Found problems: 26
1997 Estonia Team Selection Test, 1
$(a)$ Is it possible to partition the segment $[0,1]$ into two sets $A$ and $B$ and to define a continuous function $f$ such that for every $x\in A \ f(x)$ is in $B$, and for every $x\in B \ f(x)$ is in $A$?
$(b)$ The same question with $[0,1]$ replaced by $[0,1).$
1970 Putnam, A6
Three numbers are chosen independently at random, one from each of the three intervals $[0, L_i ]$ ($i=1,2,3$). If the distribution of each random number is uniform with respect to the length of the interval it is chosen from, determine the expected value of the smallest number chosen.
2016 Hanoi Open Mathematics Competitions, 6
Determine the smallest positive number $a$ such that the number of all integers belonging to $(a, 2016a]$ is $2016$.
Gheorghe Țițeica 2025, P1
Find all real numbers $x$ which satisfy $\frac{n}{3n+1}\leq x\leq \frac{4n+1}{2n-1}$, for all $n\in\mathbb{N}^*$.
[i]Gheorghe Boroica[/i]
2008 Bulgarian Autumn Math Competition, Problem 12.1
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 $\frac{1}{3}$.
2017 Miklós Schweitzer, 7
Characterize all increasing sequences $(s_n)$ of positive reals for which there exists a set $A\subset \mathbb{R}$ with positive measure such that $\lambda(A\cap I)<\frac{s_n}{n}$ holds for every interval $I$ with length $1/n$, where $\lambda$ denotes the Lebesgue measure.
2022 Iran Team Selection Test, 12
suppose that $A$ is the set of all Closed intervals $[a,b] \subset \mathbb{R}$. Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R} \rightarrow A$ such that
$\bullet$ $x \in f(y) \Leftrightarrow y \in f(x)$
$\bullet$ $|x-y|>2 \Leftrightarrow f(x) \cap f(y)=\varnothing$
$\bullet$ For all real numbers $0\leq r\leq 1$, $f(r)=[r^2-1,r^2+1]$
Proposed by Matin Yousefi
2023 Polish MO Finals, 6
For any real numbers $a$ and $b>0$, define an [i]extension[/i] of an interval $[a-b,a+b] \subseteq \mathbb{R}$ be $[a-2b, a+2b]$. We say that $P_1, P_2, \ldots, P_k$ covers the set $X$ if $X \subseteq P_1 \cup P_2 \cup \ldots \cup P_k$.
Prove that there exists an integer $M$ with the following property: for every finite subset $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}$, there exists a subset $B \subseteq A$ with at most $M$ numbers, so that for every $100$ closed intervals that covers $B$, their extensions covers $A$.
2020 Macedonian Nationаl Olympiad, 2
Let $x_1, ..., x_n$ ($n \ge 2$) be real numbers from the interval $[1, 2]$. Prove that
$|x_1 - x_2| + ... + |x_n - x_1| \le \frac{2}{3}(x_1 + ... + x_n)$,
with equality holding if and only if $n$ is even and the $n$-tuple $(x_1, x_2, ..., x_{n - 1}, x_n)$ is equal to $(1, 2, ..., 1, 2)$ or $(2, 1, ..., 2, 1)$.
1976 IMO Longlists, 29
Let $I = (0, 1]$ be the unit interval of the real line. For a given number $a \in (0, 1)$ we define a map $T : I \to I$ by the formula
if
\[ T (x, y) = \begin{cases} x + (1 - a),&\mbox{ if } 0< x \leq a,\\ \text{ } \\ x - a, & \mbox{ if } a < x \leq 1.\end{cases} \]
Show that for every interval $J \subset I$ there exists an integer $n > 0$ such that $T^n(J) \cap J \neq \emptyset.$
2022 Korea -Final Round, P6
Set $X$ is called [i]fancy[/i] if it satisfies all of the following conditions:
[list]
[*]The number of elements of $X$ is $2022$.
[*]Each element of $X$ is a closed interval contained in $[0, 1]$.
[*]For any real number $r \in [0, 1]$, the number of elements of $X$ containing $r$ is less than or equal to $1011$.
[/list]
For [i]fancy[/i] sets $A, B$, and intervals $I \in A, J \in B$, denote by $n(A, B)$ the number of pairs $(I, J)$ such that $I \cap J \neq \emptyset$. Determine the maximum value of $n(A, B)$.
2022 Iran Team Selection Test, 12
suppose that $A$ is the set of all Closed intervals $[a,b] \subset \mathbb{R}$. Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R} \rightarrow A$ such that
$\bullet$ $x \in f(y) \Leftrightarrow y \in f(x)$
$\bullet$ $|x-y|>2 \Leftrightarrow f(x) \cap f(y)=\varnothing$
$\bullet$ For all real numbers $0\leq r\leq 1$, $f(r)=[r^2-1,r^2+1]$
Proposed by Matin Yousefi
2010 ISI B.Stat Entrance Exam, 3
Let $I_1, I_2, I_3$ be three open intervals of $\mathbb{R}$ such that none is contained in another. If $I_1\cap I_2 \cap I_3$ is non-empty, then show that at least one of these intervals is contained in the union of the other two.
1995 Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik, 2
Let $S$ be a union of finitely many disjoint subintervals of $[0,1]$ such that no two points in $S$ have distance $1/10$. Show that the total length of the intervals comprising $S$ is at most $1/2$.
2010 Contests, 3
Let $I_1, I_2, I_3$ be three open intervals of $\mathbb{R}$ such that none is contained in another. If $I_1\cap I_2 \cap I_3$ is non-empty, then show that at least one of these intervals is contained in the union of the other two.
1997 Swedish Mathematical Competition, 6
Assume that a set $M$ of real numbers is the union of finitely many disjoint intervals with the total length greater than $1$. Prove that $M$ contains a pair of distinct numbers whose difference is an integer.
1997 Estonia Team Selection Test, 1
$(a)$ Is it possible to partition the segment $[0,1]$ into two sets $A$ and $B$ and to define a continuous function $f$ such that for every $x\in A \ f(x)$ is in $B$, and for every $x\in B \ f(x)$ is in $A$?
$(b)$ The same question with $[0,1]$ replaced by $[0,1).$
1949 Putnam, B1
Each rational number $\frac{p}{q}$ with $p,q$ coprime of the open interval $(0,1)$ is covered by the closed interval $\left[\frac{p}{q}-\frac{1}{4q^{2}}, \frac{p}{q}+\frac{1}{4q^{2}}\right]$. Prove that $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}$ is not covered by any of the above closed intervals.
2017 Miklós Schweitzer, 6
Let $I$ and $J$ be intervals. Let $\varphi,\psi:I\to\mathbb{R}$ be strictly increasing continuous functions and let $\Phi,\Psi:J\to\mathbb{R}$ be continuous functions. Suppose that $\varphi(x)+\psi(x)=x$ and $\Phi(u)+\Psi(u)=u$ holds for all $x\in I$ and $u\in J$. Show that if $f:I\to J$ is a continuous solution of the functional inequality
$$f\big(\varphi(x)+\psi(y)\big)\le \Phi\big(f(x)\big)+\Psi\big(f(y)\big)\qquad (x,y\in I),$$then $\Phi\circ f\circ \varphi^{-1}$ and $\Psi\circ f\circ \psi^{-1}$ are convex functions.
2015 IMAR Test, 4
(a) Show that, if $I \subset R$ is a closed bounded interval, and $f : I \to R$ is a non-constant monic polynomial function such that $max_{x\in I}|f(x)|< 2$, then there exists a non-constant monic polynomial function $g : I \to R$ such that $max_{x\in I} |g(x)| < 1$.
(b) Show that there exists a closed bounded interval $I \subset R$ such that $max_{x\in I}|f(x)| \ge 2$ for every non-constant monic polynomial function $f : I \to R$.
1986 Swedish Mathematical Competition, 6
The interval $[0,1]$ is covered by a finite number of intervals. Show that one can choose a number of these intervals which are pairwise disjoint and have the total length at least $1/2$.
1996 Czech and Slovak Match, 5
Two sets of intervals $A ,B$ on the line are given. The set $A$ contains $2m-1$ intervals, every two of which have an interior point in common. Moreover, every interval from $A$ contains at least two disjoint intervals from $B$. Show that there exists an interval in $B$ which belongs to at least $m$ intervals from $A$ .
1976 IMO Shortlist, 7
Let $I = (0, 1]$ be the unit interval of the real line. For a given number $a \in (0, 1)$ we define a map $T : I \to I$ by the formula
if
\[ T (x, y) = \begin{cases} x + (1 - a),&\mbox{ if } 0< x \leq a,\\ \text{ } \\ x - a, & \mbox{ if } a < x \leq 1.\end{cases} \]
Show that for every interval $J \subset I$ there exists an integer $n > 0$ such that $T^n(J) \cap J \neq \emptyset.$
1987 Swedish Mathematical Competition, 3
Ten closed intervals, each of length $1$, are placed in the interval $[0,4]$. Show that there is a point in the larger interval that belongs to at least four of the smaller intervals.
1954 Putnam, B3
Let $[a_1 , b_1 ] , \ldots, [a_n ,b_n ]$ be a collection of closed intervals such that any of these closed intervals have a point in common. Prove that there exists a point contained in every one of these intervals.