Let $n$ and $a \leq n$ be two positive integers. There's $2n$ people sitting around a circle reqularly. Two people are friend iff one of their distance in the circle is $a$(that is , $a-1$ people are between them). Find all integers $a$ in terms of $n$ st we can choose $n$ of these people , no two of them positioned in front of each other(means they're not antipodes of each other in the circle) and the total friendship between them is an odd number.

The archipelago Barrantes - $n$ is a group of islands connected by bridges as follows: there are a main island (Humberto), in the first step I place an island below Humberto and one above from Humberto and I connect these 2 islands to Humberto. I put $2$ islands to the left of these $2$ new islands and I connect them with a bridge to the island that they have on their right. In the second step I take the last $2$ islands and I apply the same process that I applied to Humberto. In the third step I apply the same process to the $4$ new islands. We repeat this step n times we reflect the archipelago that we have on a vertical line to the right of Humberto. We connect Humberto with his reflection and so we have the archipelago Barrantes -$n$. However, the archipelago Barrantes -$n$ exists on a small planet cylindrical, so that the islands to the left of the archipelago are in fact the islands that are connected to the islands on the right. The figure shows the Barrantes archipelago -$2$, The islands at the edges are still numbered to show how the archipelago connects around the cylindrical world, the island numbered $1$ on the left is the same as the island numbered $1$ on the right. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/c/803d95ce742c2739729fdb4d74af59d4d0652f.png[/img] One day two bands of pirates arrive at the archipelago Barrantes - $n$: The pirates Black Beard and the Straw Hat Pirates. Blackbeard proposes a game to Straw Hat: The first player conquers an island, the next player must conquer an island connected to the island that was conquered in the previous turn (clearly not conquered on a previous shift). The one who cannot conquer any island in his turn loses. Straw Hat decides to give the first turn to Blackbeard. Prove that Straw Hat has a winning strategy for every $n$.

A set of $n$ points in Euclidean 3-dimensional space, no four of which are coplanar, is partitioned into two subsets $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$. An $\mathcal{AB}$-tree is a configuration of $n-1$ segments, each of which has an endpoint in $\mathcal{A}$ and an endpoint in $\mathcal{B}$, and such that no segments form a closed polyline. An $\mathcal{AB}$-tree is transformed into another as follows: choose three distinct segments $A_1B_1$, $B_1A_2$, and $A_2B_2$ in the $\mathcal{AB}$-tree such that $A_1$ is in $\mathcal{A}$ and $|A_1B_1|+|A_2B_2|>|A_1B_2|+|A_2B_1|$, and remove the segment $A_1B_1$ to replace it by the segment $A_1B_2$. Given any $\mathcal{AB}$-tree, prove that every sequence of successive transformations comes to an end (no further transformation is possible) after finitely many steps.

Let $g(k)$ be the number of partitions of a $k$-element set $M$, i.e., the number of families $\{ A_1,A_2,\ldots ,A_s\}$ of nonempty subsets of $M$ such that $A_i\cap A_j=\emptyset$ for $i\not= j$ and $\bigcup_{i=1}^n A_i=M$. Prove that, for every $n$, \[n^n\le g(2n)\le (2n)^{2n}\]

For each positive integer $n$ (written with no leading zeros), let $t(n)$ equal the number formed by reversing the digits of $n$. For example, $t(461) = 164$ and $t(560) = 65$. For how many three-digit positive integers $m$ is $m + t(t(m))$ odd? [i]Proposed by David Altizio[/i]

In a sports meeting a total of $m$ medals were awarded over $n$ days. On the first day one medal and $\frac{1}{7}$ of the remaining medals were awarded. On the second day two medals and $\frac{1}{7}$ of the remaining medals were awarded, and so on. On the last day, the remaining $n$ medals were awarded. How many medals did the meeting last, and what was the total number of medals ?

The numbers from 1 to 360 are partitioned into 9 subsets of consecutive integers and the sums of the numbers in each subset are arranged in the cells of a $3 \times 3$ square. Is it possible that the square turns out to be a magic square? Remark: A magic square is a square in which the sums of the numbers in each row, in each column and in both diagonals are all equal.

When planning a trip from Temuco to the extreme north of the country, a truck driver notices that to cross the Atacama desert you must cross a distance of $800$ km between two stations consecutive service. Your truck can only store $50$ liters of benzene, and has a yield of $10$ km per liter. The trucker can leave gasoline stored in cans on the side of the road in different points along the way. For example, with an initial total charge of $50$ liters you can travel $100$ km, leave $30$ liters stored at the point you reached, and return to the starting point (with zero load) to refuel. The trucker decides to start the trip and arrives at the first service station with a zero load of fuel. a) Can the trucker cross the desert if at this service station the total supply is $140$ liters? b) Can the trucker cross the desert if the total supply of gasoline at the station is $180$ liters?

Ahmad and Salem play the following game. Ahmad writes two integers (not necessarily different) on a board. Salem writes their sum and product. Ahmad does the same thing: he writes the sum and product of the two numbers which Salem has just written. They continue in this manner, not stopping unless the two players write the same two numbers one after the other (for then they are stuck!). The order of the two numbers which each player writes is not important. Thus if Ahmad starts by writing $3$ and $-2$, the first five moves (or steps) are as shown: (a) Step 1 (Ahmad) $3$ and $-2$ (b) Step 2 (Salem) $1$ and $-6$ (c) Step 3 (Ahmad) $-5$ and $-6$ (d) Step 4 (Salem) $-11$ and $30$ (e) Step 5 (Ahmad) $19$ and $-330$ (i) Describe all pairs of numbers that Ahmad could write, and ensure that Salem must write the same numbers, and so the game stops at step 2. (ii) What pair of integers should Ahmad write so that the game finishes at step 4? (iii) Describe all pairs of integers which Ahmad could write at step 1, so that the game will finish after finitely many steps. (iv) Ahmad and Salem decide to change the game. The first player writes three numbers on the board, $u, v$ and $w$. The second player then writes the three numbers $u + v + w,uv + vw + wu$ and $uvw$, and they proceed as before, taking turns, and using this new rule describing how to work out the next three numbers. If Ahmad goes first, determine all collections of three numbers which he can write down, ensuring that Salem has to write the same three numbers at the next step.

[u]Round 9[/u] [b]p25.[/b] Let $S$ be the set of the first $2017$ positive integers. Find the number of elements $n \in S$ such that $\sum^n_{i=1} \left\lfloor \frac{n}{i} \right\rfloor$ is even. [b]p26.[/b] Let $\{x_n\}_{n \ge 0}$ be a sequence with $x_0 = 0$,$x_1 = \frac{1}{20}$ ,$x_2 = \frac{1}{17}$ ,$x_3 = \frac{1}{10}$ , and $x_n = \frac12 ((x_{n-2} +x_{n-4})$ for $n\ge 4$. Compute $$ \left\lfloor \frac{1}{x_{2017!} -x_{2017!-1}} \right\rfloor.$$ [b]p27.[/b] Let $ABCDE$ be be a cyclic pentagon. Given that $\angle CEB = 17^o$, find $\angle CDE + \angle EAB$, in degrees. [u]Round 10[/u] [b]p28.[/b] Let $S = \{1,2,4, ... ,2^{2016},2^{2017}\}$. For each $0 \le i \le 2017$, let $x_i$ be chosen uniformly at random from the subset of $S$ consisting of the divisors of $2^i$ . What is the expected number of distinct values in the set $\{x_0,x_1,x_2,... ,x_{2016},x_{2017}\}$? [b]p29.[/b] For positive real numbers $a$ and $b$, the points $(a, 0)$, $(20,17)$ and $(0,b)$ are collinear. Find the minimum possible value of $a+b$. [b]p30.[/b] Find the sum of the distinct prime factors of $2^{36}-1$. [u]Round 11[/u] [b]p31.[/b] There exist two angle bisectors of the lines $y = 20x$ and $y = 17x$ with slopes $m_1$ and $m_2$. Find the unordered pair $(m_1,m_2)$. [b]p32.[/b] Triangle 4ABC has sidelengths $AB = 13$, $BC = 14$, $C A =15$ and orthocenter $H$. Let $\Omega_1$ be the circle through $B$ and $H$, tangent to $BC$, and let $\Omega_2$ be the circle through $C$ and $H$, tangent to $BC$. Finally, let $R \ne H$ denote the second intersection of $\Omega_1$ and $\Omega_2$. Find the length $AR$. [b]p33.[/b] For a positive integer $n$, let $S_n = \{1,2,3, ...,n\}$ be the set of positive integers less than or equal to $n$. Additionally, let $$f (n) = |\{x \in S_n : x^{2017}\equiv x \,\, (mod \,\, n)\}|.$$ Find $f (2016)- f (2015)+ f (2014)- f (2013)$. [u]Round 12[/u] [b]p34. [/b] Estimate the value of $\sum^{2017}_{n=1} \phi (n)$, where $\phi (n)$ is the number of numbers less than or equal $n$ that are relatively prime to n. If your estimate is $E$ and the correct answer is $A$, your score for this problem will be max $\max \left(0,\lfloor 15 - 75 \frac{|A-E|}{A} \rceil \right).$ [b]p35.[/b] An up-down permutation of order $n$ is a permutation $\sigma$ of $(1,2,3, ..., n)$ such that $\sigma(i ) <\sigma (i +1)$ if and only if $i$ is odd. Denote by $P_n$ the number of up-down permutations of order $n$. Estimate the value of $P_{20} +P_{17}$. If your estimate is $E$ and the correct answer is $A$, your score for this problem will be $\max \left(0, 16 -\lceil \max \left(\frac{E}{A}, 2- \frac{E}{A}\right) \rceil \right).$ [b]p36.[/b] For positive integers $n$, superfactorial of $n$, denoted $n\$ $, is defined as the product of the first $n$ factorials. In other words, we have $n\$ = \prod^n_{i=1}(i !)$. Estimate the number of digits in the product $(20\$)\cdot (17\$)$. If your estimate is $E$ and the correct answer is $A$, your score for this problem will be $\max \left(0, \lfloor 15 -\frac12 |A-E| \rfloor \right).$ PS. You should use hide for answers. Rounds 1-4 have been posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h3158491p28715220]here [/url] and 5-8 [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h3158514p28715373]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Let $m$ be an integer, $m \ge 2$. Each student in a school is practising $m$ hobbies the most. Among any $m$ students there exist two students who have a common hobby. Find the smallest number of students for which there must exist a hobby which is practised by at least $3$ students .

On the plane are chosen six points. Prove that the ratio of the longest distance between two points to the shortest is at least $\sqrt3$.

Let $\mathbb{N} = \{1, 2, 3, \dots\}$ be the set of all positive integers, and let $f$ be a bijection from $\mathbb{N}$ to $\mathbb{N}$. Must there exist some positive integer $n$ such that $(f(1), f(2), \dots, f(n))$ is a permutation of $(1, 2, \dots, n)$?

An enormous party has an infinite number of people. Each two people either know or don't know each other. Given a positive integer $n$, prove there are $n$ people in the party such that either they all know each other, or nobody knows each other (so the first possibility means that if $A$ and $B$ are any two of the $n$ people, then $A$ knows $B$, whereas the second possibility means that if $A$ and $B$ are any two of the $n$ people, then $A$ does not know $B$).

The hostess takes a piece of meat from the fridge; kittens gather around her. Each minute, the hostess cuts a part from the piece and feeds it to one of the kittens (on her choice). Each time, the cut part is in the same proportion to the current piece. At some moment, the hostess puts the rest of the meat into the fridge. Can the hostess give the same amount of meat in total to each kitten if a) the number of kittens equals two; (3 marks) b) the number of kittens equals three? (7 marks)

We have $100$ cards with two sides, the [i]even[/i] and the [i]odd[/i]. In each side there are written two succesive integers, in the [i]odd[/i] side and odd integer and at the back in the [i]even[/i] side the even number that follows the odd number of the [i]odd[/i] side, such that all intgers from $1$ to $200$ are used. Student $A$ randomly choses $21$ cards and sums all the numbers of boths sides and announces as their sum the number $913$. Student $B$ randomly choses from the remaining cards $20$ cards and sums all the numbers of boths sides and announces as their sum the number $2400$. a) Explain why student $A$ has done an error in the addition. b) If the correct result for student $A$ is $903$, explain why also student $B$ has done an error in the addition.

[u]Round 1[/u] [b]p1.[/b] Five children, Aisha, Baesha, Cosha, Dasha, and Erisha, competed in running, jumping, and throwing. In each event, first place was won by someone from Renton, second place by someone from Seattle, and third place by someone from Tacoma. Aisha was last in running, Cosha was last in jumping, and Erisha was last in throwing. Could Baesha and Dasha be from the same city? [b]p2.[/b] Fifty-five Brits and Italians met in a coffee shop, and each of them ordered either coffee or tea. Brits tell the truth when they drink tea and lie when they drink coffee; Italians do it the other way around. A reporter ran a quick survey: Forty-four people answered “yes” to the question, “Are you drinking coffee?” Thirty-three people answered “yes” to the question, “Are you Italian?” Twenty-two people agreed with the statement, “It is raining outside.” How many Brits in the coffee shop are drinking tea? [b]p3.[/b] Doctor Strange is lost in a strange house with a large number of identical rooms, connected to each other in a loop. Each room has a light and a switch that could be turned on and off. The lights might initially be on in some rooms and off in others. How can Dr. Strange determine the number of rooms in the house if he is only allowed to switch lights on and off? [b]p4.[/b] Fifty street artists are scheduled to give solo shows with three consecutive acts: juggling, drumming, and gymnastics, in that order. Each artist will spend equal time on each of the three activities, but the lengths may be different for different artists. At least one artist will be drumming at every moment from dawn to dusk. A new law was just passed that says two artists may not drum at the same time. Show that it is possible to cancel some of the artists' complete shows, without rescheduling the rest, so that at least one show is going on at every moment from dawn to dusk, and the schedule complies with the new law. [b]p5.[/b] Alice and Bob split the numbers from $1$ to $12$ into two piles with six numbers in each pile. Alice lists the numbers in the first pile in increasing order as $a_1 < a_2 < a_3 < a_4 < a_5 < a_6$ and Bob lists the numbers in the second pile in decreasing order $b_1 > b_1 > b_3 > b_4 > b_5 > b_6$. Show that no matter how they split the numbers, $$|a_1 -b_1| + |a_2 -b_2| + |a_3 -b_3| + |a_4 -b_4| + |a_5 -b_5| + |a_6 -b_6| = 36.$$ [u]Round 2[/u] [b]p6.[/b] The Martian alphabet has ? letters. Marvin writes down a word and notices that within every sub-word (a contiguous stretch of letters) at least one letter occurs an odd number of times. What is the length of the longest possible word he could have written? [b]p7.[/b] For a long space journey, two astronauts with compatible personalities are to be selected from $24$ candidates. To find a good fit, each candidate was asked $24$ questions that required a simple yes or no answer. Two astronauts are compatible if exactly $12$ of their answers matched (that is, both answered yes or both answered no). Miraculously, every pair of these $24$ astronauts was compatible! Show that there were exactly $12$ astronauts whose answer to the question “Can you repair a flux capacitor?” was exactly the same as their answer to the question “Are you afraid of heights?” (that is, yes to both or no to both). PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

[b]p1.[/b] Two players play the following game. On the lowest left square of an $8\times 8$ chessboard there is a rook. The first player is allowed to move the rook up or to the right by an arbitrary number of squares. The second player is also allowed to move the rook up or to the right by an arbitrary number of squares. Then the first player is allowed to do this again, and so on. The one who moves the rook to the upper right square wins. Who has a winning strategy? [b]p2.[/b] In Crocodile Country there are banknotes of $1$ dollar, $10$ dollars, $100$ dollars, and $1,000$ dollars. Is it possible to get 1,000,000 dollars by using $250,000$ banknotes? [b]p3.[/b] Fifteen positive numbers (not necessarily whole numbers) are placed around the circle. It is known that the sum of every four consecutive numbers is $30$. Prove that each number is less than $15$. [b]p4.[/b] Donald Duck has $100$ sticks, each of which has length $1$ cm or $3$ cm. Prove that he can break into $2$ pieces no more than one stick, after which he can compose a rectangle using all sticks. [b]p5.[/b] Three consecutive $2$ digit numbers are written next to each other. It turns out that the resulting $6$ digit number is divisible by $17$. Find all such numbers. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Andrew and Barry play the following game: there are two heaps with $a$ and $b$ pebbles, respectively. In the first round Barry chooses a positive integer $k,$ and Andrew takes away $k$ pebbles from one of the two heaps (if $k$ is bigger than the number of pebbles in the heap, he takes away the complete heap). In the second round, the roles are reversed: Andrew chooses a positive integer and Barry takes away the pebbles from one of the two heaps. This goes on, in each round the two players are reversing the roles. The player that takes the last pebble loses the game. Which player has a winning strategy? [i]Submitted by András Imolay, Budapest[/i]

There are $n$ lamps $L_1, L_2, \dots, L_n$ arranged in a circle in that order. At any given time, each lamp is either [i]on[/i] or [i]off[/i]. Every second, each lamp undergoes a change according to the following rule: (a) For each lamp $L_i$, if $L_{i-1}, L_i, L_{i+1}$ have the same state in the previous second, then $L_i$ is [i]off[/i] right now. (Indices taken mod $n$.) (b) Otherwise, $L_i$ is [i]on[/i] right now. Initially, all the lamps are [i]off[/i], except for $L_1$ which is [i]on[/i]. Prove that for infinitely many integers $n$ all the lamps will be [i]off[/i] eventually, after a finite amount of time.

How many non-intersecting pairs of paths we have from (0,0) to (n,n) so that path can move two ways:top or right?

The polynomial $1976(x+x^2+ \cdots +x^n)$ is decomposed into a sum of polynomials of the form $a_1x + a_2x^2 + \cdots + a_nx^n$, where $a_1, a_2, \ldots , a_n$ are distinct positive integers not greater than $n$. Find all values of $n$ for which such a decomposition is possible.

Given a natural number $n\geqslant 2$, find the smallest possible number of edges in a graph that has the following property: for any coloring of the vertices of the graph in $n{}$ colors, there is a vertex that has at least two neighbors of the same color as itself.

Ten students are seated around a circular table. The teacher has a list of fifteen problems and each student is given six problems, in such a way that each problem is given exactly four times and any two students they have at most three problems in common. Prove that no matter how the teacher distributes the problems, there will always be two students sitting next to each other who have at least one problem in common.

We choose a random permutation of $1,2,\ldots,n$ with uniform distribution. Prove that the expected value of the length of the longest increasing subsequence in the permutation is at least $\sqrt{n}.$