Found problems: 304
2021 Federal Competition For Advanced Students, P2, 2
Mr. Ganzgenau would like to take his tea mug out of the microwave right at the front. But Mr. Ganzgenau's microwave doesn't really want to be very precise play along. To be precise, the two of them play the following game:
Let $n$ be a positive integer. The turntable of the microwave makes one in $n$ seconds full turn. Each time the microwave is switched on, an integer number of seconds turned either clockwise or counterclockwise so that there are n possible positions in which the tea mug can remain. One of these positions is right up front.
At the beginning, the microwave turns the tea mug to one of the $n$ possible positions. After that Mr. Ganzgenau enters an integer number of seconds in each move, and the microwave decides either clockwise or counterclockwise this number of spin for seconds.
For which $n$ can Mr. Ganzgenau force the tea cup after a finite number of puffs to be able to take it out of the microwave right up front?
(Birgit Vera Schmidt)
[hide=original wording, in case it doesn't make much sense]Herr Ganzgenau möchte sein Teehäferl ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle herausnehmen. Die Mikrowelle von Herrn Ganzgenau möchte da aber so ganz genau gar nicht mitspielen.
Ganz genau gesagt spielen die beiden das folgende Spiel:
Sei n eine positive ganze Zahl. In n Sekunden macht der Drehteller der Mikrowelle eine vollständige Umdrehung. Bei jedem Einschalten der Mikrowelle wird eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn gedreht, sodass es n mögliche Positionen gibt, auf denen das Teehäferl stehen bleiben kann. Eine dieser Positionen ist ganz genau vorne.
Zu Beginn dreht die Mikrowelle das Teehäferl auf eine der n möglichen Positionen. Danach gibt Herr Ganzgenau in jedem Zug eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden ein, und die Mikrowelle entscheidet, entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn diese Anzahl von Sekunden lang zu drehen.
Für welche n kann Herr Ganzgenau erzwingen, das Teehäferl nach endlich vielen Zügen ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle nehmen zu können?
(Birgit Vera Schmidt) [/hide]
1985 Tournament Of Towns, (103) 7
(a)The game of "super- chess" is played on a $30 \times 30$ board and involves $20$ different pieces. Each piece moves according to its own rules , but cannot move from any square to more than $20$ other squares . A piece "captures" another piece which is on a square to which it has moved. A permitted move (e.g. $m$ squares forward and $n$ squares to the right) does not depend on the piece 's starting square . Prove that
(i) A piece cannot cap ture a piece on a given square from more than $20$ starting squares.
(ii) It is possible to arrange all $20$ pieces on the board in such a way that not one of them can capture any of the others in one move.
(b) The game of "super-chess" is played on a $100 \times 100$ board and involves $20$ different pieces. Each piece moves according to its own rules , but cannot move from any square to more than $20$ other squares. A piece "captures" another piece which is on a square to which it has moved. It is possible that a permitted move (e.g. $m$ squares forward and $n$ squares to the right) may vary, depending on the piece's position .
Prove that one can arrange all $20$ pieces on the board in such a way that not one of them can capture any of the others in one move.
( A . K . Tolpygo, Kiev)
PS. (a) for Juniors , (b) for Seniors
Kvant 2019, M2563
Pasha and Vova play the following game, making moves in turn; Pasha moves first. Initially, they have a large piece of plasticine. By a move, Pasha cuts one of the existing pieces into three(of arbitrary sizes), and Vova merges two existing pieces into one. Pasha wins if at some point there appear to be $100$ pieces of equal weights. Can Vova prevent Pasha's win?
2015 IFYM, Sozopol, 3
A cube 10x10x10 is constructed from 1000 white unit cubes. Polly and Velly play the following game: Velly chooses a certain amount of parallelepipeds 1x1x10, no two of which have a common vertex or an edge, and repaints them in black. Polly can choose an arbitrary number of unit cubes and ask Velly for their color. What’s the least amount of unit cubes she has to choose so that she can determine the color of each unit cube?
2016 Saint Petersburg Mathematical Olympiad, 5
Kostya and Sergey play a game on a white strip of length 2016 cells. Kostya (he plays first) in one move should paint black over two neighboring white cells. Sergey should paint either one white cell either three neighboring white cells. It is forbidden to make a move, after which a white cell is formed the doesn't having any white neighbors. Loses the one that can make no other move. However, if all cells are painted, then Kostya wins. Who will win if he plays the right game (has a winning strategy)?
2019 Durer Math Competition Finals, 6
(Game) At the beginning of the game, the organisers place paper disks on the table, grouped into piles which may contain various numbers of disks. The two players take turns. On a player’s turn, their opponent selects two piles (one if there is only one pile left), and the player must remove some number of disks from one of the piles selected. This means that at least one disk has to be removed, and removing all disks in the pile is also permitted. The player removing the last disk from the table wins.
[i]Defeat the organisers in this game twice in a row! A starting position will be given and then you can decide whether you want to go first or second.[/i]
1952 Moscow Mathematical Olympiad, 230
$200$ soldiers occupy in a rectangle (military call it a square and educated military a carree): $20$ men (per row) times $10$ men (per column). In each row, we consider the tallest man (if some are of equal height, choose any of them) and of the $10$ men considered we select the shortest (if some are of equal height, choose any of them). Call him $A$. Next the soldiers assume their initial positions and in each column the shortest soldier is selected, of these $20$, the tallest is chosen. Call him $B$. Two colonels bet on which of the two soldiers chosen by these two distinct procedures is taller: $A$ or $B$. Which colonel wins the bet?
2009 Tournament Of Towns, 6
An integer $n > 1$ is given. Two players in turns mark points on a circle. First Player uses red color while Second Player uses blue color. The game is over when each player marks $n$ points. Then each player nds the arc of maximal length with ends of his color, which does not contain any other marked points. A player wins if his arc is longer (if the lengths are equal, or both players have no such arcs, the game ends in a draw). Which player has a winning strategy?
2020 New Zealand MO, 7
Josie and Ross are playing a game on a $20 \times 20$ chessboard. Initially the chessboard is empty. The two players alternately take turns, with Josie going first. On Josie’s turn, she selects any two different empty cells, and places one white stone in each of them. On Ross’ turn, he chooses any one white stone currently on the board, and replaces it with a black stone. If at any time there are $ 8$ consecutive cells in a line (horizontally or vertically) all of which contain a white stone, Josie wins. Is it possible that Ross can stop Josie winning - regardless of how Josie plays?
1997 Estonia National Olympiad, 4
Mari and Yuri play the next play. At first, there are two piles on the table, with $m$ and $n$ candies, respectively. At each turn, players eats one pile of candy from the table and distribute another pile of candy into two non-empty parts ,. Everything is done in turn and wins the player who can no longer share the pile (when there is only one candy left). Which player will win if both use the optimal strategy and Mari makes the first move?
2001 Tuymaada Olympiad, 8
Can three persons, having one double motorcycle, overcome the distance of $70$ km in $3$ hours? Pedestrian speed is $5$ km / h and motorcycle speed is $50$ km / h.
2019 Tournament Of Towns, 2
$2019$ point grasshoppers sit on a line. At each move one of the grasshoppers jumps over another one and lands at the point the same distance away from it. Jumping only to the right, the grasshoppers are able to position themselves so that some two of them are exactly $1$ mm apart. Prove that the grasshoppers can achieve the same, jumping only to the left and starting from the initial position.
(Sergey Dorichenko)
1992 Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik, 1
There are two bowls on the table, in one there are $p$, in the other $q$ stones ($p, q \in N*$ ). Two players $A$ and $B$ take turns playing, starting with $A$.
Who's turn:
$\bullet$ takes a stone from one of the bowls
$\bullet$or removes one stone from each bowl
$\bullet$ or puts a stone from one of the bowls into the other.
Whoever takes the last stone wins.
Under what conditions can $A$ and under what conditions can $B$ force the win?
The answer must be justified.
1982 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 337
All the natural numbers from $1$ to $1982$ are gathered in an array in an arbitrary order in computer's memory. The program looks through all the sequent pairs (first and second, second and third,...) and exchanges numbers in the pair, if the number on the lower place is greater than another. Then the program repeats the process, but moves from another end of the array. The number, that stand initially on the $100$-th place reserved its place. Find that number.
2011 Argentina National Olympiad, 6
We have a square of side $1$ and a number $\ell$ such that $0 <\ell <\sqrt2$. Two players $A$ and $B$, in turn, draw in the square an open segment (without its two ends) of length $\ell $, starts A. Each segment after the first cannot have points in common with the previously drawn segments. He loses the player who cannot make his play. Determine if either player has a winning strategy.
2015 Caucasus Mathematical Olympiad, 5
On the table are $300$ coins. Petya, Vasya and Tolya play the next game. They go in turn in the following order: Petya, Vasya, Tolya, Petya. Vasya, Tolya, etc. In one move, Petya can take $1, 2, 3$, or $4$ coins from the table, Vasya, $1$ or $2$ coins, and Tolya, too, $1$ or $2$ coins. Can Vasya and Tolya agree so that, as if Petya were playing, one of them two will take the last coin off the table?
1987 Tournament Of Towns, (163) 7
A certain town is represented as an infinite plane, which is divided by straight lines into squares. The lines are streets, while the squares are blocks. Along a certain street there stands a policeman on each $100$th intersection . Somewhere in the town there is a bandit , whose position and speed are unknown, but he can move only along the streets. The aim of the police is to see the bandit . Does there exist an algorithm available to the police to enable them to achieve their aim?
(A. Andjans, Riga)
2018 Ukraine Team Selection Test, 3
Consider the set of all integer points in $Z^3$. Sasha and Masha play such a game. At first, Masha marks an arbitrary point. After that, Sasha marks all the points on some a plane perpendicular to one of the coordinate axes and at no point, which Masha noted. Next, they continue to take turns (Masha can't to select previously marked points, Sasha cannot choose the planes on which there are points said Masha). Masha wants to mark $n$ consecutive points on some line that parallel to one of the coordinate axes, and Sasha seeks to interfere with it. Find all $n$, in which Masha can achieve the desired result.
2017 Pan-African Shortlist, C?
The numbers from $1$ to $2017$ are written on a board. Deka and Farid play the following game :
each of them, on his turn, erases one of the numbers. Anyone who erases a multiple of $2, 3$ or $5$ loses and the game is over. Is there a winning strategy for Deka ?
1984 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 376
Given a cube and two colours. Two players paint in turn a triple of arbitrary unpainted edges with his colour. (Everyone makes two moves.) The first wins if he has painted all the edges of some face with his colour. Can he always win?
2018 Iran Team Selection Test, 2
Mojtaba and Hooman are playing a game. Initially Mojtaba draws $2018$ vectors with zero sum. Then in each turn, starting with Mojtaba, the player takes a vector and puts it on the plane. After the first move, the players must put their vector next to the previous vector (the beginning of the vector must lie on the end of the previous vector).
At last, there will be a closed polygon. If this polygon is not self-intersecting, Mojtaba wins. Otherwise Hooman. Who has the winning strategy?
[i]Proposed by Mahyar Sefidgaran, Jafar Namdar [/i]
2024 Iran MO (3rd Round), 2
Two intelligent people playing a game on the $1403 \times 1403$ table with $1403^2$ cells. The first one in each turn chooses a cell that didn't select before and draws a vertical line segment from the top to the bottom of the cell. The second person in each turn chooses a cell that didn't select before and draws a horizontal line segment from the left to the right of the cell. After $1403^2$ steps the game will be over. The first person gets points equal to the longest verticals line segment and analogously the second person gets point equal to the longest horizonal line segment. At the end the person who gets the more point will win the game. What will be the result of the game?
2024 JBMO TST - Turkey, 8
There is $207$ boxes on the table which numbered $1,2, \dots , 207$ respectively. Firstly Aslı puts a red ball in each of the $100$ boxes that she chooses and puts a white ball in each of the remaining ones. After that Zehra, writes a pair $(i,j)$ on the blackboard such that $1\leq i \leq j \leq 207$. Finally, Aslı tells Zehra that for every pair; whether the color of the balls which is inside the box which numbered by these numbers are the same or not. Find the least possible value of $N$ such that Zehra can guarantee finding all colors that has been painted to balls in each of the boxes with writing $N$ pairs on the blackboard.
1981 Tournament Of Towns, (011) 5
a) A game is played on an infinite plane. There are fifty one pieces, one “wolf” and $50$ “sheep”. There are two players. The first commences by moving the wolf. Then the second player moves one of the sheep, the first player moves the wolf, the second player moves a sheep, and so on. The wolf and the sheep can move in any direction through a distance of up to one metre per move. Is it true that for any starting position the wolf will be able to capture at least one sheep?
b) A game is played on an infinite plane. There are two players. One has a piece known as a “wolf”, while the other has $K$ pieces known as “sheep”. The first player moves the wolf, then the second player moves a sheep, the first player moves the wolf again, the second player moves a sheep, and so on. The wolf and the sheep can move in any direction, with a maximum distance of one metre per move. Is it true that for any value of $K$ there exists an initial position from which the wolf can not capture any sheep?
PS. (a) was the junior version, (b) the senior one
2018 Costa Rica - Final Round, LRP3
Jordan is in the center of a circle whose radius is $100$ meters and can move one meter at a time, however, there is a giant who at every step can force you to move in the opposite direction to the one he chose (it does not mean returning to the place of departure, but advance but in the opposite direction to the chosen one). Determine the minimum number of steps that Jordan must give to get out of the circle.