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

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Found problems: 1782

Show that, for any fixed integer $\,n \geq 1,\,$ the sequence \[2, \; 2^{2}, \; 2^{2^{2}}, \; 2^{2^{2^{2}}}, \cdots \pmod{n}\] is eventually constant.
A positive integer $n$ is said to be a [i]perfect power[/i] if $n=a^b$ for some integers $a,b$ with $b>1$. $(\text{a})$ Find $2004$ perfect powers in arithmetic progression. $(\text{b})$ Prove that perfect powers cannot form an infinite arithmetic progression.
Two positive valued sequences $\{ a_{n}\}$ and $\{ b_{n}\}$ satisfy: (a): $a_{0}=1 \geq a_{1}$, $a_{n}(b_{n+1}+b_{n-1})=a_{n-1}b_{n-1}+a_{n+1}b_{n+1}$, $n \geq 1$. (b): $\sum_{i=1}^{n}b_{i}\leq n^{\frac{3}{2}}$, $n \geq 1$. Find the general term of $\{ a_{n}\}$.
Given positive integers $k, m, n$ such that $1 \leq k \leq m \leq n$. Evaluate \[\sum^{n}_{i=0} \frac{(-1)^i}{n+k+i} \cdot \frac{(m+n+i)!}{i!(n-i)!(m+i)!}.\]
Let $ c\in\mathbb C$ and $ A_c \equal{} \{p\in \mathbb C[z]|p(z^2 \plus{} c) \equal{} p(z)^2 \plus{} c\}$. a) Prove that for each $ c\in C$, $ A_c$ is infinite. b) Prove that if $ p\in A_1$, and $ p(z_0) \equal{} 0$, then $ |z_0| < 1.7$. c) Prove that each element of $ A_c$ is odd or even. Let $ f_c \equal{} z^2 \plus{} c\in \mathbb C[z]$. We see easily that $ B_c: \equal{} \{z,f_c(z),f_c(f_c(z)),\dots\}$ is a subset of $ A_c$. Prove that in the following cases $ A_c \equal{} B_c$. d) $ |c| > 2$. e) $ c\in \mathbb Q\backslash\mathbb Z$. f) $ c$ is a non-algebraic number g) $ c$ is a real number and $ c\not\in [ \minus{} 2,\frac14]$.
Let $f_1(x)=x^2-1$, and for each positive integer $n \geq 2$ define $f_n(x) = f_{n-1}(f_1(x))$. How many distinct real roots does the polynomial $f_{2004}$ have?
Let $ \vartheta_1,...,\vartheta_n$ be independent, uniformly distributed, random variables in the unit interval $ [0,1]$. Define \[ h(x)\equal{} \frac1n \# \{k: \; \vartheta_k<x\ \}.\] Prove that the probability that there is an $ x_0 \in (0,1)$ such that $ h(x_0)\equal{}x_0$, is equal to $ 1\minus{} \frac1n.$ [i]G. Tusnady[/i]
Let $n,k$ be given positive integers with $n>k$. Prove that: \[ \frac{1}{n+1} \cdot \frac{n^n}{k^k (n-k)^{n-k}} < \frac{n!}{k! (n-k)!} < \frac{n^n}{k^k(n-k)^{n-k}} \]
Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n$ be positive reals. Show that $$\sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{2^i}(\frac{2}{1+a_i})^{2^i} \geq \frac{2}{1+a_1a_2\ldots a_n}-\frac{1}{2^n}.$$
Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $S$ be a set of $2^n+1$ elements. Let $f$ be a function from the set of two-element subsets of $S$ to $\{0, \dots, 2^{n-1}-1\}$. Assume that for any elements $x, y, z$ of $S$, one of $f(\{x,y\}), f(\{y,z\}), f(\{z, x\})$ is equal to the sum of the other two. Show that there exist $a, b, c$ in $S$ such that $f(\{a,b\}), f(\{b,c\}), f(\{c,a\})$ are all equal to 0.
Given 98 points in a circle. Mary and Joseph play alternatively in the next way: - Each one draw a segment joining two points that have not been joined before. The game ends when the 98 points have been used as end points of a segments at least once. The winner is the person that draw the last segment. If Joseph starts the game, who can assure that is going to win the game.
Prove that for each $n \in \mathbb N$ there exist natural numbers $a_1<a_2<...<a_n$ such that $\phi(a_1)>\phi(a_2)>...>\phi(a_n)$. [i]Proposed by Amirhossein Gorzi[/i]
Let $f$ be a function such that $f(x)+f(x+1)=2^x$ and $f(0)=2010$. Find the last two digits of $f(2010)$.
Three sergeants and several solders serve in a platoon. The sergeants take turns on duty. The commander has given the following orders: (a) Each day, at least one task must be issued to a soldier. (b) No soldier may have more than two task or receive more than one tasks in a single day. (c) The lists of soldiers receiving tasks for two different days must not be the same. (d) The first sergeant violating any of these orders will be jailed. Can at least one of the sergeants, without conspiring with the others, give tasks according to these rules and avoid being jailed? [i]M. Kulikov[/i]
[color=darkred]On a table there are $k\ge 2$ piles having $n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k$ pencils respectively. A [i]move[/i] consists in choosing two piles having $a$ and $b$ pencils respectively, $a\ge b$ and transferring $b$ pencils from the first pile to the second one. Find the necessary and sufficient condition for $n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k$ , such that there exists a succession of moves through which all pencils are transferred to the same pile.[/color]
a) Let $ n_{1},n_{2},\dots$ be a sequence of natural number such that $ n_{i}\geq2$ and $ \epsilon_{1},\epsilon_{2},\dots$ be a sequence such that $ \epsilon_{i}\in\{1,2\}$. Prove that the sequence: \[ \sqrt[n_{1}]{\epsilon_{1}\plus{}\sqrt[n_{2}]{\epsilon_{2}\plus{}\dots\plus{}\sqrt[n_{k}]{\epsilon_{k}}}}\]is convergent and its limit is in $ (1,2]$. Define $ \sqrt[n_{1}]{\epsilon_{1}\plus{}\sqrt[n_{2}]{\epsilon_{2}\plus{}\dots}}$ to be this limit. b) Prove that for each $ x\in(1,2]$ there exist sequences $ n_{1},n_{2},\dots\in\mathbb N$ and $ n_{i}\geq2$ and $ \epsilon_{1},\epsilon_{2},\dots$, such that $ n_{i}\geq2$ and $ \epsilon_{i}\in\{1,2\}$, and $ x\equal{}\sqrt[n_{1}]{\epsilon_{1}\plus{}\sqrt[n_{2}]{\epsilon_{2}\plus{}\dots}}$
Prove that for $n\ge 2$ the following inequality holds: $$\frac{1}{n+1}\left(1+\frac{1}{3}+\ldots +\frac{1}{2n-1}\right) >\frac{1}{n}\left(\frac{1}{2}+\ldots+\frac{1}{2n}\right).$$
For a given integer $n\geq 3$, determine the range of values for the expression \[ E_n(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n) := \dfrac {x_1} {x_2} + \dfrac {x_2} {x_3} + \cdots + \dfrac {x_{n-1}} {x_n} + \dfrac {x_n} {x_1}\] over real numbers $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n \geq 1$ satisfying $|x_k - x_{k+1}| \leq 1$ for all $1\leq k \leq n-1$. Do also determine when the extremal values are achieved. (Dan Schwarz)
Prove that if $c$ is a positive number distinct from $1$ and $n$ a positive integer, then \[n^{2}\leq \frac{c^{n}+c^{-n}-2}{c+c^{-1}-2}. \]
Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $V$ be a $(2n-1)$-dimensional vector space over the two-element field. Prove that for arbitrary vectors $v_1,\dots,v_{4n-1} \in V,$ there exists a sequence $1\leq i_1<\dots<i_{2n}\leq 4n-1$ of indices such that $v_{i_1}+\dots+v_{i_{2n}}=0.$
Determine all continuous functions $f: \mathbb R \to \mathbb R$ such that \[f(x + y)f(x - y) = (f(x)f(y))^2, \quad \forall(x, y) \in\mathbb{R}^2.\]
Suppose that $x$ and $y$ are complex numbers such that \[\frac{x^{n}-y^{n}}{x-y}\] are integers for some four consecutive positive integers $n$. Prove that it is an integer for all positive integers $n$.
For each $k$, $\mathcal{C}_k$ is biased so that, when tossed, it has probability $\tfrac{1}{(2k+1)}$ of falling heads. If the $n$ coins are tossed, what is the probability that the number of heads is odd? Express the answer as a rational function $n$.
Let $p = 2^{16}+1$ be a prime, and let $S$ be the set of positive integers not divisible by $p$. Let $f: S \to \{0, 1, 2, ..., p-1\}$ be a function satisfying \[ f(x)f(y) \equiv f(xy)+f(xy^{p-2}) \pmod{p} \quad\text{and}\quad f(x+p) = f(x) \] for all $x,y \in S$. Let $N$ be the product of all possible nonzero values of $f(81)$. Find the remainder when when $N$ is divided by $p$. [i]Proposed by Yang Liu and Ryan Alweiss[/i]
Consider the Harmonic Table \[\begin{array}{c@{\hspace{15pt}}c@{\hspace{15pt}}c@{\hspace{15pt}}c@{\hspace{15pt}}c@{\hspace{15pt}}c@{\hspace{15pt}}c}&&&1&&&\\&&\tfrac12&&\tfrac12&&\\&\tfrac13&&\tfrac16&&\tfrac13&\\\tfrac14&&\tfrac1{12}&&\tfrac1{12}&&\tfrac14\\&&&\vdots&&&\end{array}\] where $a_{n,1}=1/n$ and \[a_{n,k+1}=a_{n-1,k}-a_{n,k}.\] Find the remainder when the sum of the reciprocals of the $2007$ terms on the $2007^\text{th}$ row gets divided by $2008$.