Let $n\geqslant 2$ be a positive integer. Paul has a $1\times n^2$ rectangular strip consisting of $n^2$ unit squares, where the $i^{\text{th}}$ square is labelled with $i$ for all $1\leqslant i\leqslant n^2$. He wishes to cut the strip into several pieces, where each piece consists of a number of consecutive unit squares, and then [i]translate[/i] (without rotating or flipping) the pieces to obtain an $n\times n$ square satisfying the following property: if the unit square in the $i^{\text{th}}$ row and $j^{\text{th}}$ column is labelled with $a_{ij}$, then $a_{ij}-(i+j-1)$ is divisible by $n$. Determine the smallest number of pieces Paul needs to make in order to accomplish this.

An alien race has three genders: male, female and emale. A married triple consists of three persons, one from each gender who all like each other. Any person is allowed to belong to at most one married triple. The feelings are always mutual ( if $x$ likes $y$ then $y$ likes $x$). The race wants to colonize a planet and sends $n$ males, $n$ females and $n$ emales. Every expedition member likes at least $k$ persons of each of the two other genders. The problem is to create as many married triples so that the colony could grow. a) Prove that if $n$ is even and $k\geq 1/2$ then there might be no married triple. b) Prove that if $k \geq 3n/4$ then there can be formed $n$ married triple ( i.e. everybody is in a triple).

On a board there are $2022$ numbers: $1,\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{3},\frac{1}{4},\dots,\frac{1}{2022}$. During a $move$ two numbers are chosen, $a$ and $b$, they are erased and $a+b+ab$ is written in their place. The moves take place until only one number is left on the board. What are the possible values of this number?

Arne has $2n + 1$ tickets. Each card has one number on it. One card has the number $0$ on it. The natural numbers $1, 2, . . . , n$ occur on exactly two cards each. Prove that Arne can arrange cards in a row so that there are exactly $m$ cards between the two cards with the number $m$, for every $m \in \{1, 2, . . . , n\}$.

The game of $pebbles$ is played on an infinite board of lattice points $(i,j)$. Initially there is a $pebble$ at $(0,0)$. A move consists of removing a $pebble$ from point $(i,j)$and placing a $pebble$ at each of the points $(i+1,j)$ and $(i,j+1)$ provided both are vacant. Show taht at any stage of the game there is a $pebble$ at some lattice point $(a,b)$ with $0 \leq a+b \leq 3$

There are $n$ cities in a country, where $n \geq 100$ is an integer. Some pairs of cities are connected by direct (two-way) flights. For two cities $A$ and $B$ we define: $(i)$ A $\emph{path}$ between $A$ and $B$ as a sequence of distinct cities $A = C_0, C_1, \dots, C_k, C_{k+1} = B$, $k \geq 0$, such that there are direct flights between $C_i$ and $C_{i+1}$ for every $0 \leq i \leq k$; $(ii)$ A $\emph{long path}$ between $A$ and $B$ as a path between $A$ and $B$ such that no other path between $A$ and $B$ has more cities; $(iii)$ A $\emph{short path}$ between $A$ and $B$ as a path between $A$ and $B$ such that no other path between $A$ and $B$ has fewer cities. Assume that for any pair of cities $A$ and $B$ in the country, there exist a long path and a short path between them that have no cities in common (except $A$ and $B$). Let $F$ be the total number of pairs of cities in the country that are connected by direct flights. In terms of $n$, find all possible values $F$ Proposed by David-Andrei Anghel, Romania.

Each of the $n^2$ cells of an $n \times n$ grid is colored either black or white. Let $a_i$ denote the number of white cells in the $i$-th row, and let $b_i$ denote the number of black cells in the $i$-th column. Determine the maximum value of $\sum_{i=1}^n a_ib_i$ over all coloring schemes of the grid. [i]Proposed by Alex Zhai[/i]

Prove that for any four points in the plane, no three of which are collinear, there exists a circle such that three of the four points are on the circumference and the fourth point is either on the circumference or inside the circle.

Lamps of the hall switch by only five keys. Every key is connected to one or more lamp(s). By switching every key, all connected lamps will be switched too. We know that no two keys have same set of connected lamps with each other. At first all of the lamps are off. Prove that someone can switch just three keys to turn at least two lamps on.

For each integer sequence $a_1, a_2, a_3, \dots, a_n$, a [i]single parity swapping[/i] is to choose $2$ terms in this sequence, say $a_i$ and $a_j$, such that $a_i + a_j$ is odd, then switch their placement, while the other terms stay in place. This creates a new sequence. Find the minimal number of single parity swapping to transform the sequence $1,2,3, \dots, 2025$ to $2025, \dots, 3, 2, 1$, using only single parity swapping.

A permutation $a_1,a_2,\cdots ,a_6$ of numbers $1,2,\cdots ,6$ can be transformed to $1,2,\cdots,6$ by transposing two numbers exactly four times. Find the number of such permutations.

There are a lot of different real numbers written on the board. It turned out that for each two numbers written, their product was also written. What is the largest possible number of numbers written on the board?

Prove that numbers $1,2,...,16$ can be divided in sequence such that sum of any two neighboring numbers is perfect square

Assume integer $m \geq 2.$ There are $3m$ people in a meeting, any two of them either shake hands with each other once or not.We call the meeting "$n$-interesting", only if there exists $n(n\leq 3m-1)$ people of them, the time everyone of whom shakes hands with other $3m-1$ people is exactly $1,2,\cdots,n,$ respectively. If in any "$n$-interesting" meeting, there exists $3$ people of them who shake hands with each other, find the minimum value of $n.$

Let $G$ be a simple graph with 100 vertices such that for each vertice $u$, there exists a vertice $v \in N \left ( u \right )$ and $ N \left ( u \right ) \cap N \left ( v \right ) = \o $. Try to find the maximal possible number of edges in $G$. The $ N \left ( . \right )$ refers to the neighborhood.

We number both the rows and the columns of an $8 \times 8$ chessboard with the numbers $1$ to $8$. Some grains of rice are placed on each square, in such a way that the number of grains on each square is equal to the product of the row and column numbers of the square. How many grains of rice are there on the entire chessboard?

[u]Round 6 [/u] [b]p16.[/b] Let $a$ be a solution to $x^3 -x +1 = 0$. Find $a^6 -a^2 +2a$. [b]p17.[/b] For a positive integer $n$, $\phi (n)$ is the number of positive integers less than $n$ that are relatively prime to $n$. Compute the sum of all $n$ for which $\phi (n) = 24$. [b]p18.[/b] Let $x$ be a positive integer such that $x^2 \equiv 57$ (mod $59$). Find the least possible value of $x$. [u]Round 7[/u] [b]p19.[/b] In the diagram below, find the number of ways to color each vertex red, green, yellow or blue such that no two vertices of a triangle have the same color. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/e/01418af242c7e2c095a53dd23e997b8d1f3686.png[/img] [b]p20.[/b] In a set with $n$ elements, the sum of the number of ways to choose $3$ or $4$ elements is a multiple of the sumof the number of ways to choose $1$ or $2$ elements. Find the number of possible values of $n$ between $4$ and $120$ inclusive. [b]p21.[/b] In unit square $ABCD$, let $\Gamma$ be the locus of points $P$ in the interior of $ABCD$ such that $2AP < BP$. The area of $\Gamma$ can be written as $\frac{a\pi +b\sqrt{c}}{d}$ for integers $a,b,c,d$ with $c$ squarefree and $gcd(a,b,d) = 1$. Find $1000000a +10000b +100c +d$. [u]Round 8 [/u] [b]p22.[/b] Ephram, GammaZero, and Orz walk into a bar. Each write some permutation of the letters “LMT” once, then concatenate their permutations one after the other (i.e. LTMTLMTLM would be a possible string, but not LLLMMMTTT). Suppose that the probability that the string “LMT” appears in that order among the new $9$-character string can be written as $\frac{A}{B}$ for relatively prime positive integers $A$ and $B$. Find $1000A+B$. [b]p23.[/b] In $\vartriangle ABC$ with side lengths $AB = 27$, $BC = 35$, and $C A = 32$, let $D$ be the point at which the incircle is tangent to $BC$. The value of $\frac{\sin \angle C AD }{\sin\angle B AD}$ can be expressed as $\frac{A}{B}$ for relatively prime positive integers $A$ and $B$. Find $1000A+B$. [b]p24.[/b] Let $A$ be the greatest possible area of a square contained in a regular hexagon with side length $1$. Let B be the least possible area of a square that contains a regular hexagon with side length $1$. The value of $B-A$ can be expressed as $a\sqrt{b}-c$ for positive integers $a$, $b$, and $c$ with $b$ squarefree. Find $10000a +100b +c$. [u]Round 9[/u] [b]p25.[/b] Estimate how many days before today this problem was written. If your estimation is $E$ and the actual answer is $A$, you will receive $\max \left( \left \lfloor 10 - \left| \frac{E-A}{2} \right| \right \rfloor , 0 \right)$ points. [b]p26.[/b] Circle $\omega_1$ is inscribed in unit square $ABCD$. For every integer $1 < n \le 10,000$, $\omega_n$ is defined as the largest circle which can be drawn inside $ABCD$ that does not overlap the interior of any of $\omega_1$,$\omega_2$, $...$,$\omega_{n-1}$ (If there are multiple such $\omega_n$ that can be drawn, one is chosen at random). Let r be the radius of ω10,000. Estimate $\frac{1}{r}$ . If your estimation is $E$ and the actual answer is $A$, you will receive $\max \left( \left \lfloor 10 - \left| \frac{E-A}{200} \right| \right \rfloor , 0 \right)$ points. [b]p27.[/b] Answer with a positive integer less than or equal to $20$. We will compare your response with the response of every other team that answered this problem. When two equal responses are compared, neither team wins. When two unequal responses $A > B$ are compared, $A$ wins if $B | A$, and $B$ wins otherwise. If your team wins n times, you will receive $\left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor$ points. PS. You should use hide for answers. Rounds 1-5 have been posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h3167135p28823324]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Let $S = \{A_1,A_2,\ldots ,A_k\}$ be a collection of subsets of an $n$-element set $A$. If for any two elements $x, y \in A$ there is a subset $A_i \in S$ containing exactly one of the two elements $x$, $y$, prove that $2^k\geq n$. [i]Yugoslavia[/i]

The King gives the following task to his two wizards. The First Wizard should choose $7$ distinct positive integers with total sum $100$ and secretly submit them to the King. To the Second Wizard he should tell only the fourth largest number. The Second Wizard must figure out all the chosen numbers. Can the wizards succeed for sure? The wizards cannot discuss their strategy beforehand. (Mikhail Evdokimov)

Prinstan Trollner and Dukejukem are competing at the game show WASS. Both players spin a wheel which chooses an integer from $1$ to $50$ uniformly at random, and this number becomes their score. Dukejukem then flips a weighted coin that lands heads with probability $\tfrac{3}{5}$. If he flips heads, he adds $1$ to his score. A player wins the game if their score is higher than the other player's score. A player wins the game if their score is higher than the other player's score. The probability Dukejukem defeats the Trollner to win WASS equals $\tfrac{m}{n}$ where $m$ and $n$ are coprime positive integers. Computer $m+n$.

The Integration Premier League has $n$ teams competing. The tournament follows a round-robin system, that is, where every pair of teams play each other exactly once. So every team plays exactly $n-1$ matches. The top $m \leq n$ temas at the end of the tournament qualify for the playoffs. Assume there are no tied matches. Let $A(m,n)$ be the minimum number of matches a team has to win to gurantee selection for the playoffs, regardless of what their run rate is. For example, $A(n,n) = 0$ (everyone qualifies anyway so no need to win!) and $A(1,n) = n-1$ (even if you lose to just one other team, they might defeat everyone and qualify instead of you). Answer the following: $(A)$ FInd the value of $A(2,4),A(2,6)$ and $A(4,10)$ with proof (explain why a smaller value can still lead to the team not qualifying, and show that the respective values themselves are enough). $(B)$ Show that $A(n-1,n) = \frac{n}{2}$ when $n$ even and $ = \frac{n+1}{2}$ when $n$ odd. $(C)$ For bonus marks, try to find a general pattern for $A(m,n)$.

In a company of people some pairs are enemies. A group of people is called [i]unsociable[/i] if the number of members in the group is odd and at least $3$, and it is possible to arrange all its members around a round table so that every two neighbors are enemies. Given that there are at most $2015$ unsociable groups, prove that it is possible to partition the company into $11$ parts so that no two enemies are in the same part. [i]Proposed by Russia[/i]

At the math contest each participant met at least $3$ pals who he/she already knew. Prove that the Jury can choose an even number of participants (more than two) and arrange them around a table so that each participant be set between these who he/she knows.

Five circles in a row are each labeled with a positive integer. As shown in the diagram, each circle is connected to its adjacent neighbor(s). The integers must be chosen such that the sum of the digits of the neighbor(s) of a given circle is equal to the number labeling that point. In the example, the second number $23 = (1+8)+(5+9)$, but the other four numbers do not have the needed value. [img]https://services.artofproblemsolving.com/download.php?id=YXR0YWNobWVudHMvMi9lL2M2MzVkMmMyYTRlZjliNWEzYWNkOTM2OGVmY2NkOGZmOWVkN2VmLnBuZw==&rn=MjAxMSBCQU1PIDIucG5n[/img] What is the smallest possible sum of the five numbers? How many possible arrangements of the five numbers have this sum? Justify your answers.

On a table are given $n$ markers, each of which is denoted by an integer. At any time, if some two markers are denoted with the same number, say $k$, we can redenote one of them with $k +1$ and the other one with $k -1$. Prove that after a finite number of moves all the markers will be denoted with different numbers.