Let $(f_i)$ be a sequence of functions defined by: $f_1(x)=x, f_n(x) = \sqrt{f_{n-1}(x)}-\dfrac14$. ($n\in \mathbb{N}, n\ge2$) (a) Prove that $f_n(x) \le f_{n-1}(x)$ for all x where both functions are defined. (b) Find for each $n$ the points of $x$ inside the domain for which $f_n(x)=x$.

Let $a,\ b$ be real numbers. Suppose that a function $f(x)$ satisfies $f(x)=a\sin x+b\cos x+\int_{-\pi}^{\pi} f(t)\cos t\ dt$ and has the maximum value $2\pi$ for $-\pi \leq x\leq \pi$. Find the minimum value of $\int_{-\pi}^{\pi} \{f(x)\}^2dx.$ [i]2010 Chiba University entrance exam[/i]

Define a regular $n$-pointed star to be the union of $n$ line segments $P_1P_2, P_2P_3,\ldots, P_nP_1$ such that $\bullet$ the points $P_1, P_2,\ldots, P_n$ are coplanar and no three of them are collinear, $\bullet$ each of the $n$ line segments intersects at least one of the other line segments at a point other than an endpoint, $\bullet$ all of the angles at $P_1, P_2,\ldots, P_n$ are congruent, $\bullet$ all of the $n$ line segments $P_2P_3,\ldots, P_nP_1$ are congruent, and $\bullet$ the path $P_1P_2, P_2P_3,\ldots, P_nP_1$ turns counterclockwise at an angle of less than 180 degrees at each vertex. There are no regular 3-pointed, 4-pointed, or 6-pointed stars. All regular 5-pointed stars are similar, but there are two non-similar regular 7-pointed stars. How many non-similar regular 1000-pointed stars are there?

Suppose two functions $ f(x)\equal{}x^4\minus{}x,\ g(x)\equal{}ax^3\plus{}bx^2\plus{}cx\plus{}d$ satisfy $ f(1)\equal{}g(1),\ f(\minus{}1)\equal{}g(\minus{}1)$. Find the values of $ a,\ b,\ c,\ d$ such that $ \int_{\minus{}1}^1 (f(x)\minus{}g(x))^2dx$ is minimal.

Let $f(x)=1-|x|$. Let \begin{align*}f_n(x)&=(\overbrace{f\circ \cdots\circ f}^{n\text{ copies}})(x)\\g_n(x)&=|n-|x| |\end{align*} Determine the area of the region bounded by the $x$-axis and the graph of the function $\textstyle\sum_{n=1}^{10}f(x)+\textstyle\sum_{n=1}^{10}g(x).$

Let \(\mathbb{Z}^2\) denote the set of points in the Euclidean plane with integer coordinates. Find all functions \(f : \mathbb{Z}^2 \to [0,1]\) such that for any point \(P\), the value assigned to \(P\) is the average of all the values assigned to points in \(\mathbb{Z}^2\) whose Euclidean distance from \(P\) is exactly 2020.

Find all functions $f: \mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}$ (where $\mathbb{Z}$ is the set of all integers) such that \[ 2000f(f(x)) - 3999f(x) + 1999x = 0\textrm{ for all }x \in \mathbb{Z}. \]

Show that for all real numbers $x, y$ satisfying $x+y \geq 0$ \[ (x^2+y^2)^3 \geq 32(x^3+y^3)(xy-x-y) \]

Does there exist a function $s\colon \mathbb{Q} \rightarrow \{-1,1\}$ such that if $x$ and $y$ are distinct rational numbers satisfying ${xy=1}$ or ${x+y\in \{0,1\}}$, then ${s(x)s(y)=-1}$? Justify your answer. [i]Proposed by Dan Brown, Canada[/i]

The functions $f_0,f_1 : (1,\infty) \to (1,\infty)$ are given by $ f_0(x) = 2x$ and$ f_1(x) =\frac{x}{x-1}$. Show that for any real numbers $a, b$ with $1 \le a < b$ there exist a positive integer $k$ and indices $i_1,i_2,...,i_k \in \{0,1\}$ such that $a <f_{i_k}(f_{i_{k-1}}(...(f_{i_j}(2))...))< b$.

Let $ \alpha,\beta$ be real numbers satisfying $ 1 < \alpha < \beta.$ Find the greatest positive integer $ r$ having the following property: each of positive integers is colored by one of $ r$ colors arbitrarily, there always exist two integers $ x,y$ having the same color such that $ \alpha\le \frac {x}{y}\le\beta.$

Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R}\longrightarrow\mathbb{R}$ such that $f(x+y)+xy=f(x)f(y)$ for all reals $x, y$

Suppose that the real numbers $a_i\in [-2,17],\ i=1,2,\ldots,59,$ satisfy $a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_{59}=0.$ Prove that \[a_1^2+a_2^2+\ldots+a_{59}^2\le 2006\]

For $ a\in\mathbb{R}$, let $ M(a)$ be the maximum value of the function $ f(x)\equal{}\int_{0}^{\pi}\sin (x\minus{}t)\sin (2t\minus{}a)\ dt$. Evaluate $ \int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{2}}M(a)\sin (2a)\ da$.

Solve the equation $|x^2 -1|+ |x^2 - 4| = mx$ as a function of the parameter $m$. Which pairs $(x,m)$ of integers satisfy this equation?

Let $f,g:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}$ be functions which satisfy \[\inf_{x>a}f(x)=g(a)\text{ and }\sup_{x<a}g(x)=f(a),\]for all $a\in\mathbb{R}.$ Given that $f$ has Darboux's Property (intermediate value property), show that functions $f$ and $g$ are continuous and equal to each other. [i]Mathematical Gazette [/i]

Find all monotonic functions $ f:\mathbb{R}\longrightarrow\mathbb{R} $ with the property that $$ (f(\sin x))^2-3f(x)=-2, $$ for any real numbers $ x. $ [i]Dorin Andrica[/i] and [i]Mihai Piticari[/i]

Let $ f:\mathbb{D}\longrightarrow\mathbb{C} $ be a continuous function, where $ \mathbb{D} $ is the closed unit disk. Suppose that $ f $ is holomorphic on the open unit disk and that $ e^{i\theta } $ are roots, for any $ \theta\in\left[ 0,\pi /4 \right] . $ Show that $ f=0_{\mathbb{D}} . $

What is the greatest real root of the equation $x^3-x^2-x-\frac 13 = 0$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \dfrac{\sqrt {3} - \sqrt{2}}{2} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \dfrac{\sqrt [3]{3} - \sqrt[3]{2}}{2} \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \dfrac 1{\sqrt[3] {3} - 1} \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \dfrac 1{\sqrt[3] {4} - 1} \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None of above} $

Let be a function $ f $ of class $ \mathcal{C}^1[a,b] $ whose derivative is positive. Prove that there exists a real number $ c\in (a,b) $ such that $$ f(f(b))-f(f(a))=(f'(c))^2(b-a) . $$

Find all functions $f: \mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$ such that for all $m,n\in \mathbb{N}$: \[f(f(m)+f(n))=m+n.\]

Find all integer $c\in\{0,1,...,2016\}$ such that the number of $f:\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow\{0,1,...,2016\}$ which satisfy the following condition is minimal:\\ (1) $f$ has periodic $2017$\\ (2) $f(f(x)+f(y)+1)-f(f(x)+f(y))\equiv c\pmod{2017}$\\ Proposed by William Chao

Find all positive integers $m$ and $n$ such that the inequality: \[ [ (m+n) \alpha ] + [ (m+n) \beta ] \geq [ m \alpha ] + [n \beta] + [ n(\alpha+\beta)] \] is true for any real numbers $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Here $[x]$ denote the largest integer no larger than real number $x$.

Let $S = \{1, 2, \dots , 2021\}$, and let $\mathcal{F}$ denote the set of functions $f : S \rightarrow S$. For a function $f \in \mathcal{F},$ let \[T_f =\{f^{2021}(s) : s \in S\},\] where $f^{2021}(s)$ denotes $f(f(\cdots(f(s))\cdots))$ with $2021$ copies of $f$. Compute the remainder when \[\sum_{f \in \mathcal{F}} |T_f|\] is divided by the prime $2017$, where the sum is over all functions $f$ in $\mathcal{F}$.

Let $a,b,c$ be sides of a triangle and $p$ its semiperimeter. Show that $a\sqrt{\frac{(p-b)(p-c)}{bc}}+b \sqrt{\frac{(p-c)(p-a)}{ac}}+c\sqrt{\frac{(p-a)(p-b)}{ab}}\geq p$