Given $ n$ countries with three representatives each, $ m$ committees $ A(1),A(2), \ldots, A(m)$ are called a cycle if [i](i)[/i] each committee has $ n$ members, one from each country; [i](ii)[/i] no two committees have the same membership; [i](iii)[/i] for $ i \equal{} 1, 2, \ldots,m$, committee $ A(i)$ and committee $ A(i \plus{} 1)$ have no member in common, where $ A(m \plus{} 1)$ denotes $ A(1);$ [i](iv)[/i] if $ 1 < |i \minus{} j| < m \minus{} 1,$ then committees $ A(i)$ and $ A(j)$ have at least one member in common. Is it possible to have a cycle of 1990 committees with 11 countries?

Find the coefficient of $a^5b^5c^5d^6$ in the expansion of the following expression $(bcd +acd +abd +abc)^7$

One thousand students participate in the $2011$ Canadian Closed Mathematics Challenge. Each student is assigned a unique three-digit identification number $abc,$ where each of $a, b$ and $c$ is a digit between $0$ and $9,$ inclusive. Later, when the contests are marked, a number of markers will be hired. Each of the markers will be given a unique two-digit identification number $xy,$ with each of $x$ and $y$ a digit between $0$ and $9,$ inclusive. Marker $xy$ will be able to mark any contest with an identification number of the form $xyA$ or $xAy$ or $Axy,$ for any digit $A.$ What is the minimum possible number of markers to be hired to ensure that all contests will be marked?

The rectangular table has four rows. The first one contains arbitrary natural numbers (some of them may be equal). The consecutive lines are filled according to the rule: we look through the previous row from left to the certain number $n$ and write the number $k$ if $n$ was met $k$ times. Prove that the second row coincides with the fourth one.

A deck of $52$ cards is stacked in a pile facing down. Tom takes the small pile consisting of the seven cards on the top of the deck, turns it around, and places it at the bottom of the deck. All cards are again in one pile, but not all of them face down, since the seven cards at the bottom now face up. Tom repeats this move until all cards face down again. In total, how many moves did Tom make?

[b]p1.[/b] In the following $3$ by $3$ grid, $a, b, c$ are numbers such that the sum of each row is listed at the right and the sum of each column is written below it: [center][img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/d/9/4f6fd2bc959c25e49add58e6e09a7b7eed9346.png[/img][/center] What is $n$? [b]p2.[/b] Suppose in your sock drawer of $14$ socks there are 5 different colors and $3$ different lengths present. One day, you decide you want to wear two socks that have both different colors and different lengths. Given only this information, what is the maximum number of choices you might have? [b]p3.[/b] The population of Arveymuddica is $2014$, which is divided into some number of equal groups. During an election, each person votes for one of two candidates, and the person who was voted for by $2/3$ or more of the group wins. When neither candidate gets $2/3$ of the vote, no one wins the group. The person who wins the most groups wins the election. What should the size of the groups be if we want to minimize the minimum total number of votes required to win an election? [b]p4.[/b] A farmer learns that he will die at the end of the year (day $365$, where today is day $0$) and that he has a number of sheep. He decides that his utility is given by ab where a is the money he makes by selling his sheep (which always have a fixed price) and $b$ is the number of days he has left to enjoy the profit; i.e., $365-k$ where $k$ is the day. If every day his sheep breed and multiply their numbers by $103/101$ (yes, there are small, fractional sheep), on which day should he sell them all? [b]p5.[/b] Line segments $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{AC}$ are tangent to a convex arc $BC$ and $\angle BAC = \frac{\pi}{3}$ . If $\overline{AB} = \overline{AC} = 3\sqrt3$, find the length of arc $BC$. [b]p6.[/b] Suppose that you start with the number $8$ and always have two legal moves: $\bullet$ Square the number $\bullet$ Add one if the number is divisible by $8$ or multiply by $4$ otherwise How many sequences of $4$ moves are there that return to a multiple of $8$? [b]p7.[/b] A robot is shuffling a $9$ card deck. Being very well machined, it does every shuffle in exactly the same way: it splits the deck into two piles, one containing the $5$ cards from the bottom of the deck and the other with the $4$ cards from the top. It then interleaves the cards from the two piles, starting with a card from the bottom of the larger pile at the bottom of the new deck, and then alternating cards from the two piles while maintaining the relative order of each pile. The top card of the new deck will be the top card of the bottom pile. The robot repeats this shuffling procedure a total of n times, and notices that the cards are in the same order as they were when it started shuffling. What is the smallest possible value of $n$? [b]p8.[/b] A secant line incident to a circle at points $A$ and $C$ intersects the circle's diameter at point $B$ with a $45^o$ angle. If the length of $AB$ is $1$ and the length of $BC$ is $7$, then what is the circle's radius? [b]p9.[/b] If a complex number $z$ satisfies $z + 1/z = 1$, then what is $z^{96} + 1/z^{96}$? [b]p10.[/b] Let $a, b$ be two acute angles where $\tan a = 5 \tan b$. Find the maximum possible value of $\sin (a - b)$. [b]p11.[/b] A pyramid, represented by $SABCD$ has parallelogram $ABCD$ as base ($A$ is across from $C$) and vertex $S$. Let the midpoint of edge $SC$ be $P$. Consider plane $AMPN$ where$ M$ is on edge $SB$ and $N$ is on edge $SD$. Find the minimum value $r_1$ and maximum value $r_2$ of $\frac{V_1}{V_2}$ where $V_1$ is the volume of pyramid $SAMPN$ and $V_2$ is the volume of pyramid $SABCD$. Express your answer as an ordered pair $(r_1, r_2)$. [b]p12.[/b] A $5 \times 5$ grid is missing one of its main diagonals. In how many ways can we place $5$ pieces on the grid such that no two pieces share a row or column? [b]p13.[/b] There are $20$ cities in a country, some of which have highways connecting them. Each highway goes from one city to another, both ways. There is no way to start in a city, drive along the highways of the country such that you travel through each city exactly once, and return to the same city you started in. What is the maximum number of roads this country could have? [b]p14.[/b] Find the area of the cyclic quadrilateral with side lengths given by the solutions to $$x^4-10x^3+34x^2- 45x + 19 = 0.$$ [b]p15.[/b] Suppose that we know $u_{0,m} = m^2 + m$ and $u_{1,m} = m^2 + 3m$ for all integers $m$, and that $$u_{n-1,m} + u_{n+1,m} = u_{n,m-1} + u_{n,m+1}$$ Find $u_{30,-5}$. PS. You had better use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

We are given $2001$ lines in the plane, no two of which are parallel and no three of which are concurrent. These lines partition the plane into regions (not necessarily finite) bounded by segments of these lines. These segments are called [i]sides[/i], and the collection of the regions is called a [i]map[/i]. Intersection points of the lines are called [i]vertices[/i]. Two regions are [i]neighbors [/i]if they share a side, and two vertices are neighbors if they lie on the same side. A [i]legal coloring[/i] of the regions (resp. vertices) is a coloring in which each region (resp. vertex) receives one color, such that any two neighboring regions (vertices) have different colors. (a) What is the minimum number of colors required for a legal coloring of the regions? (b) What is the minimum number of colors required for a legal coloring of the vertices?

Ann and Bob play a game on the edges of an infinite square grid, playing in turns. Ann plays the first move. A move consists of orienting any edge that has not yet been given an orientation. Bob wins if at any point a cycle has been created. Does Bob have a winning strategy?

Brandon wants to split his orchestra of $20$ violins, $15$ violas, $10$ cellos, and $5$ basses into three distinguishable groups, where all of the players of each instrument are indistinguishable. He wants each group to have at least one of each instrument and for each group to have more violins than violas, more violas than cellos, and more cellos than basses. How many ways are there for Brandon to split his orchestra following these conditions?

Two players in turns color the sides of an $n$-gon. The first player colors any side that has $0$ or $2$ common vertices with already colored sides. The second player colors any side that has exactly $1$ common vertex with already colored sides. The player who cannot move, loses. For which $n$ the second player has a winning strategy?

In each of the $9$ small circles of the following figure we write positive integers less than $10$, without repetitions. In addition, it is true that the sum of the $5$ numbers located around each one of the $3$ circles is always equal to $S$. Find the largest possible value of $S$. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/6/6/2db2c1ac7f45022606fb0099f24e6287977d10.png[/img]

May the points of a disc of radius $1$ (including its circumference) be partitioned into three subsets in such a way that no subset contains two points separated by a distance $1$?

For a convex $n$-gon $P_n$, we say that a convex quadrangle $Q$ is a [i]diagonal-quadrangle[/i] of $P_n$, if its vertices are vertices of $P_n$ and its sides are diagonals of $P_n$. Let $d_n$ be the number of diagonal-quadrangles of a convex $n$-gon. Determine $d_n$ for all $n\geq 8$.

Let $n$ be an integer greater than or equal to $2$. There are $n$ people in one line, each of which is either a [i]scoundrel[/i] (who always lie) or a [i]knight[/i] (who always tells the truth). Every person, except the first, indicates a person in front of him/her and says "This person is a scoundrel" or "This person is a knight." Knowing that there are strictly more scoundrel than knights, seeing the statements show that it is possible to determine each person whether he/she is a scoundrel or a knight.

How many sequences $ a_1,a_2,...,a{}_2{}_0{}_0{}_8$ are there such that each of the numbers $ 1,2,...,2008$ occurs once in the sequence, and $ i \in (a_1,a_2,...,a_i)$ for each $ i$ such that $ 2\le i \le2008$?

1007 distinct potatoes are chosen independently and randomly from a box of 2016 potatoes numbered $1, 2, \dots, 2016$, with $p$ being the smallest chosen potato. Then, potatoes are drawn one at a time from the remaining 1009 until the first one with value $q < p$ is drawn. If no such $q$ exists, let $S = 1$. Otherwise, let $S = pq$. Then given that the expected value of $S$ can be expressed as simplified fraction $\tfrac{m}{n}$, find $m+n$.

Let $P$ and $Q$ be two distinct points in the plane. Let us denote by $m(PQ)$ the segment bisector of $PQ$. Let $S$ be a finite subset of the plane, with more than one element, that satisfies the following properties: (i) If $P$ and $Q$ are in $S$, then $m(PQ)$ intersects $S$. (ii) If $P_1Q_1, P_2Q_2, P_3Q_3$ are three diferent segments such that its endpoints are points of $S$, then, there is non point in $S$ such that it intersects the three lines $m(P_1Q_1)$, $m(P_2Q_2)$, and $m(P_3Q_3)$. Find the number of points that $S$ may contain.

Let $n\geqslant 3$ be a positive integer and $\mathcal F$ be a family of at most $n$ distinct subsets of the set $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ with the following property: we can consider $n$ distinct points in the plane, labelled $1,2,\ldots,n$ and draw segments connecting these points such that points $i$ and $j$ are connected if and only if $i{}$ belongs to $j$ subsets in $\mathcal F$ for any $i\neq j.$ Determine the maximal value that the sum of the cardinalities of the subsets in $\mathcal{F}$ can take.

Some friends formed $6$ football teams, and decided to hold a tournament where each team faces each other exactly once in a match. In each match, whoever wins gets $3$ points, whoever loses gets no points, and if the two teams draw, each gets $1$ point. At the end of the tournament, it was found that the teams' scores were $10$, $9$, $6$, $6$, $4$ and $2$ points. Regarding this tournament, answer the following items, justifying your answer in each one. (a) How many matches ended in a draw in the tournament? (b) Determine, for each of the $6$ teams, the number of wins, draws and losses. (c) If we consider only the matches played between the team that scored $9$ points against the two teams that scored $6$ points, and the one played between the two teams that scored $6$ points, explain why among these three matches, there are at least $2$ draws.

An $ (n, k) \minus{}$ tournament is a contest with $ n$ players held in $ k$ rounds such that: $ (i)$ Each player plays in each round, and every two players meet at most once. $ (ii)$ If player $ A$ meets player $ B$ in round $ i$, player $ C$ meets player $ D$ in round $ i$, and player $ A$ meets player $ C$ in round $ j$, then player $ B$ meets player $ D$ in round $ j$. Determine all pairs $ (n, k)$ for which there exists an $ (n, k) \minus{}$ tournament. [i]Proposed by Carlos di Fiore, Argentina[/i]

Given a positive integer $n$, let $M$ be the set of all points in space with integer coordinates $(a, b, c)$ such that $0 \le a, b, c \le n$. A frog must go to the point $(0, 0, 0)$ to the point $(n, n, n)$ according to the following rules: $\bullet$ The frog can only jump to points of M. $\bullet$ In each jump, the frog can go from point $(a, b, c)$ to one of the following points: $(a + 1, b, c)$, $(a, b + 1, c)$, $(a, b, c + 1)$, or $(a, b, c - 1)$. $\bullet$ The frog cannot pass through the same point more than once. In how many different ways can the frog achieve its goal?

Determine all integers $m$, for which it is possible to dissect the square $m\times m$ into five rectangles, with the side lengths being the integers $1, 2, … ,10$ in some order.

Let $n$ be a positive integer and $N=n^{2021}$. There are $2021$ concentric circles centered at $O$, and $N$ equally-spaced rays are emitted from point $O$. Among the $2021N$ intersections of the circles and the rays, some are painted red while the others remain unpainted. It is known that, no matter how one intersection point from each circle is chosen, there is an angle $\theta$ such that after a rotation of $\theta$ with respect to $O$, all chosen points are moved to red points. Prove that the minimum number of red points is $2021n^{2020}$. [I]Proposed by usjl.[/i]

Given positive integers $k, m, n$ such that $1 \leq k \leq m \leq n$. Evaluate \[\sum^{n}_{i=0} \frac{(-1)^i}{n+k+i} \cdot \frac{(m+n+i)!}{i!(n-i)!(m+i)!}.\]

Given a finite set $B$ of points in space, any two distances between the points of this set are different. Each point of the set $B$ is connected by a line segment to the closest point of the set $B$. This way we will get a set of sections, one of which (any chosen one) we paint red, all the remaining sections we paint green. Prove that there are two points of the set $B$ that cannot be connected by a line composed of green segments.