Let $N$ be a positive integer, and consider an $N \times N$ grid. A [i]right-down path[/i] is a sequence of grid cells such that each cell is either one cell to the right of or one cell below the previous cell in the sequence. A [i]right-up path[/i] is a sequence of grid cells such that each cell is either one cell to the right of or one cell above the previous cell in the sequence. Prove that the cells of the $N \times N$ grid cannot be partitioned into less than $N$ right-down or right-up paths. For example, the following partition of the $5 \times 5$ grid uses $5$ paths. [asy] size(4cm); draw((5,-1)--(0,-1)--(0,-2)--(5,-2)--(5,-3)--(0,-3)--(0,-4)--(5,-4),gray+linewidth(0.5)+miterjoin); draw((1,-5)--(1,0)--(2,0)--(2,-5)--(3,-5)--(3,0)--(4,0)--(4,-5),gray+linewidth(0.5)+miterjoin); draw((0,0)--(5,0)--(5,-5)--(0,-5)--cycle,black+linewidth(2.5)+miterjoin); draw((0,-1)--(3,-1)--(3,-2)--(1,-2)--(1,-4)--(4,-4)--(4,-3)--(2,-3)--(2,-2),black+linewidth(2.5)+miterjoin); draw((3,0)--(3,-1),black+linewidth(2.5)+miterjoin); draw((1,-4)--(1,-5),black+linewidth(2.5)+miterjoin); draw((4,-3)--(4,-1)--(5,-1),black+linewidth(2.5)+miterjoin); [/asy] [i]Proposed by Zixiang Zhou, Canada[/i]

There are $n > 2022$ cities in the country. Some pairs of cities are connected with straight two-ways airlines. Call the set of the cities {\it unlucky}, if it is impossible to color the airlines between them in two colors without monochromatic triangle (i.e. three cities $A$, $B$, $C$ with the airlines $AB$, $AC$ and $BC$ of the same color). The set containing all the cities is unlucky. Is there always an unlucky set containing exactly 2022 cities?

Decide whether or not there exists a nonconstant polynomial $Q(x)$ with integer coefficients with the following property: for every positive integer $n > 2$, the numbers \[ Q(0), \; Q(1), Q(2), \; \dots, \; Q(n-1) \] produce at most $0.499n$ distinct residues when taken modulo $n$. [i]Proposed by Yang Liu[/i]

$2n$ real numbers with a positive sum are aligned in a circle. For each of the numbers, we can see there are two sets of $n$ numbers such that this number is on the end. Prove that at least one of the numbers has a positive sum for both of these two sets.

Some pairs of cities in a certain country are connected by roads, at least three roads going out of each city. Prove that there exists a round path consisting of roads whose number is not divisible by $3$.

At a university dinner, there are 2017 mathematicians who each order two distinct entrées, with no two mathematicians ordering the same pair of entrées. The cost of each entrée is equal to the number of mathematicians who ordered it, and the university pays for each mathematician's less expensive entrée (ties broken arbitrarily). Over all possible sets of orders, what is the maximum total amount the university could have paid? [i]Proposed by Evan Chen[/i]

The number of real solutions to the equation \[ \frac{x}{100} = \sin x \] is $\text{(A)} \ 61 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 62 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 63 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 64 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 65$

Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $n > 1$ with integer coefficients and let $k$ be a positive integer. Consider the polynomial $Q(x) = P(P(\ldots P(P(x)) \ldots ))$, where $P$ occurs $k$ times. Prove that there are at most $n$ integers $t$ such that $Q(t) = t$.

Each of $2k+1$ distinct 7-element subsets of the 20 element set intersects with exactly $k$ of them. Find the maximum possible value of $k$.

Functions $f,g:\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}$ satisfy $$f(g(x)+y)=g(f(y)+x)$$ for any integers $x,y$. If $f$ is bounded, prove that $g$ is periodic.

There are $4n$ pebbles of weights $1, 2, 3, \dots, 4n.$ Each pebble is coloured in one of $n$ colours and there are four pebbles of each colour. Show that we can arrange the pebbles into two piles so that the following two conditions are both satisfied: [list] [*]The total weights of both piles are the same. [*] Each pile contains two pebbles of each colour. [/list] [i]Proposed by Milan Haiman, Hungary and Carl Schildkraut, USA[/i]

A hunter and an invisible rabbit play a game on an infinite square grid. First the hunter fixes a colouring of the cells with finitely many colours. The rabbit then secretly chooses a cell to start in. Every minute, the rabbit reports the colour of its current cell to the hunter, and then secretly moves to an adjacent cell that it has not visited before (two cells are adjacent if they share an edge). The hunter wins if after some finite time either:[list][*]the rabbit cannot move; or [*]the hunter can determine the cell in which the rabbit started.[/list]Decide whether there exists a winning strategy for the hunter. [i]Proposed by Aron Thomas[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer and $A$ a set of integers such that the set $\{x = a + b\ |\ a, b \in A\}$ contains $\{1^2, 2^2, \dots, n^2\}$. Prove that there is a positive integer $N$ such that if $n \ge N$, then $|A| > n^{0.666}$.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Define a chameleon to be any sequence of $3n$ letters, with exactly $n$ occurrences of each of the letters $a, b,$ and $c$. Define a swap to be the transposition of two adjacent letters in a chameleon. Prove that for any chameleon $X$ , there exists a chameleon $Y$ such that $X$ cannot be changed to $Y$ using fewer than $3n^2/2$ swaps.