Found problems: 815
In a culturing of bacteria, there are two species of them: red and blue bacteria.
When two red bacteria meet, they transform into one blue bacterium.
When two blue bacteria meet, they transform into four red bacteria.
When a red and a blue bacteria meet, they transform into three red bacteria.
Find, in function of the amount of blue bacteria and the red bacteria initially in the culturing,
all possible amounts of bacteria, and for every possible amount, the possible amounts of red and blue bacteria.
Let $ABC$ be an isosceles triangle with $AC=BC$, whose incentre is $I$. Let $P$ be a point on the circumcircle of the triangle $AIB$ lying inside the triangle $ABC$. The lines through $P$ parallel to $CA$ and $CB$ meet $AB$ at $D$ and $E$, respectively. The line through $P$ parallel to $AB$ meets $CA$ and $CB$ at $F$ and $G$, respectively. Prove that the lines $DF$ and $EG$ intersect on the circumcircle of the triangle $ABC$.
[i]Proposed by Hojoo Lee, Korea[/i]
Let $p_1, p_2, p_3, \ldots$ be the prime numbers listed in increasing order, and let $x_0$ be a real number between 0 and 1. For positive integer $k$, define
\[ x_k = \begin{cases} 0 & \mbox{if} \; x_{k-1} = 0, \\[.1in] {\displaystyle \left\{ \frac{p_k}{x_{k-1}} \right\}} & \mbox{if} \; x_{k-1} \neq 0, \end{cases} \]
where $\{x\}$ denotes the fractional part of $x$. (The fractional part of $x$ is given by $x - \lfloor x \rfloor$ where $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$.) Find, with proof, all $x_0$ satisfying $0 < x_0 < 1$ for which the sequence $x_0, x_1, x_2, \ldots$ eventually becomes 0.
Let $ABC$ be a triangle and let $M$ and $N$ denote the midpoints of $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{AC}$, respectively. Let $X$ be a point such that $\overline{AX}$ is tangent to the circumcircle of triangle $ABC$. Denote by $\omega_B$ the circle through $M$ and $B$ tangent to $\overline{MX}$, and by $\omega_C$ the circle through $N$ and $C$ tangent to $\overline{NX}$. Show that $\omega_B$ and $\omega_C$ intersect on line $BC$.
[i]Merlijn Staps[/i]
A number is written in each corner of the cube. On each step, each number is replaced with the average of three numbers in the three adjacent corners (all the numbers are replaced simultaneously). After ten such steps, every number returns to its initial value. Must all numbers have been originally equal?
[i](3 points)[/i]
Let $\mathcal{A}$ denote the set of all polynomials in three variables $x, y, z$ with integer coefficients. Let $\mathcal{B}$ denote the subset of $\mathcal{A}$ formed by all polynomials which can be expressed as
\begin{align*}
(x + y + z)P(x, y, z) + (xy + yz + zx)Q(x, y, z) + xyzR(x, y, z)
\end{align*}
with $P, Q, R \in \mathcal{A}$. Find the smallest non-negative integer $n$ such that $x^i y^j z^k \in \mathcal{B}$ for all non-negative integers $i, j, k$ satisfying $i + j + k \geq n$.
Initially, a word of $250$ letters with $125$ letters $A$ and $125$ letters $B$ is written on a blackboard. In each operation, we may choose a contiguous string of any length with equal number of letters $A$ and equal number of letters $B$, reverse those letters and then swap each $B$ with $A$ and each $A$ with $B$ (Example: $ABABBA$ after the operation becomes $BAABAB$). Decide if it possible to choose initial word, so that after some operations, it will become the same as the first word, but in reverse order.
Let $\mathbb{N}$ denote the set of natural numbers. Define a function $T:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{N}$ by $T(2k)=k$ and $T(2k+1)=2k+2$. We write $T^2(n)=T(T(n))$ and in general $T^k(n)=T^{k-1}(T(n))$ for any $k>1$.
(i) Show that for each $n\in\mathbb{N}$, there exists $k$ such that $T^k(n)=1$.
(ii) For $k\in\mathbb{N}$, let $c_k$ denote the number of elements in the set $\{n: T^k(n)=1\}$. Prove that $c_{k+2}=c_{k+1}+c_k$, for $k\ge 1$.
The $2m$ numbers
$$1\cdot 2, 2\cdot 3, 3\cdot 4,\hdots,2m(2m+1)$$
are written on a blackboard, where $m\geq 2$ is an integer. A [i]move[/i] consists of choosing three numbers $a, b, c$, erasing them from the board and writing the single number
$$\frac{abc}{ab+bc+ca}$$
After $m-1$ such moves, only two numbers will remain on the blackboard. Supposing one of these is $\tfrac{4}{3}$, show that the other is larger than $4$.
Let $m$ boxes be given, with some balls in each box. Let $n < m$ be a given integer. The following operation is performed: choose $n$ of the boxes and put $1$ ball in each of them. Prove:
[i](a) [/i]If $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime, then it is possible, by performing the operation a finite number of times, to arrive at the situation that all the boxes contain an equal number of balls.
[i](b)[/i] If $m$ and $n$ are not relatively prime, there exist initial distributions of balls in the boxes such that an equal distribution is not possible to achieve.
In $\triangle ABC$, a point $D$ lies on line $BC$. The circumcircle of $ABD$ meets $AC$ at $F$ (other than $A$), and the circumcircle of $ADC$ meets $AB$ at $E$ (other than $A$). Prove that as $D$ varies, the circumcircle of $AEF$ always passes through a fixed point other than $A$, and that this point lies on the median from $A$ to $BC$.
[i]Proposed by Allen Liu[/i]
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.
There are $n$ natural numbers written on the board. Every move, we could erase $a,b$ and change it to $\gcd(a,b)$ and $\text{lcm}(a,b) - \gcd(a,b)$. Prove that in finite number of moves, all numbers in the board could be made to be equal.
Describe all functions $f: \{ 0,1\}^n \to \{ 0,1\}$ which satisfy the equation
\begin{align*}
& f(f(a_{11},a_{12},\dotsc ,a_{1n}),f(a_{21},a_{22},\dotsc ,a_{2n}),\dotsc ,f(a_{n1},a_{n2},\dotsc ,a_{nn}))\\
& = f(f(a_{11},a_{21},\dotsc ,a_{n1}),f(a_{12},a_{22},\dotsc ,a_{n2}),\dotsc ,f(a_{1n},a_{2n},\dotsc ,a_{nn}))\end{align*}
for arbitrary $a_{ij}\in \{ 0,1\}$ where $i,j\in \{1,2,\dotsc ,n\}.$
Vaggelis has a box that contains $2015$ white and $2015$ black balls. In every step, he follows the procedure below:
He choses randomly two balls from the box. If they are both blacks, he paints one white and he keeps it in the box, and throw the other one out of the box. If they are both white, he keeps one in the box and throws the other out. If they are one white and one black, he throws the white out, and keeps the black in the box.
He continues this procedure, until three balls remain in the box. He then looks inside and he sees that there are balls of both colors. How many white balls does he see then, and how many black?
Let $x$ and $y$ be positive integers. If ${x^{2^n}}-1$ is divisible by $2^ny+1$ for every positive integer $n$, prove that $x=1$.
A positive integer $a$ is selected, and some positive integers are written on a board. Alice and Bob play the following game. On Alice's turn, she must replace some integer $n$ on the board with $n+a$, and on Bob's turn he must replace some even integer $n$ on the board with $n/2$. Alice goes first and they alternate turns. If on his turn Bob has no valid moves, the game ends.
After analyzing the integers on the board, Bob realizes that, regardless of what moves Alice makes, he will be able to force the game to end eventually. Show that, in fact, for this value of $a$ and these integers on the board, the game is guaranteed to end regardless of Alice's or Bob's moves.
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]
Let $\mathcal{S}$ be a finite set of at least two points in the plane. Assume that no three points of $\mathcal S$ are collinear. A [i]windmill[/i] is a process that starts with a line $\ell$ going through a single point $P \in \mathcal S$. The line rotates clockwise about the [i]pivot[/i] $P$ until the first time that the line meets some other point belonging to $\mathcal S$. This point, $Q$, takes over as the new pivot, and the line now rotates clockwise about $Q$, until it next meets a point of $\mathcal S$. This process continues indefinitely.
Show that we can choose a point $P$ in $\mathcal S$ and a line $\ell$ going through $P$ such that the resulting windmill uses each point of $\mathcal S$ as a pivot infinitely many times.
[i]Proposed by Geoffrey Smith, United Kingdom[/i]
Peter has three accounts in a bank, each with an integral number of dollars. He is only allowed to transfer money from one account to another so that the amount of money in the latter is doubled. Prove that Peter can always transfer all his money into two accounts. Can Peter always transfer all his money into one account?
In each field of 2009*2009 table you can write either 1 or -1.
Denote Ak multiple of all numbers in k-th row and Bj the multiple of all numbers in j-th column.
Is it possible to write the numbers in such a way that
$ \sum_{i\equal{}1}^{2009}{Ai}\plus{} \sum_{i\equal{}1}^{2009}{Bi}\equal{}0$?
Find all functions $f \colon \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ that satisfy the inequality
\[ f(y) - \left(\frac{z-y}{z-x} f(x) + \frac{y-x}{z-x}f(z)\right) \leq f\left(\frac{x+z}{2}\right) - \frac{f(x)+f(z)}{2} \]
for all real numbers $x < y < z$.
[i]Proposed by Gabriel Carroll[/i]
A conference is attended by $n (n\ge 3)$ scientists. Each scientist has some friends in this conference (friendship is mutual and no one is a friend of him/herself). Suppose that no matter how we partition the scientists into two nonempty groups, there always exist two scientists in the same group who are friends, and there always exist two scientists in different groups who are friends.
A proposal is introduced on the first day of the conference. Each of the scientists' opinion on the proposal can be expressed as a non-negative integer. Everyday from the second day onwards, each scientists' opinion is changed to the integer part of the average of his/her friends' opinions from the previous day.
Prove that after a period of time, all scientists have the same opinion on the proposal.
Two distinct positive integers $a,b$ are written on the board. The smaller of them is erased and replaced with the number $\frac{ab}{|a-b|}$. This process is repeated as long as the two numbers are not equal. Prove that eventually the two numbers on the board will be equal.
Initially, on a board there a positive integer. If board contains the number $x,$ then we may additionally write the numbers $2x+1$ and $\frac{x}{x+2}.$ At some point 2008 is written on the board. Prove, that this number was there from the beginning.