determine the maximal length $L$ of a sequence $a_1,\dots,a_L$ of positive integers satisfying both the following properties: [list=disc] [*]every term in the sequence is less than or equal to $2^{2023}$, and [*]there does not exist a consecutive subsequence $a_i,a_{i+1},\dots,a_j$ (where $1\le i\le j\le L$) with a choice of signs $s_i,s_{i+1},\dots,s_j\in\{1,-1\}$ for which \[s_ia_i+s_{i+1}a_{i+1}+\dots+s_ja_j=0.\] [/list]

For which integers $n \ge 5$ is it possible to color the vertices of a regular$ n$-gon using at most $6$ colors in such a way that any $5$ consecutive vertices have different colors?

$(HUN 3)$ In the plane $4000$ points are given such that each line passes through at most $2$ of these points. Prove that there exist $1000$ disjoint quadrilaterals in the plane with vertices at these points.

A set $M$ is formed of $\binom{2n}{n}$ men, $n=1,2,\ldots$. Prove that we can choose a subset $P$ of the set $M$ consisting of $n+1$ men such that one of the following conditions is satisfied: $(1)$ every member of the set $P$ knows every other member of the set $P$; $(2)$ no member of the set $P$ knows any other member of the set $P$.

Three schools $A, B$ and $C$ , each with five players denoted $a_{i}, b_{i}, c_{i}$ respectively, take part in a chess tournament. The tournament is held following the rules: (i) Players from each school have matches in order with respect to indices, and defeated players are eliminated; the first match is between $a_{1}$ and $b_{1}$. (ii) If $y_{j}\in Y$ defeats $x_{i}\in X$ , his next opponent should be from the remaining school if not all of its players are eliminated; otherwise his next oponent is $x_{i+1}$ . The tournament is over when two schools are completely eliminated. (iii) When $x_{i}$ wins a match, its school wins $10^{i-1}$ points. At the end of the tournament, schools $A, B, C$ scored $P_{A}, P_{B}, P_{C}$ respectively. Find the remainder of the number of possible triples $(P_{A}, P_{B}, P_{C})$ upon division by $8.$

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]

In a $m\times n$ square grid, with top-left corner is $A$, there is route along the edges of the grid starting from $A$ and visits all lattice points (called "nodes") exactly once and ending also at $A$. a. Prove that this route exists if and only if at least one of $m,\ n$ is odd. b. If such a route exists, then what is the least possible of turning points? *A turning point is a node that is different from $A$ and if two edges on the route intersect at the node are perpendicular.