Define binary operations $\diamondsuit$ and $\heartsuit$ by $$a \, \diamondsuit \, b = a^{\log_{7}(b)} \qquad \text{and} \qquad a \, \heartsuit \, b = a^{\frac{1}{\log_{7}(b)}}$$ for all real numbers $a$ and $b$ for which these expressions are defined. The sequence $(a_n)$ is defined recursively by $a_3 = 3\, \heartsuit\, 2$ and $$a_n = (n\, \heartsuit\, (n-1)) \,\diamondsuit\, a_{n-1}$$ for all integers $n \geq 4$. To the nearest integer, what is $\log_{7}(a_{2019})$? $\textbf{(A) } 8 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 9 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 10 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 11 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 12$

When counting from $3$ to $201$, $53$ is the $51^{\text{st}}$ number counted. When counting backwards from $201$ to $3$, $53$ is the $n^{\text{th}}$ number counted. What is $n$? $\textbf{(A) }146\qquad \textbf{(B) } 147\qquad\textbf{(C) } 148\qquad\textbf{(D) }149\qquad\textbf{(E) }150$

For an integer $n \geq 5,$ two players play the following game on a regular $n$-gon. Initially, three consecutive vertices are chosen, and one counter is placed on each. A move consists of one player sliding one counter along any number of edges to another vertex of the $n$-gon without jumping over another counter. A move is legal if the area of the triangle formed by the counters is strictly greater after the move than before. The players take turns to make legal moves, and if a player cannot make a legal move, that player loses. For which values of $n$ does the player making the first move have a winning strategy?

In the beginnig, all nine squares of $3\times 3$ chessboard contain $0$. At each step, we choose two squares sharing a common edge, then we add $1$ to them or $-1$ to them. Show that it is not possible to make all squares $2$, after a finite number of steps.

Determine, with proof, all positive integers $k$ such that $$\frac{1}{n+1} \sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}^k$$ is an integer for every positive integer $n.$

The [i]liar's guessing game[/i] is a game played between two players $A$ and $B$. The rules of the game depend on two positive integers $k$ and $n$ which are known to both players. At the start of the game $A$ chooses integers $x$ and $N$ with $1 \le x \le N.$ Player $A$ keeps $x$ secret, and truthfully tells $N$ to player $B$. Player $B$ now tries to obtain information about $x$ by asking player $A$ questions as follows: each question consists of $B$ specifying an arbitrary set $S$ of positive integers (possibly one specified in some previous question), and asking $A$ whether $x$ belongs to $S$. Player $B$ may ask as many questions as he wishes. After each question, player $A$ must immediately answer it with [i]yes[/i] or [i]no[/i], but is allowed to lie as many times as she wants; the only restriction is that, among any $k+1$ consecutive answers, at least one answer must be truthful. After $B$ has asked as many questions as he wants, he must specify a set $X$ of at most $n$ positive integers. If $x$ belongs to $X$, then $B$ wins; otherwise, he loses. Prove that: 1. If $n \ge 2^k,$ then $B$ can guarantee a win. 2. For all sufficiently large $k$, there exists an integer $n \ge (1.99)^k$ such that $B$ cannot guarantee a win. [i]Proposed by David Arthur, Canada[/i]

A rectangular array of numbers is given. In each row and each column, the sum of all numbers is an integer. Prove that each nonintegral number $x$ in the array can be changed into either $\lceil x\rceil $ or $\lfloor x\rfloor $ so that the row-sums and column-sums remain unchanged. (Note that $\lceil x\rceil $ is the least integer greater than or equal to $x$, while $\lfloor x\rfloor $ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$.)

The vertices of a convex $2550$-gon are colored black and white as follows: black, white, two black, two white, three black, three white, ..., 50 black, 50 white. Dania divides the polygon into quadrilaterals with diagonals that have no common points. Prove that there exists a quadrilateral among these, in which two adjacent vertices are black and the other two are white. [i]D. Rudenko[/i]

Let $S$ be a nonempty set of positive integers. We say that a positive integer $n$ is [i]clean[/i] if it has a unique representation as a sum of an odd number of distinct elements from $S$. Prove that there exist infinitely many positive integers that are not clean.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. We start with $n$ piles of pebbles, each initially containing a single pebble. One can perform moves of the following form: choose two piles, take an equal number of pebbles from each pile and form a new pile out of these pebbles. Find (in terms of $n$) the smallest number of nonempty piles that one can obtain by performing a finite sequence of moves of this form.

Decompose the space of homogeneous polynomials of degree $5$ in $(x, y, z)$ into irreducible subspaces invariant with respect to the rotation group $SO(3)$.

In a heap there are $2021$ stones. Two players $A$ and $B$ play removing stones of the pile, alternately starting with $A$. A valid move for $A$ consists of remove $1, 2$ or $7$ stones. A valid move for B is to remove $1, 3, 4$ or $6$ stones. The player who leaves the pile empty after making a valid move wins. Determine if some of the players have a winning strategy. If such a strategy exists, explain it.

For a positive integer $n>2$, consider the $n-1$ fractions $$\dfrac21, \dfrac32, \cdots, \dfrac{n}{n-1}$$ The product of these fractions equals $n$, but if you reciprocate (i.e. turn upside down) some of the fractions, the product will change. Can you make the product equal 1? Find all values of $n$ for which this is possible and prove that you have found them all.

Let $a,b$ be integers with $0<a<b$. A set $\{x,y,z\}$ of non-negative integers is [i]olympic[/i] if $x<y<z$ and if $\{z-y,y-x\}=\{a,b\}$. Show that the set of all non-negative integers is the union of pairwise disjoint olympic sets.