Found problems: 622
2016 Lusophon Mathematical Olympiad, 4
$8$ CPLP football teams competed in a championship in which each team played one and only time with each of the other teams. In football, each win is worth $3$ points, each draw is worth $1$ point and the defeated team does not score. In that championship four teams were in first place with $15$ points and the others four came in second with $N$ points each. Knowing that there were $12$ draws throughout the championship, determine $N$.
2025 Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad, P7
Yamin and Tamim are playing a game with subsets of $\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$ where $n \geq 3$.
[list]
[*] Tamim starts the game with the empty set.
[*] On Yamin's turn, he adds a proper non-empty subset of $\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$ to his collection $F$ of blocked sets.
[*] On Tamim's turn, he adds or removes a positive integer less than or equal to $n$ to or from their set but Tamim can never add or remove an element so that his set becomes one of the blocked sets in $F$.
[/list]
Tamim wins if he can make his set to be $\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$. Yamin wins if he can stop Tamim from doing so. Yamin goes first and they alternate making their moves. Does Tamim have a winning strategy?
[i]Proposed by Ahmed Ittihad Hasib[/i]
2019 Switzerland - Final Round, 4
Let $n$ be a given positive integer. Sisyphus performs a sequence of turns on a board consisting of $n + 1$ squares in a row, numbered $0$ to $n$ from left to right. Initially, $n$ stones are put into square $0$, and the other squares are empty. At every turn, Sisyphus chooses any nonempty square, say with $k$ stones, takes one of these stones and moves it to the right by at most $k$ squares (the stone should say within the board). Sisyphus' aim is to move all $n$ stones to square $n$.
Prove that Sisyphus cannot reach the aim in less than
\[ \left \lceil \frac{n}{1} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{2} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{3} \right \rceil + \dots + \left \lceil \frac{n}{n} \right \rceil \]
turns. (As usual, $\lceil x \rceil$ stands for the least integer not smaller than $x$. )
2014 BAMO, 3
Amy and Bob play a game. They alternate turns, with Amy going first. At the start of the game, there are $20$ cookies on a red plate and $14$ on a blue plate. A legal move consists of eating two cookies taken from one plate, or moving one cookie from the red plate to the blue plate (but never from the blue plate to the red plate). The last player to make a legal move wins; in other words, if it is your turn and you cannot make a legal move, you lose, and the other player has won. Which player can guarantee that they win no matter what strategy their opponent chooses? Prove that your answer is correct.
2014 Israel National Olympiad, 4
We are given a row of $n\geq7$ tiles. In the leftmost 3 tiles, there is a white piece each, and in the rightmost 3 tiles, there is a black piece each. The white and black players play in turns (the white starts). In each move, a player may take a piece of their color, and move it to an adjacent tile, so long as it's not occupied by a piece of the [u]same color[/u]. If the new tile is empty, nothing happens. If the tile is occupied by a piece of the [u]opposite color[/u], both pieces are destroyed (both white and black). The player who destroys the last two pieces wins the game.
Which player has a winning strategy, and what is it? (The answer may depend on $n$)
2018 IMO Shortlist, C2
A [i]site[/i] is any point $(x, y)$ in the plane such that $x$ and $y$ are both positive integers less than or equal to 20.
Initially, each of the 400 sites is unoccupied. Amy and Ben take turns placing stones with Amy going first. On her turn, Amy places a new red stone on an unoccupied site such that the distance between any two sites occupied by red stones is not equal to $\sqrt{5}$. On his turn, Ben places a new blue stone on any unoccupied site. (A site occupied by a blue stone is allowed to be at any distance from any other occupied site.) They stop as soon as a player cannot place a stone.
Find the greatest $K$ such that Amy can ensure that she places at least $K$ red stones, no matter how Ben places his blue stones.
[i]Proposed by Gurgen Asatryan, Armenia[/i]
2001 Federal Math Competition of S&M, Problem 4
There are $n$ coins in the pile. Two players play a game by alternately performing a move. A move consists of taking $5,7$ or $11$ coins away from the pile. The player unable to perform a move loses the game. Which player - the one playing first or second - has the winning strategy if:
(a) $n=2001$;
(b) $n=5000$?
1990 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 522
Two grasshoppers sit at opposite ends of the interval $[0, 1]$. A finite number of points (greater than zero) in the interval are marked. A move is for a grasshopper to select a marked point and jump over it to the equidistant point the other side. This point must lie in the interval for the move to be allowed, but it does not have to be marked. What is the smallest $n$ such that if each grasshopper makes $n$ moves or less, then they end up with no marked points between them?
2017 IMO, 3
A hunter and an invisible rabbit play a game in the Euclidean plane. The rabbit's starting point, $A_0,$ and the hunter's starting point, $B_0$ are the same. After $n-1$ rounds of the game, the rabbit is at point $A_{n-1}$ and the hunter is at point $B_{n-1}.$ In the $n^{\text{th}}$ round of the game, three things occur in order:
[list=i]
[*]The rabbit moves invisibly to a point $A_n$ such that the distance between $A_{n-1}$ and $A_n$ is exactly $1.$
[*]A tracking device reports a point $P_n$ to the hunter. The only guarantee provided by the tracking device to the hunter is that the distance between $P_n$ and $A_n$ is at most $1.$
[*]The hunter moves visibly to a point $B_n$ such that the distance between $B_{n-1}$ and $B_n$ is exactly $1.$
[/list]
Is it always possible, no matter how the rabbit moves, and no matter what points are reported by the tracking device, for the hunter to choose her moves so that after $10^9$ rounds, she can ensure that the distance between her and the rabbit is at most $100?$
[i]Proposed by Gerhard Woeginger, Austria[/i]
2016 Auckland Mathematical Olympiad, 2
The number $328$ is written on the board. Two players alternate writing positive divisors of $328$ on the board, subject to the following rules:
$\bullet$ No divisor of a previously written number may be written.
$\bullet$ The player who writes 328 loses.
Who has a winning strategy, the first player or the second player?
2001 May Olympiad, 5
On the board are written the natural numbers from $1$ to $2001$ inclusive. You have to delete some numbers so that among those that remain undeleted it is impossible to choose two different numbers such that the result of their multiplication is equal to one of the numbers that remain undeleted. What is the minimum number of numbers that must be deleted? For that amount, present an example showing which numbers are erased. Justify why, if fewer numbers are deleted, the desired property is not obtained.
2019 India IMO Training Camp, P3
Let $n$ be a given positive integer. Sisyphus performs a sequence of turns on a board consisting of $n + 1$ squares in a row, numbered $0$ to $n$ from left to right. Initially, $n$ stones are put into square $0$, and the other squares are empty. At every turn, Sisyphus chooses any nonempty square, say with $k$ stones, takes one of these stones and moves it to the right by at most $k$ squares (the stone should say within the board). Sisyphus' aim is to move all $n$ stones to square $n$.
Prove that Sisyphus cannot reach the aim in less than
\[ \left \lceil \frac{n}{1} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{2} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{3} \right \rceil + \dots + \left \lceil \frac{n}{n} \right \rceil \]
turns. (As usual, $\lceil x \rceil$ stands for the least integer not smaller than $x$. )
2025 All-Russian Olympiad, 11.6
$100$ ones are written in a circle. Petya and Vasya take turns making \( 10^{10} \) moves each. In each move, Petya chooses 9 consecutive numbers and decreases each by $2$. Vasya chooses $10$ consecutive numbers and increases each by $1$. They alternate turns, starting with Petya. Prove that Vasya can act in such a way that after each of his moves, there are always at least five positive numbers, regardless of how Petya plays. \\
1996 All-Russian Olympiad Regional Round, 9.4
There is a token in one of the nodes of a hexagon with side $n$, divided into regular triangles (see figure). Two players take turns moving it to one of the neighboring nodes, and it is forbidden to go to a node that the token has already visited. The one who loses who can't make a move. Who wins with the right game?
[img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/2/f/18314fe7f9f4cd8e783037a8e5642e17f4e1be.png[/img]
2010 Czech And Slovak Olympiad III A, 5
On the board are written numbers $1, 2,. . . , 33$. In one step we select two numbers written on the product of which is the square of the natural number, we wipe off the two chosen numbers and write the square root of their product on the board. This way we continue to the board only the numbers remain so that the product of neither of them is a square. (In one we can also wipe out two identical numbers and replace them with the same number.) Prove that at least $16$ numbers remain on the board.
2020 IMO Shortlist, C8
Players $A$ and $B$ play a game on a blackboard that initially contains 2020 copies of the number 1 . In every round, player $A$ erases two numbers $x$ and $y$ from the blackboard, and then player $B$ writes one of the numbers $x+y$ and $|x-y|$ on the blackboard. The game terminates as soon as, at the end of some round, one of the following holds:
[list]
[*] $(1)$ one of the numbers on the blackboard is larger than the sum of all other numbers;
[*] $(2)$ there are only zeros on the blackboard.
[/list]
Player $B$ must then give as many cookies to player $A$ as there are numbers on the blackboard. Player $A$ wants to get as many cookies as possible, whereas player $B$ wants to give as few as possible. Determine the number of cookies that $A$ receives if both players play optimally.
2014 Gulf Math Olympiad, 2
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.
2021 Moldova Team Selection Test, 6
There are $14$ players participating at a chess tournament, each playing one game with every other player. After the end of the tournament, the players were ranked in descending order based on their points. The sum of the points of the first three players is equal with the sum of the points of the last nine players. What is the highest possible number of draws in the tournament.(For a victory the player gets $1$ point, for a loss $0$ points, in a draw both players get $0,5$ points.)
1996 Estonia National Olympiad, 5
John and Mary play the following game. First they choose integers $n > m > 0$ and put $n$ sweets on an empty table. Then they start to make moves alternately. A move consists of choosing a nonnegative integer $k\le m$ and taking $k$ sweets away from the table (if $k = 0$ , nothing happens in fact). In doing so no value for $k$ can be chosen more than once (by none of the players) or can be greater than the number of sweets at the table at the moment of choice. The game is over when one of the players can make no more moves.
John and Mary decided that at the beginning Mary chooses the numbers $m$ and $n$ and then John determines whether the performer of the last move wins or looses. Can Mary choose $m$ and $n$ in such way that independently of John’s decision she will be able to win?
1999 Mexico National Olympiad, 1
On a table there are $1999$ counters, red on one side and black on the other side, arranged arbitrarily. Two people alternately make moves, where each move is of one of the following two types:
(1) Remove several counters which all have the same color up;
(2) Reverse several counters which all have the same color up.
The player who takes the last counter wins. Decide which of the two players (the one playing first or the other one) has a wining strategy.
1988 Tournament Of Towns, (166) 3
(a) The vertices of a regular $10$-gon are painted in turn black and white. Two people play the following game . Each in turn draws a diagonal connecting two vertices of the same colour . These diagonals must not intersect . The winner is the player who is able to make the last move. Who will win if both players adopt the best strategy?
(b) Answer the same question for the regular $12$-gon .
(V.G. Ivanov)
2021 Austrian MO National Competition, 4
On a blackboard, there are $17$ integers not divisible by $17$. Alice and Bob play a game.
Alice starts and they alternately play the following moves:
$\bullet$ Alice chooses a number $a$ on the blackboard and replaces it with $a^2$
$\bullet$ Bob chooses a number $b$ on the blackboard and replaces it with $b^3$.
Alice wins if the sum of the numbers on the blackboard is a multiple of $17$ after a finite number of steps.
Prove that Alice has a winning strategy.
(Daniel Holmes)
2017 Finnish National High School Mathematics Comp, 4
Let $m$ be a positive integer.
Two players, Axel and Elina play the game HAUKKU ($m$) proceeds as follows:
Axel starts and the players choose integers alternately. Initially, the set of integers is the set of positive divisors of a positive integer $m$ .The player in turn chooses one of the remaining numbers, and removes that number and all of its multiples from the list of selectable numbers. A player who has to choose number $1$, loses. Show that the beginner player, Axel, has a winning strategy in the HAUKKU ($m$) game for all $m \in Z_{+}$.
PS. As member Loppukilpailija noted, it should be written $m>1$, as the statement does not hold for $m = 1$.
2016 Rioplatense Mathematical Olympiad, Level 3, 1
Ana and Beto play against each other. Initially, Ana chooses a non-negative integer $N$ and announces it to Beto. Next Beto writes a succession of $2016$ numbers, $1008$ of them equal to $1$ and $1008$ of them equal to $-1$. Once this is done, Ana must split the succession into several blocks of consecutive terms (each term belonging to exactly one block), and calculate the sum of the numbers of each block. Finally, add the squares of the calculated numbers. If this sum is equal to $N$, Ana wins. If not, Beto wins. Determine all values of $N$ for which Ana can ensure victory, no matter how Beto plays.
2018 Switzerland - Final Round, 10
Let $ p \geq 2$ be a prime number. Eduardo and Fernando play the following game making moves alternately: in each move, the current player chooses an index $i$ in the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots, p-1 \}$ that was not chosen before by either of the two players and then chooses an element $a_i$ from the set $\{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9\}$. Eduardo has the first move. The game ends after all the indices have been chosen .Then the following number is computed:
$$M=a_0+a_110+a_210^2+\cdots+a_{p-1}10^{p-1}= \sum_{i=0}^{p-1}a_i.10^i$$.
The goal of Eduardo is to make $M$ divisible by $p$, and the goal of Fernando is to prevent this.
Prove that Eduardo has a winning strategy.
[i]Proposed by Amine Natik, Morocco[/i]