Olympiad problems

2025 Romania National Olympiad, 2

Let $n$ be a positive integer, and $a,b$ be two complex numbers such that $a \neq 1$ and $b^k \neq 1$, for any $k \in \{1,2,\dots ,n\}$. The matrices $A,B \in \mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ satisfy the relation $BA=a I_n + bAB$. Prove that $A$ and $B$ are invertible.

2007 Nicolae Coculescu, 1

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

Let $ \mathbb{K} $ be a field and let be a matrix $ M\in\mathcal{M}_3(\mathbb{K} ) $ having the property that $ \text{tr} (A) =\text{tr} (A^2) =0 . $ Show that there is a $ \mu\in \mathbb{K} $ such that $ A^3=\mu A $ or $ A^3=\mu I. $ [i]Cristinel Mortici[/i]

1999 IMC, 5

Tags: linear algebra , graph theory

Suppose that $2n$ points of an $n\times n$ grid are marked. Show that for some $k > 1$ one can select $2k$ distinct marked points, say $a_1,...,a_{2k}$, such that $a_{2i-1}$ and $a_{2i}$ are in the same row, $a_{2i}$ and $a_{2i+1}$ are in the same column, $\forall i$, indices taken mod 2n.

2006 Victor Vâlcovici, 3

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

Let be a natural number $ n $ and a matrix $ A\in\mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{R}) $ having the property that sum of the squares of all its elements is strictly less than $ 1. $ Prove that the matrices $ I\pm A $ are invertible.

2015 Romania National Olympiad, 4

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , complex number

Let be three natural numbers $ k,m,n $ an $ m\times n $ matrix $ A, $ an $ n\times m $ matrix $ B, $ and $ k $ complex numbers $ a_0,a_1,\ldots ,a_k $ such that the following conditions hold. $ \text{(i)}\quad m\ge n\ge 2 $ $ \text{(ii)}\quad a_0I_m+a_1AB+a_2(AB)^2+\cdots +a_k(AB)^k=O_m $ $ \text{(iii)}\quad a_0I_m+a_1BA+a_2(BA)^2+\cdots +a_k(BA)^k\neq O_n $ Prove that $ a_0=0. $

2010 Victor Vâlcovici, 3

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

Find all positive integers $n \geq 2$ with the following property : there is a matrix $A \in M_{n} (\mathbb{R})$ and a prime number $p \geq 2$ such that $A^{*}$ has exactly $p$ not null elements and $A^{p}=0_{n}$.

2017 District Olympiad, 3

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

Let be two matrices $ A,B\in\mathcal{M}_2\left( \mathbb{R} \right) $ that don’t commute. [b]a)[/b] If $ A^3=B^3, $ then $ \text{tr} \left( A^n \right) =\text{tr} \left( B^n \right) , $ for all natural numbers $ n. $ [b]b)[/b] If $ A^n\neq B^n $ and $ \text{tr} \left( A^n \right) =\text{tr} \left( B^n \right) , $ for all natural numbers $ n, $ then find some of the matrices $ A,B. $

1948 Putnam, B6

Tags: geometry , 3d geometry , complex number , linear algebra , matrix

Answer wither (i) or (ii): (i) Let $V, V_1 , V_2$ and $V_3$ denote four vertices of a cube such that $V_1 , V_2 , V_3 $ are adjacent to $V.$ Project the cube orthogonally on a plane of which the points are marked with complex numbers. Let the projection of $V$ fall in the origin and the projections of $V_1 , V_2 , V_3 $ in points marked with the complex numbers $z_1 , z_2 , z_3$, respectively. Show that $z_{1}^{2} +z_{2}^{2} +z_{3}^{2}=0.$ (ii) Let $(a_{ij})$ be a matrix such that $$|a_{ii}| > |a_{i1}| + |a_{i2}|+\ldots +|a_{i i-1}|+ |a_{i i+1}| +\ldots +|a_{in}|$$ for all $i.$ Show that the determinant is not equal to $0.$

2013 Argentina Cono Sur TST, 4

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , number theory

Show that the number $\begin{matrix} \\ N= \end{matrix} \underbrace{44 \ldots 4}_{n} \underbrace{88 \ldots 8}_{n} - 1\underbrace{33 \ldots3 }_{n-1}2$ is a perfect square for all positive integers $n$.

2005 Alexandru Myller, 1

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , superior algebra

Let $A,B\in M_2(\mathbb Z)$ s.t. $AB=\begin{pmatrix}1&2005\\0&1\end{pmatrix}$. Prove that there is a matrix $C\in M_2(\mathbb Z)$ s.t. $BA=C^{2005}$. [i]Dinu Serbanescu[/i]

2011 Miklós Schweitzer, 5

Tags: linear algebra , polynomial

Let n, k be positive integers. Let $f_a(x) := ||x - a||^{2n}$ , where the vectors $x = (x_1, ..., x_k) , a\in R^k$ , and ||·|| is the Euclidean norm. Let the vector space $Q_{n, k}$ be generated by the functions $f_a$ ($a\in R^k$). What is the largest integer N for which $Q_{n, k}$ contains all polynomials of $x_1, ..., x_k$ whose total degree is at most N?

1997 AMC 12/AHSME, 21

Tags: function , linear algebra , matrix , calculus , integration , logarithm

For any positive integer $ n$, let \[f(n) \equal{} \begin{cases} \log_8{n}, & \text{if }\log_8{n}\text{ is rational,} \\ 0, & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}\] What is $ \sum_{n \equal{} 1}^{1997}{f(n)}$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \log_8{2047}\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 6\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \frac {55}{3}\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac {58}{3}\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 585$

2024 Brazil Undergrad MO, 5

Tags: linear algebra , trace , matrix

Let $ A $ be a $ 2 \times 2 $ matrix with integer entries and $\det A \neq 0$. If the sequence $\operatorname{tr}(A^n)$, for $ n = 1, 2, 3, \ldots $, is bounded, show that \[ A^{12} = I \quad \text{or} \quad (A^2 - I)^2 = O. \] Here, $ I $ and $ O $ denote the identity and zero matrices, respectively, and $\operatorname{tr}$ denotes the trace of the matrix (the sum of the elements on the main diagonal).

1991 Spain Mathematical Olympiad, 2

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , integer , subset , algebra

Given two distinct elements $a,b \in \{-1,0,1\}$, consider the matrix $A$ . Find a subset $S$ of the set of the rows of $A$, of minimum size, such that every other row of $A$ is a linear combination of the rows in $S$ with integer coefficients.

2011 AMC 12/AHSME, 23

Tags: function , linear algebra , matrix , algebra , polynomial , induction , inequalities

Let $f(z)=\frac{z+a}{z+b}$ and $g(z)=f(f(z))$, where $a$ and $b$ are complex numbers. Suppose that $|a|=1$ and $g(g(z))=z$ for all $z$ for which $g(g(z))$ is defined. What is the difference between the largest and smallest possible values of $|b|$? $\textbf{(A)}\ 0 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ \sqrt{2}-1 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \sqrt{3}-1 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 1 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 2$

2005 Moldova Team Selection Test, 3

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , trigonometry , combinatorics

Does there exist such a configuration of 22 circles and 22 point, that any circle contains at leats 7 points and any point belongs at least to 7 circles?

2019 Miklós Schweitzer, 10

Tags: linear algebra

Let $A$ and $B$ be positive self-adjoint operators on a complex Hilbert space $H$. Prove that \[\limsup_{n \to \infty} \|A^n x\|^{1/n} \le \limsup_{n \to \infty} \|B^n x\|^{1/n}\] holds for every $x \in H$ if and only if $A^n \le B^n$ for each positive integer $n$.

2010 China Second Round Olympiad, 4

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , combinatorics

the code system of a new 'MO lock' is a regular $n$-gon,each vertex labelled a number $0$ or $1$ and coloured red or blue.it is known that for any two adjacent vertices,either their numbers or colours coincide. find the number of all possible codes(in terms of $n$).

1991 Arnold's Trivium, 3

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

Find the critical values and critical points of the mapping $z\mapsto z^2+2\overline{z}$ (sketch the answer).

2019 Teodor Topan, 4

Tags: linear algebra , matrix , transpose

Calculate the minimum value of $ \text{tr} (A^tA) , $ where $ A $ in the cases where is a matrix of pairwise distinct nonnegative integers and: [b]a)[/b] $ \det A\equiv 1\pmod 2 $ [b]b)[/b] $ \det A=0 $ [i]Vlad Mihaly[/i]

1997 Romania National Olympiad, 1

Tags: integer , linear algebra , matrix , modulo

Let $m \ge 2$ and $n \ge 1$ be integers and $A=(a_{ij})$ a square matrix of order $n$ with integer entries. Prove that for any permutation $\sigma \in S_n$ there is a function $\varepsilon : \{1,2,\ldots,n\} \to \{0,1\}$ such that replacing the entries $a_{\sigma(1)1},$ $a_{\sigma(2)2}, $ $\ldots,$ $a_{\sigma(n)n}$ of $A$ respectively by $$a_{\sigma(1)1}+\varepsilon(1), ~a_{\sigma(2)2}+\varepsilon(2), ~\ldots, ~a_{\sigma(n)n}+\varepsilon(n),$$ the determinant of the matrix $A_{\varepsilon}$ thus obtained is not divisible by $m.$

2011 SEEMOUS, Problem 3

Tags: vector , inequalities , linear algebra

Given vectors $\overline a,\overline b,\overline c\in\mathbb R^n$, show that $$(\lVert\overline a\rVert\langle\overline b,\overline c\rangle)^2+(\lVert\overline b\rVert\langle\overline a,\overline c\rangle)^2\le\lVert\overline a\rVert\lVert\overline b\rVert(\lVert\overline a\rVert\lVert\overline b\rVert+|\langle\overline a,\overline b\rangle|)\lVert\overline c\rVert^2$$where $\langle\overline x,\overline y\rangle$ denotes the scalar (inner) product of the vectors $\overline x$ and $\overline y$ and $\lVert\overline x\rVert^2=\langle\overline x,\overline x\rangle$.

2004 Germany Team Selection Test, 1

Tags: polynomial , linear algebra , matrix , complex number , system of equations , algebra

Let n be a positive integer. Find all complex numbers $x_{1}$, $x_{2}$, ..., $x_{n}$ satisfying the following system of equations: $x_{1}+2x_{2}+...+nx_{n}=0$, $x_{1}^{2}+2x_{2}^{2}+...+nx_{n}^{2}=0$, ... $x_{1}^{n}+2x_{2}^{n}+...+nx_{n}^{n}=0$.

2022 IMC, 2

Tags: linear algebra , matrix

For a positive integer $n$ determine all $n\times n$ real matrices $A$ which have only real eigenvalues and such that there exists an integer $k\geq n$ with $A + A^k = A^T$.

2003 Tournament Of Towns, 7

Tags: induction , linear algebra , matrix , combinatorics

A $m \times n$ table is filled with signs $"+"$ and $"-"$. A table is called irreducible if one cannot reduce it to the table filled with $"+"$, applying the following operations (as many times as one wishes). $a)$ It is allowed to flip all the signs in a row or in a column. Prove that an irreducible table contains an irreducible $2\times 2$ sub table. $b)$ It is allowed to flip all the signs in a row or in a column or on a diagonal (corner cells are diagonals of length $1$). Prove that an irreducible table contains an irreducible $4\times 4$ sub table.