This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

Tags were heavily modified to better represent problems.

AND
OR
NO

Found problems: 429

Given a finite set of points in the plane, each with integer coordinates, is it always possible to color the points red or white so that for any straight line $L$ parallel to one of the coordinate axes the difference (in absolute value) between the numbers of white and red points on $L$ is not greater than $1$?
Let $n \neq 0$. For every sequence of integers \[ A = a_0,a_1,a_2,\dots, a_n \] satisfying $0 \le a_i \le i$, for $i=0,\dots,n$, define another sequence \[ t(A)= t(a_0), t(a_1), t(a_2), \dots, t(a_n) \] by setting $t(a_i)$ to be the number of terms in the sequence $A$ that precede the term $a_i$ and are different from $a_i$. Show that, starting from any sequence $A$ as above, fewer than $n$ applications of the transformation $t$ lead to a sequence $B$ such that $t(B) = B$.
In a country there are $n\geq 2$ cities. Any two cities has exactly one two-way airway. The government wants to license several airlines to take charge of these airways with such following conditions: i) Every airway can be licensed to exactly one airline. ii) By choosing one arbitrary airline, we can move from a city to any other cities, using only flights from this airline. What is the maximum number of airlines that the government can license to satisfy all of these conditions?
Given natural numbers $a$ and $b$, such that $a<b<2a$. Some cells on a graph are colored such that in every rectangle with dimensions $A \times B$ or $B \times A$, at least one cell is colored. For which greatest $\alpha$ can you say that for every natural number $N$ you can find a square $N \times N$ in which at least $\alpha \cdot N^2$ cells are colored?
Let $n$ be a positive integer. There are $2018n+1$ cities in the Kingdom of Sellke Arabia. King Mark wants to build two-way roads that connect certain pairs of cities such that for each city $C$ and integer $1\le i\le 2018,$ there are exactly $n$ cities that are a distance $i$ away from $C.$ (The [i]distance[/i] between two cities is the least number of roads on any path between the two cities.) For which $n$ is it possible for Mark to achieve this? [i]Proposed by Michael Ren[/i]
Let $\mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}$ be the set of all nonnegative integers. Find all the functions $f: \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0} $ satisfying the relation \[ f(f(f(n))) = f(n+1 ) +1 \] for all $ n\in \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}$.
Call a simple graph $G$ [i]quasicolorable[/i] if we can color each edge blue, red, green, or white such that [list] [*] for each vertex v of degree 3 in G, the three edges incident to v are either (1) red, green, and blue, or (2) all white, [*] not all edges are white. [/list] A simple connected graph $G$ has $a$ vertices of degree $4$, $b$ vertices of degree $3$, and no other vertices, where $a$ and $b$ are positive integers. Find the smallest real number $c$ so that the following statement is true: “If $a/b > c$, then $G$ must be quasicolorable.”
Suppose that in a certain society, each pair of persons can be classified as either [i]amicable [/i]or [i]hostile[/i]. We shall say that each member of an amicable pair is a [i]friend[/i] of the other, and each member of a hostile pair is a [i]foe[/i] of the other. Suppose that the society has $\, n \,$ persons and $\, q \,$ amicable pairs, and that for every set of three persons, at least one pair is hostile. Prove that there is at least one member of the society whose foes include $\, q(1 - 4q/n^2) \,$ or fewer amicable pairs.
Positive integers $ a$, $ b$, and $ c$ are chosen so that $ a<b<c$, and the system of equations \[ 2x\plus{}y\equal{}2003\text{ and }y\equal{}|x\minus{}a|\plus{}|x\minus{}b|\plus{}|x\minus{}c| \]has exactly one solution. What is the minimum value of $ c$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 668 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 669 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 1002 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 2003 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 2004$
The partition of $2n$ positive integers into $n$ pairs is called [i]square-free[/i] if the product of numbers in each pair is not a perfect square.Prove that if for $2n$ distinct positive integers, there exists one square-free partition, then there exists at least $n!$ square-free partitions.
Consider the equilateral triangular lattice in the complex plane defined by the Eisenstein integers; let the ordered pair $(x,y)$ denote the complex number $x+y\omega$ for $\omega=e^{2\pi i/3}$. We define an $\omega$-chessboard polygon to be a (non self-intersecting) polygon whose sides are situated along lines of the form $x=a$ or $y=b$, where $a$ and $b$ are integers. These lines divide the interior into unit triangles, which are shaded alternately black and white so that adjacent triangles have different colors. To tile an $\omega$-chessboard polygon by lozenges is to exactly cover the polygon by non-overlapping rhombuses consisting of two bordering triangles. Finally, a [i]tasteful tiling[/i] is one such that for every unit hexagon tiled by three lozenges, each lozenge has a black triangle on its left (defined by clockwise orientation) and a white triangle on its right (so the lozenges are BW, BW, BW in clockwise order). a) Prove that if an $\omega$-chessboard polygon can be tiled by lozenges, then it can be done so tastefully. b) Prove that such a tasteful tiling is unique. [i]Victor Wang.[/i]
Let $p > 2$ be a fixed prime number. Find all functions $f: \mathbb Z \to \mathbb Z_p$, where the $\mathbb Z_p$ denotes the set $\{0, 1, \ldots , p-1\}$, such that $p$ divides $f(f(n))- f(n+1) + 1$ and $f(n+p) = f(n)$ for all integers $n$. [i]Proposed by Grant Yu[/i]
Given $5$ points in a plane, no three of them being collinear. Each two of these $5$ points are joined with a segment, and every of these segments is painted either red or blue; assume that there is no triangle whose sides are segments of equal color. [b]a.)[/b] Show that: [i](1)[/i] Among the four segments originating at any of the $5$ points, two are red and two are blue. [i](2)[/i] The red segments form a closed way passing through all $5$ given points. (Similarly for the blue segments.) [b]b.)[/b] Give a plan how to paint the segments either red or blue in order to have the condition (no triangle with equally colored sides) satisfied.
There are $12$ mathematicians living in a village, each of whom belongs to the $\sqrt2$-clan or belong to the $\pi$-clan. Moreover every mathematician's birthday is in a different month and every mathematician has an odd number of friends among them the mathematicians. We agree that if mathematician $A$ is a friend of mathematician $B$, then so is $B$ is a friend of $A$. On his birthday, every mathematician looks at which clan the majority of his friends belong to, and decides to join that clan until his next birthday. Prove that the mathematicians no longer change clans after a certain point.
Let $n\geqslant 2$ be a positive integer. Paul has a $1\times n^2$ rectangular strip consisting of $n^2$ unit squares, where the $i^{\text{th}}$ square is labelled with $i$ for all $1\leqslant i\leqslant n^2$. He wishes to cut the strip into several pieces, where each piece consists of a number of consecutive unit squares, and then [i]translate[/i] (without rotating or flipping) the pieces to obtain an $n\times n$ square satisfying the following property: if the unit square in the $i^{\text{th}}$ row and $j^{\text{th}}$ column is labelled with $a_{ij}$, then $a_{ij}-(i+j-1)$ is divisible by $n$. Determine the smallest number of pieces Paul needs to make in order to accomplish this.
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 $Q(t) = t$.
Let $n\geqslant 2$ be a positive integer. Paul has a $1\times n^2$ rectangular strip consisting of $n^2$ unit squares, where the $i^{\text{th}}$ square is labelled with $i$ for all $1\leqslant i\leqslant n^2$. He wishes to cut the strip into several pieces, where each piece consists of a number of consecutive unit squares, and then [i]translate[/i] (without rotating or flipping) the pieces to obtain an $n\times n$ square satisfying the following property: if the unit square in the $i^{\text{th}}$ row and $j^{\text{th}}$ column is labelled with $a_{ij}$, then $a_{ij}-(i+j-1)$ is divisible by $n$. Determine the smallest number of pieces Paul needs to make in order to accomplish this.
Consider the equilateral triangular lattice in the complex plane defined by the Eisenstein integers; let the ordered pair $(x,y)$ denote the complex number $x+y\omega$ for $\omega=e^{2\pi i/3}$. We define an $\omega$-chessboard polygon to be a (non self-intersecting) polygon whose sides are situated along lines of the form $x=a$ or $y=b$, where $a$ and $b$ are integers. These lines divide the interior into unit triangles, which are shaded alternately black and white so that adjacent triangles have different colors. To tile an $\omega$-chessboard polygon by lozenges is to exactly cover the polygon by non-overlapping rhombuses consisting of two bordering triangles. Finally, a [i]tasteful tiling[/i] is one such that for every unit hexagon tiled by three lozenges, each lozenge has a black triangle on its left (defined by clockwise orientation) and a white triangle on its right (so the lozenges are BW, BW, BW in clockwise order). a) Prove that if an $\omega$-chessboard polygon can be tiled by lozenges, then it can be done so tastefully. b) Prove that such a tasteful tiling is unique. [i]Victor Wang.[/i]
Let $\mathbb N$ denote the set of positive integers, and for a function $f$, let $f^k(n)$ denote the function $f$ applied $k$ times. Call a function $f : \mathbb N \to \mathbb N$ [i]saturated[/i] if \[ f^{f^{f(n)}(n)}(n) = n \] for every positive integer $n$. Find all positive integers $m$ for which the following holds: every saturated function $f$ satisfies $f^{2014}(m) = m$. [i]Proposed by Evan Chen[/i]
Let $c \geq 4$ be an even integer. In some football league, each team has a home uniform and anaway uniform. Every home uniform is coloured in two different colours, and every away uniformis coloured in one colour. A team’s away uniform cannot be coloured in one of the colours fromthe home uniform. There are at most $c$ distinct colours on all of the uniforms. If two teams havethe same two colours on their home uniforms, then they have different colours on their away uniforms. We say a pair of uniforms is clashing if some colour appears on both of them. Suppose that for every team $X$ in the league, there is no team $Y$ in the league such that the home uniform of $X$ is clashing with both uniforms of $Y$. Determine the maximum possible number of teams in the league.
For each prime $p$, construct a graph $G_p$ on $\{1,2,\ldots p\}$, where $m\neq n$ are adjacent if and only if $p$ divides $(m^{2} + 1-n)(n^{2} + 1-m)$. Prove that $G_p$ is disconnected for infinitely many $p$
The kingdom of Pinguinia has various cities and streets, the latter being all one-way streets always run between exactly two cities, so there are no intermediate stops. Every city has exactly two streets that lead out of it and exactly two that lead into it. Prove that the streets can be divided into black and white streets so that exactly one exit of each city is black and one is white and exactly one white and one black entrance in each city.
Let $n\geq 3$ be a fixed integer. Each side and each diagonal of a regular $n$-gon is labelled with a number from the set $\left\{1;\;2;\;...;\;r\right\}$ in a way such that the following two conditions are fulfilled: [b]1.[/b] Each number from the set $\left\{1;\;2;\;...;\;r\right\}$ occurs at least once as a label. [b]2.[/b] In each triangle formed by three vertices of the $n$-gon, two of the sides are labelled with the same number, and this number is greater than the label of the third side. [b](a)[/b] Find the maximal $r$ for which such a labelling is possible. [b](b)[/b] [i]Harder version (IMO Shortlist 2005):[/i] For this maximal value of $r$, how many such labellings are there? [hide="Easier version (5th German TST 2006) - contains answer to the harder version"] [i]Easier version (5th German TST 2006):[/i] Show that, for this maximal value of $r$, there are exactly $\frac{n!\left(n-1\right)!}{2^{n-1}}$ possible labellings.[/hide] [i]Proposed by Federico Ardila, Colombia[/i]
Let $G$ be a directed graph with infinitely many vertices. It is known that for each vertex the outdegree is greater than the indegree. Let $O$ be a fixed vertex of $G$. For an arbitrary positive number $n$, let $V_{n}$ be the number of vertices which can be reached from $O$ passing through at most $n$ edges ( $O$ counts). Find the smallest possible value of $V_{n}$.
Consider lattice points of a $6*7$ grid.We start with two points $A,B$.We say two points $X,Y$ connected if one can reflect several times WRT points $A,B$ and reach from $X$ to $Y$.Over all choices of $A,B$ what is the minimum number of connected components?