In a country there are several cities; some of these cities are connected by airlines, so that an airline connects exactly two cities in each case and both flight directions are possible. Each airline belongs to one of $k$ flight companies; two airlines of the same flight company have always a common final point. Show that one can partition all cities in $k+2$ groups in such a way that two cities from exactly the same group are never connected by an airline with each other.

Let $n$ be a positive integer and let $a_1 \le a_2 \le \dots \le a_n$ and $b_1 \le b_2 \le \dots \le b_n$ be two nondecreasing sequences of real numbers such that \[ a_1 + \dots + a_i \le b_1 + \dots + b_i \text{ for every } i = 1, \dots, n \] and \[ a_1 + \dots + a_n = b_1 + \dots + b_n. \] Suppose that for every real number $m$, the number of pairs $(i,j)$ with $a_i-a_j=m$ equals the numbers of pairs $(k,\ell)$ with $b_k-b_\ell = m$. Prove that $a_i = b_i$ for $i=1,\dots,n$.

Let $a,b$ positive real numbers. Prove that $$\frac{(a+b)^3}{a^2b}\ge \frac{27}{4}.$$ When does equality occur?

Let us denote by $s(n)= \sum_{d|n} d$ the sum of divisors of a positive integer $n$ ($1$ and $n$ included). If $n$ has at most $5$ distinct prime divisors, prove that $s(n) < \frac{77}{16} n.$ Also prove that there exists a natural number $n$ for which $s(n) < \frac{76}{16} n$ holds.

What is the smallest value of $k$ for which the inequality \begin{align*} ad-bc+yz&-xt+(a+c)(y+t)-(b+d)(x+z)\leq \\ &\leq k\left(\sqrt{a^2+b^2}+\sqrt{c^2+d^2}+\sqrt{x^2+y^2}+\sqrt{z^2+t^2}\right)^2 \end{align*} holds for any $8$ real numbers $a,b,c,d,x,y,z,t$? Edit: Fixed a mistake! Thanks @below.

Let $ a,b,c $ be real numbers satisfying $ \left\lfloor a^2+b^2+c^2 \right\rfloor \le\lfloor ab+bc+ca \rfloor . $ Show that: $$ 2 >\max\left\{ \left| -2a+b+c \right| ,\left| a-2b+c \right| ,\left| a+b-2c \right| \right\} $$ [i]Merticaru[/i]

Let $n \ge 2$ be a positive integer. Suppose that $a_1,a_2,...,a_n$ and $b_1,b_2,...,b_n$ are 2n numbers such that $\sum_{i=1}^n a_i =\sum_{i=1}^n n_i= 1$ and $a_i\ge 0, 0 \le b_i\le \frac{n-1}{n}, i = 1, 2,..., n$. Show that $$b_1a_2a_3...a_n+a_1b_2a_3...a_n+...+a_1a_2...a_{k-1}b_ka_{k+1}...a_n+ ...+ a_1a_2...a_{n-1}b_n \le \frac{1}{n(n-1)^{n-2}}$$

Let $a_1,a_2,\cdots,a_n>0$ $(n\geq 2)$. Prove that$$\sum_{i=1}^n max\{a_1,a_2,\cdots,a_i \} \cdot min \{a_i,a_{i+1},\cdots,a_n\}\leq \frac{n}{2\sqrt{n-1}}\sum_{i=1}^n a^2_i$$

Determine the values of the real parameter $a$, such that the solutions of the system of inequalities $\begin{cases} \log_{\frac{1}{3}}{(3^{x}-6a)}+\frac{2}{\log_{a}{3}}<x-3\\ \log_{\frac{1}{3}}{(3^{x}-18)}>x-5\\ \end{cases}$ form an interval of length $\frac{1}{3}$.

For all $x>0$ prove $$\frac{\sin^2x-x}{\ln\left(\frac{\sin^2x}x\right)^{\sqrt x}}+\frac{\cos^2x-x}{\ln\left(\frac{\cos^2x}x\right)^{\sqrt x}}>|\sin x|+|\cos x|$$ [i]Proposed by Pirkulyiev Rovsen[/i]

Let $x, y, z$ be reals summing to $1$ which minimizes $2x^2 + 3y^2 + 4z^2$. Find $x$.

Let $ x$ be chosen at random from the interval $ (0,1)$. What is the probability that \[ \lfloor\log_{10}4x\rfloor \minus{} \lfloor\log_{10}x\rfloor \equal{} 0? \]Here $ \lfloor x\rfloor$ denotes the greatest integer that is less than or equal to $ x$. $ \textbf{(A) } \frac 18 \qquad \textbf{(B) } \frac 3{20} \qquad \textbf{(C) } \frac 16 \qquad \textbf{(D) } \frac 15 \qquad \textbf{(E) } \frac 14$

Hi guys, I was just reading over old posts that I made last year ( :P ) and saw how much the level of Getting Started became harder. To encourage more people from posting, I decided to start a Problem of the Day. This is how I'll conduct this: 1. In each post (not including this one since it has rules, etc) everyday, I'll post the problem. I may post another thread after it to give hints though. 2. Level of problem.. This is VERY important. All problems in this thread will be all AHSME or problems similar to this level. No AIME. Some AHSME problems, however, that involve tough insight or skills will not be posted. The chosen problems will be usually ones that everyone can solve after working. Calculators are allowed when you solve problems but it is NOT necessary. 3. Response.. All you have to do is simply solve the problem and post the solution. There is no credit given or taken away if you get the problem wrong. This isn't like other threads where the number of problems you get right or not matters. As for posting, post your solutions here in this thread. Do NOT PM me. Also, here are some more restrictions when posting solutions: A. No single answer post. It doesn't matter if you put hide and say "Answer is ###..." If you don't put explanation, it simply means you cheated off from some other people. I've seen several posts that went like "I know the answer" and simply post the letter. What is the purpose of even posting then? Huh? B. Do NOT go back to the previous problem(s). This causes too much confusion. C. You're FREE to give hints and post different idea, way or answer in some cases in problems. If you see someone did wrong or you don't understand what they did, post here. That's what this thread is for. 4. Main purpose.. This is for anyone who visits this forum to enjoy math. I rememeber when I first came into this forum, I was poor at math compared to other people. But I kindly got help from many people such as JBL, joml88, tokenadult, and many other people that would take too much time to type. Perhaps without them, I wouldn't be even a moderator in this forum now. This site clearly made me to enjoy math more and more and I'd like to do the same thing. That's about the rule.. Have fun problem solving! Next post will contain the Day 1 Problem. You can post the solutions until I post one. :D

For all positive real numbers $a, b,c.$ Prove the folllowing inequality$$\frac{a}{c+5b}+\frac{b}{a+5c}+\frac{c}{b+5a}\geq\frac{1}{2}.$$

Let $a, b, c,$ be nonnegative reals with $ a+b+c=3 $, find the largest positive real $ k $ so that for all $a,b,c,$ we have $$ a^2+b^2+c^2+k(abc-1)\ge 3 $$

Let $\alpha(n)$ be the number of digits equal to one in the dyadic representation of a positive integer $n$. Prove that [list=a] [*] the inequality $\alpha(n^2 ) \le \frac{1}{2} \alpha(n) (1+\alpha(n))$ holds, [*] equality is attained for infinitely $n\in\mathbb{N}$, [*] there exists a sequence $\{n_i\}$ such that $\lim_{i \to \infty} \frac{ \alpha({n_{i}}^2 )}{ \alpha(n_{i}) } = 0$.[/list]

For a given integer $ n\geq 2,$ determine the necessary and sufficient conditions that real numbers $ a_{1},a_{2},\cdots, a_{n},$ not all zero satisfy such that there exist integers $ 0<x_{1}<x_{2}<\cdots<x_{n},$ satisfying $ a_{1}x_{1}\plus{}a_{2}x_{2}\plus{}\cdots\plus{}a_{n}x_{n}\geq 0.$

Let $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n $ be real numbers, where $n\ge 2$ is a given integer, and let $\lfloor{x_1}\rfloor,\lfloor{x_2}\rfloor,\ldots,\lfloor{x_n}\rfloor $ be a permutation of $1,2,\ldots,n$. Find the maximum and minimum of $\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n-1}\lfloor{x_{i+1}-x_i}\rfloor$ (here $\lfloor x\rfloor $ is the largest integer not greater than $x$).

Let $x$, $y$, $z$ be positive real numbers satisfying $x+y+z\ge 6$. Find, with proof, the minimum value of \[ x^2+y^2+z^2+\frac{x}{y^2+z+1}+\frac{y}{z^2+x+1}+\frac{z}{x^2+y+1}. \]

Let $(x,y)$ be the coordinates of a point chosen uniformly at random within the unit square with vertices at $(0,0), (0,1), (1,0),$ and $(1,1).$ The probability that $|x - \tfrac{1}{2}| + |y - \tfrac{1}{2}| < \tfrac{1}{2}$ is $\tfrac{p}{q},$ where $p$ and $q$ are relatively prime integers. Find $p + q.$

Let $a_0, a_1, a_2, ... , a_n$ be real numbers, which fulfill the following two conditions: a) $0 = a_0 \leq a_1 \leq a_2 \leq ... \leq a_n$. b) For all $0 \leq i < j \leq n$ holds: $a_j - a_i \leq j-i$. Prove that $$\left( \displaystyle \sum_{i=0}^n a_i \right)^2 \geq \sum_{i=0}^n a_i^3.$$

If $a,b,c,d \in \mathbb{R}_{+}$ and $a+b +c +d =1$, show that \[ ab +bc +cd \leq \dfrac{1}{4}. \]

(1) Prove that there exist five nonnegative real numbers $ a, b, c, d$ and $ e$ with their sum equal to 1 such that for any arrangement of these numbers around a circle, there are always two neighboring numbers with their product not less than $ \frac{1}{9}.$ (2) Prove that for any five nonnegative real numbers with their sum equal to 1 , it is always possible to arrange them around a circle such that there are two neighboring numbers with their product not greater than $ \frac{1}{9}.$

Determine the maximum possible real value of the number $ k$, such that \[ (a \plus{} b \plus{} c)\left (\frac {1}{a \plus{} b} \plus{} \frac {1}{c \plus{} b} \plus{} \frac {1}{a \plus{} c} \minus{} k \right )\ge k\] for all real numbers $ a,b,c\ge 0$ with $ a \plus{} b \plus{} c \equal{} ab \plus{} bc \plus{} ca$.

Find the largest value of the real number $ \lambda$, such that as long as point $ P$ lies in the acute triangle $ ABC$ satisfying $ \angle{PAB}\equal{}\angle{PBC}\equal{}\angle{PCA}$, and rays $ AP$, $ BP$, $ CP$ intersect the circumcircle of triangles $ PBC$, $ PCA$, $ PAB$ at points $ A_1$, $ B_1$, $ C_1$ respectively, then $ S_{A_1BC}\plus{} S_{B_1CA}\plus{} S_{C_1AB} \geq \lambda S_{ABC}$.