The following sequence of letters is written on a board: \[ \text{TNOTNOTNO...TNOTN} \] where the sequence repeats 2024 times. At each step, one of the following operations can be performed: 1. Take two different adjacent letters and replace them with two copies of the missing letter. 2. Take three consecutive identical letters and remove them. After a certain number of steps, only two identical letters remain. Determine which letter it is possible to reach.

There is a $2021 \times 2023$ board that has a white piece in the central square, on which Mich and Moka are going to play in turns. First Mich places a green token on any free space so that it is not in the same row or column as the white token, then Moka places a red token on any free space so that it is not in the same row or column as the white token. white or green. From now on, Mich will place green tokens and Moka will place red tokens alternately according to the following rules: $\bullet$ For the placed piece there must be another piece of the same color in its row or column, such that there is no other piece between both pieces. $\bullet$ If there is at least one box that meets the previous rule, then it is mandatory to place a token. When a token is placed, it changes all the tokens that are on squares adjacent to it to the same color. The game ends when one of the players can no longer place tiles. If when the game ends the board has more green tiles then Mich wins, and if it has more red tiles then Moka wins. Determine if either player has a winning strategy.

Chris and Michael play a game on a $5 \times 5$ board, initially containing some black and white counters as shown below: [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/8/0/42e1a64b3524a0db722c007b8d6b8eddf2d9e5.png[/img] Chris begins by removing any black counter, and sliding a white counter from an adjacent square onto the empty square. From that point on, the players take turns. Michael slides a black counter onto an adjacent empty square, and Chris does the same with white counters (no more counters are removed). If a player has no legal move, then he loses. (a) Show that, even if Chris and Michael play cooperatively, the game will come to an end. (b) Which player has a winning strategy?

Each citizen in a town knows at least $ 30$% of the remaining citizens. A citizen votes in elections if he/she knows at least one candidate. Prove that it is possible to schedule elections with two candidates for the mayor of the city so that at least $ 50$% of the citizen can vote.

In a game, a player can level up to 16 levels. In each level, the player can upgrade an ability spending that level on it. There are three kinds of abilities, however, one ability can not be upgraded before level 6 for the first time. And that special ability can not be upgraded before level 11. Other abilities can be upgraded at any level, any times (possibly 0), but the special ability needs to be upgraded exactly twice. In how many ways can these abilities be upgraded?

[b]p1.[/b] A square is tiled by smaller squares as shown in the figure. Find the area of the black square in the middle if the perimeter of the square $ABCD$ is $14$ cm. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/1/0f80fc5f0505fa9752b5c9e1c646c49091b4ca.png[/img] [b]p2.[/b] If $a, b$, and $c$ are numbers so that $a + b + c = 0$ and $a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = 1$. Compute $a^4 + b^4 + c^4$. [b]p3.[/b] A given fraction $\frac{a}{b}$ ($a, b$ are positive integers, $a \ne b$) is transformed by the following rule: first, $1$ is added to both the numerator and the denominator, and then the numerator and the denominator of the new fraction are each divided by their greatest common divisor (in other words, the new fraction is put in simplest form). Then the same transformation is applied again and again. Show that after some number of steps the denominator and the numerator differ exactly by $1$. [b]p4.[/b] A goat uses horns to make the holes in a new $30\times 60$ cm large towel. Each time it makes two new holes. Show that after the goat repeats this $61$ times the towel will have at least two holes whose distance apart is less than $6$ cm. [b]p5.[/b] You are given $555$ weights weighing $1$ g, $2$ g, $3$ g, $...$ , $555$ g. Divide these weights into three groups whose total weights are equal. [b]p6.[/b] Draw on the regular $8\times 8$ chessboard a circle of the maximal possible radius that intersects only black squares (and does not cross white squares). Explain why no larger circle can satisfy the condition. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

What is the maximum number of 1 × 1 boxes that can be colored black in a n × n chessboard so that any 2 × 2 square contains a maximum of 2 black boxes?

Let $A$ be a set with $2n$ elements, and let $A_1, A_2...,A_m$ be subsets of $A$e ach one with n elements. Find the greatest possible m, such that it is possible to select these $m$ subsets in such a way that the intersection of any 3 of them has at most one element.

A convex $n$-gon and its $n-3$ diagonals which have no common point inside the polygon form a [i]subdivision graph[/i]. Show that if and only if $3|n$, there exists a [i]subdivision graph [/i]that can be drawn in one closed stroke. (i.e. start from a certain vertex, get through every edges and diagonals exactly one time, finally back to the starting vertex.)

We are given $n \geq 3$ weights of masses $1, 2, 3, \ldots , n$ grams. Find all $n$ for which it is possible to divide these weights into three groups with the same mass.

Is it possible to fill all the cells of the table $9 \times 2002$ with natural numbers so that the sum of the numbers in any column and the sum of the numbers in any string would be prime numbers?

$5$ points are given in the plane, any three non-collinear and any four non-concyclic. If three points determine a circle that has one of the remaining points inside it and the other one outside it, then the circle is said to be [i]good[/i]. Let the number of good circles be $n$; find all possible values of $n$.

Integers $1 \le n \le 200$ are written on a blackboard just one by one. We surrounded just $100$ integers with circle. We call a square of the sum of surrounded integers minus the sum of not surrounded integers $score$ of this situation. Calculate the average score in all ways.

It is known that there are $2024$ pairs of friends among $100$ people. Show that is possible to split them into $50$ pairs so that: (a) There are at most $20$ pairs that are friends with each other; (b) There are at least $23$ pairs that are friends with each other; (c) There are exactly $22$ pairs that are friends with each other.

Let $ n$ and $ k$ be positive integers with $ k \geq n$ and $ k \minus{} n$ an even number. Let $ 2n$ lamps labelled $ 1$, $ 2$, ..., $ 2n$ be given, each of which can be either [i]on[/i] or [i]off[/i]. Initially all the lamps are off. We consider sequences of steps: at each step one of the lamps is switched (from on to off or from off to on). Let $ N$ be the number of such sequences consisting of $ k$ steps and resulting in the state where lamps $ 1$ through $ n$ are all on, and lamps $ n \plus{} 1$ through $ 2n$ are all off. Let $ M$ be number of such sequences consisting of $ k$ steps, resulting in the state where lamps $ 1$ through $ n$ are all on, and lamps $ n \plus{} 1$ through $ 2n$ are all off, but where none of the lamps $ n \plus{} 1$ through $ 2n$ is ever switched on. Determine $ \frac {N}{M}$. [i]Author: Bruno Le Floch and Ilia Smilga, France[/i]

Paul and Sara are playing a game with integers on a whiteboard, with Paul going first. When it is Paul’s turn, he can pick any two integers on the board and replace them with their product; when it is Sara’s turn, she can pick any two integers on the board and replace them with their sum. Play continues until exactly one integer remains on the board. Paul wins if that integer is odd, and Sara wins if it is even. Initially, there are $2021$ integers on the board, each one sampled uniformly at random from the set $\{0, 1, 2, 3, . . . , 2021\}$. Assuming both players play optimally, the probability that Paul wins is $m/n$ , where $m, n$ are positive integers and $gcd(m, n) = 1$. Find the remainder when $m + n$ is divided by $1000$.

In the classroom of at least four students the following holds: no matter which four of them take seats around a round table, there is always someone who either knows both of his neighbours, or does not know either of his neighbours. Prove that it is possible to divide the students into two groups such that in one of them, all students know one another, and in the other, none of the students know each other. (Note: if student A knows student B, then student B knows student A as well.)

The positive integers are partitioned into two infinite sets so that the sum of any $2023$ distinct integers in one set is also in that set. Prove that one set contains all the odd positive integers, and one set contains all the even positive integers. [i]Proposed by Evan Chang (squareman), USA[/i]

There are given $2^{500}$ points on a circle labeled $1,2,\ldots ,2^{500}$ in some order. Prove that one can choose $100$ pairwise disjoint chords joining some of theses points so that the $100$ sums of the pairs of numbers at the endpoints of the chosen chord are equal.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Jadzia has to write all integers from $1$ to $2n-1$ on a board, and she writes each integer in blue or red color. We say that pair of numbers $i,j\in \{1,2,3,...,2n-1\}$, where $i\leqslant j$, is $\textit{good}$ if and only if number of blue numbers among $i,i+1,...,j$ is odd. Determine, in terms of $n$, maximal number of good pairs.

The National Marriage Council wishes to invite $n$ couples to form 17 discussion groups under the following conditions: (1) All members of a group must be of the same sex; i.e. they are either all male or all female. (2) The difference in the size of any two groups is 0 or 1. (3) All groups have at least 1 member. (4) Each person must belong to one and only one group. Find all values of $n$, $n \leq 1996$, for which this is possible. Justify your answer.

Let $n \ge 3$ be an integer. A finite number of disjoint arcs with the total sum of length $1 -\frac{1}{n}$ are given on a circle of perimeter $1$. Prove that there is a regular $n$-gon whose all vertices lie on the considered arcs

A company with $2004$ workers celebrated its anniversary by inviting everyone to a lunch served at a round table. When the $2004$ workers sat around this table, they formed a circle of people and soon discovered that they all had salaries. different and also that the difference between the salaries of any two neighbors, at the round table, was $2000$ or $3000$ pesos. Calculate the maximum difference that can exist between the wages of these workers.

You enter an elevator on floor $0$ of a building with some other people, and request to go to floor $10$. In order to be efficient, it doesn’t stop at adjacent floors (so, if it’s at floor $0$, its next stop cannot be floor $ 1$). Given that the elevator will stop at floor $10$, no matter what other floors it stops at, how many combinations of stops are there for the elevator?

Let $n$ be a positive integer. A regular hexagon with side length $n$ is divided into equilateral triangles with side length $1$ by lines parallel to its sides. Find the number of regular hexagons all of whose vertices are among the vertices of those equilateral triangles. [i]UK - Sahl Khan[/i]