Given $ a_0 \equal{} 1$, $ a_1 \equal{} 3$, and the general relation $ a_n^2 \minus{} a_{n \minus{} 1}a_{n \plus{} 1} \equal{} (\minus{}1)^n$ for $ n \ge 1$. Then $ a_3$ equals: $ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac{13}{27}\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 33\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 21\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 10\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \minus{}17$

A single player game has the following rules: initially, there are $10$ piles of stones with $1,2,...,10$ stones, respectively. A movement consists on making one of the following operations: [b]i)[/b] to choose $2$ piles, both of them with at least $2$ stones, combine them and then add $2$ stones to the new pile; [b]ii)[/b] to choose a pile with at least $4$ stones, remove $2$ stones from it, and then split it into two piles with amount of piles to be chosen by the player. The game continues until is not possible to make an operation. Show that the number of piles with one stone in the end of the game is always the same, no matter how the movements are made.

The numbers $1,2,...,1970$ are written on a board. One is allowed to remove $2$ numbers and to write down their difference instead. When repeated often enough, only one number remains. Show that this number is odd.

Let $a, b, c, p, q, r$ be positive integers with $p, q, r \ge 2$. Denote \[Q=\{(x, y, z)\in \mathbb{Z}^3 : 0 \le x \le a, 0 \le y \le b , 0 \le z \le c \}. \] Initially, some pieces are put on the each point in $Q$, with a total of $M$ pieces. Then, one can perform the following three types of operations repeatedly: (1) Remove $p$ pieces on $(x, y, z)$ and place a piece on $(x-1, y, z)$ ; (2) Remove $q$ pieces on $(x, y, z)$ and place a piece on $(x, y-1, z)$ ; (3) Remove $r$ pieces on $(x, y, z)$ and place a piece on $(x, y, z-1)$. Find the smallest positive integer $M$ such that one can always perform a sequence of operations, making a piece placed on $(0,0,0)$, no matter how the pieces are distributed initially.

The numbers $1, 2, \dots , 50$ are written on a board. Letícia performs the following actions: she erases two numbers $a$ and $b$ on the board, writes the number $a+b$ on it and notes the number $ab(a+b)$ in her notebook. After performing these operations $49$ times, when there is only one number written on the board, Letícia calculates the sum $S$ of the $49$ numbers in the notebook. a) Prove that $S$ doesn't depend on the order Letícia chooses the numbers to perform the operations. b) Find the value of $S$.

On a large chessboard, there are $4$ puddings that form a square with size $1$. A pudding $A$ could jump over a pudding $B$, or equivalently, $A$ moves to the symmetric point with respect to $B$. Is it possible that after finite times of jumping, the puddings form a square with size $2$?

On a blackboard, several polynomials of degree $37$ are written, each of them has the leading coefficient equal to $1$. Initially all coefficients of each polynomial are non-negative. By one move it is allowed to erase any pair of polynomials $f, g$ and replace it by another pair of polynomials $f_1, g_1$ of degree $37$ with the leading coefficients equal to $1$ such that either $f_1+g_1 = f+g$ or $f_1g_1 = fg$. Prove that it is impossible that after some move each polynomial on the blackboard has $37$ distinct positive roots. [i](8 points)[/i] [i]Alexandr Kuznetsov[/i]

Objects $A$ and $B$ move simultaneously in the coordinate plane via a sequence of steps, each of length one. Object $A$ starts at $(0,0)$ and each of its steps is either right or up, both equally likely. Object $B$ starts at $(5,7)$ and each of its steps is either left or down, both equally likely. Which of the following is closest to the probability that the objects meet? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 0.10 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 0.15 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 0.20 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 0.25 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 0.30$

Players $A$ and $B$ play a "paintful" game on the real line. Player $A$ has a pot of paint with four units of black ink. A quantity $p$ of this ink suffices to blacken a (closed) real interval of length $p$. In every round, player $A$ picks some positive integer $m$ and provides $1/2^m $ units of ink from the pot. Player $B$ then picks an integer $k$ and blackens the interval from $k/2^m$ to $(k+1)/2^m$ (some parts of this interval may have been blackened before). The goal of player $A$ is to reach a situation where the pot is empty and the interval $[0,1]$ is not completely blackened. Decide whether there exists a strategy for player $A$ to win in a finite number of moves.

Players $A$ and $B$ play a "paintful" game on the real line. Player $A$ has a pot of paint with four units of black ink. A quantity $p$ of this ink suffices to blacken a (closed) real interval of length $p$. In every round, player $A$ picks some positive integer $m$ and provides $1/2^m $ units of ink from the pot. Player $B$ then picks an integer $k$ and blackens the interval from $k/2^m$ to $(k+1)/2^m$ (some parts of this interval may have been blackened before). The goal of player $A$ is to reach a situation where the pot is empty and the interval $[0,1]$ is not completely blackened. Decide whether there exists a strategy for player $A$ to win in a finite number of moves.

$(NET 4)$ A boy has a set of trains and pieces of railroad track. Each piece is a quarter of circle, and by concatenating these pieces, the boy obtained a closed railway. The railway does not intersect itself. In passing through this railway, the train sometimes goes in the clockwise direction, and sometimes in the opposite direction. Prove that the train passes an even number of times through the pieces in the clockwise direction and an even number of times in the counterclockwise direction. Also, prove that the number of pieces is divisible by $4.$

After elections, every parliament member (PM), has his own absolute rating. When the parliament set up, he enters in a group and gets a relative rating. The relative rating is the ratio of its own absolute rating to the sum of all absolute ratings of the PMs in the group. A PM can move from one group to another only if in his new group his relative rating is greater. In a given day, only one PM can change the group. Show that only a finite number of group moves is possible. [i](A rating is positive real number.)[/i]

In a word formed with the letters $a,b$ we can change some blocks: $aba$ in $b$ and back, $bba$ in $a$ and backwards. If the initial word is $aaa\ldots ab$ where $a$ appears 2003 times can we reach the word $baaa\ldots a$, where $a$ appears 2003 times.

The integers $-1$, $2$, $-3$, $4$, $-5$, $6$ are written on a blackboard. At each move, we erase two numbers $a$ and $b$, then we re-write $2a+b$ and $2b+a$. How many of the sextuples $(0,0,0,3,-9,9)$, $(0,1,1,3,6,-6)$, $(0,0,0,3,-6,9)$, $(0,1,1,-3,6,-9)$, $(0,0,2,5,5,6)$ can be gotten? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 5 $

We have $2^m$ sheets of paper, with the number $1$ written on each of them. We perform the following operation. In every step we choose two distinct sheets; if the numbers on the two sheets are $a$ and $b$, then we erase these numbers and write the number $a + b$ on both sheets. Prove that after $m2^{m -1}$ steps, the sum of the numbers on all the sheets is at least $4^m$ . [i]Proposed by Abbas Mehrabian, Iran[/i]

Given any set of $9$ points in the plane such that there is no $3$ of them collinear, show that for each point $P$ of the set, the number of triangles with its vertices on the other $8$ points and that contain $P$ on its interior is even.

On the board written numbers from 1 to 25 . Bob can pick any three of them say $a,b,c$ and replace by $a^3+b^3+c^3$ . Prove that last number on the board can not be $2013^3$.

Let $a,b$ be two positive integers, such that $ab\neq 1$. Find all the integer values that $f(a,b)$ can take, where \[ f(a,b) = \frac { a^2+ab+b^2} { ab- 1} . \]

For any integer $n\geq 2$, we compute the integer $h(n)$ by applying the following procedure to its decimal representation. Let $r$ be the rightmost digit of $n$. [list][*]If $r=0$, then the decimal representation of $h(n)$ results from the decimal representation of $n$ by removing this rightmost digit $0$. [*]If $1\leq r \leq 9$ we split the decimal representation of $n$ into a maximal right part $R$ that solely consists of digits not less than $r$ and into a left part $L$ that either is empty or ends with a digit strictly smaller than $r$. Then the decimal representation of $h(n)$ consists of the decimal representation of $L$, followed by two copies of the decimal representation of $R-1$. For instance, for the number $17,151,345,543$, we will have $L=17,151$, $R=345,543$ and $h(n)=17,151,345,542,345,542$.[/list] Prove that, starting with an arbitrary integer $n\geq 2$, iterated application of $h$ produces the integer $1$ after finitely many steps. [i]Proposed by Gerhard Woeginger, Austria[/i]

Each of the six boxes $B_1$, $B_2$, $B_3$, $B_4$, $B_5$, $B_6$ initially contains one coin. The following operations are allowed Type 1) Choose a non-empty box $B_j$, $1\leq j \leq 5$, remove one coin from $B_j$ and add two coins to $B_{j+1}$; Type 2) Choose a non-empty box $B_k$, $1\leq k \leq 4$, remove one coin from $B_k$ and swap the contents (maybe empty) of the boxes $B_{k+1}$ and $B_{k+2}$. Determine if there exists a finite sequence of operations of the allowed types, such that the five boxes $B_1$, $B_2$, $B_3$, $B_4$, $B_5$ become empty, while box $B_6$ contains exactly $2010^{2010^{2010}}$ coins. [i]Proposed by Hans Zantema, Netherlands[/i]

George plays the following game: At every step he can replace a triple of integers $(x,y,z)$ which is written on the blackboard, with any of the following triples: (i) $(x,z,y)$ (ii) $(-x,y,z)$ (iii) $(x+y,y,2x+y+z)$ (iv) $(x-y,y,y+z-2x)$ Initially, the triple $(1,1,1)$ is written on the blackboard. Determine whether George can, with a sequence of allowed steps, end up at the triple $(2021,2019,2023)$, fully justifying your answer.

We have $2^m$ sheets of paper, with the number $1$ written on each of them. We perform the following operation. In every step we choose two distinct sheets; if the numbers on the two sheets are $a$ and $b$, then we erase these numbers and write the number $a + b$ on both sheets. Prove that after $m2^{m -1}$ steps, the sum of the numbers on all the sheets is at least $4^m$ . [i]Proposed by Abbas Mehrabian, Iran[/i]

$S$ is a board containing all unit squares in the $xy$ plane whose vertices have integer coordinates and which lie entirely inside the circle $x^2 + y^2 = 1998^2$. In each square of $S$ is written $+1$. An allowed move is to change the sign of every square in $S$ in a given row, column or diagonal. Can we end up with exactly one $-1$ and $+1$ on the rest squares by a sequence of allowed moves?

Mad scientist Kyouma writes $N$ positive integers on a board. Each second, he chooses two numbers $x, y$ written on the board with $x > y$, and writes the number $x^2-y^2$ on the board. After some time, he sends the list of all the numbers on the board to Christina. She notices that all the numbers from 1 to 1000 are present on the list. Aid Christina in finding the minimum possible value of N.

We call a set $S$ on the real line $R$ "superinvariant", if for any stretching $A$ of the set $S$ by the transformation taking $x$ to $A(x) = x_0 + a(x - x_0)$, where $a > 0$, there exists a transformation $B, B(x) = x + b$, such that the images of $S$ under $A$ and $B$ agree; i.e., for any $x \in S$, there is $y \in S$ such that $A(x) = B(y)$, and for any $t \in S$, there is a $u \in S$ such that $B(t) = A(u).$ Determine all superinvariant sets.