Olympiad problems

2001 Singapore MO Open, 3

Tags: combinatorics , difference

Suppose that there are $2001$ golf balls which are numbered from $1$ to $2001$ respectively, and some of these golf balls are placed inside a box. It is known that the difference between the two numbers of any two golf balls inside the box is neither $5$ nor $8$. How many such golf balls the box can contain at most? Justify your answer.

2002 Cono Sur Olympiad, 5

Tags: combinatorics , number theory , maximum , difference

Consider the set $A = \{1, 2, ..., n\}$. For each integer $k$, let $r_k$ be the largest quantity of different elements of $A$ that we can choose so that the difference between two numbers chosen is always different from $k$. Determine the highest value possible of $r_k$, where $1 \le k \le \frac{n}{2}$

2017 Junior Balkan Team Selection Tests - Romania, 2

Tags: inequalities , number theory , difference , divisor

Let $n$ be a positive integer. For each of the numbers $1, 2,.., n$ we compute the difference between the number of its odd positive divisors and its even positive divisors. Prove that the sum of these differences is at least $0$ and at most $n$.

1994 All-Russian Olympiad Regional Round, 10.5

Tags: number theory , prime , difference

Find all primes that can be written both as a sum and as a difference of two primes (note that $ 1$ is not a prime).

2001 Estonia National Olympiad, 5

Tags: magic square , combinatorics , difference , sum , square table

A $3\times 3$ table is filled with real numbers in such a way that each number in the table is equal to the absolute value of the difference of the sum of numbers in its row and the sum of numbers in its column. (a) Show that any number in this table can be expressed as a sum or a difference of some two numbers in the table. (b) Show that there is such a table not all of whose entries are $0$.