Found problems: 823
2003 Miklós Schweitzer, 2
Let $p$ be a prime and let $M$ be an $n\times m$ matrix with integer entries such that $Mv\not\equiv 0\pmod{p}$ for any column vector $v\neq 0$ whose entries are $0$ are $1$. Show that there exists a row vector $x$ with integer entries such that no entry of $xM$ is $0\pmod{p}$.
(translated by L. Erdős)
2007 Purple Comet Problems, 15
The alphabet in its natural order $\text{ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ}$ is $T_0$. We apply a permutation to $T_0$ to get $T_1$ which is $\text{JQOWIPANTZRCVMYEGSHUFDKBLX}$. If we apply the same permutation to $T_1$, we get $T_2$ which is $\text{ZGYKTEJMUXSODVLIAHNFPWRQCB}$. We continually apply this permutation to each $T_m$ to get $T_{m+1}$. Find the smallest positive integer $n$ so that $T_n=T_0$.
2003 Romania National Olympiad, 2
Let be eight real numbers $ 1\le a_1< a_2< a_3< a_4,x_1<x_2<x_3<x_4. $ Prove that
$$ \begin{vmatrix}a_1^{x_1} & a_1^{x_2} & a_1^{x_3} & a_1^{x_4} \\
a_2^{x_1} & a_2^{x_2} & a_2^{x_3} & a_2^{x_4} \\
a_3^{x_1} & a_3^{x_2} & a_3^{x_3} & a_3^{x_4} \\
a_4^{x_1} & a_4^{x_2} & a_4^{x_3} & a_4^{x_4} \\
\end{vmatrix} >0. $$
[i]Marian Andronache, Ion Savu[/i]
ICMC 5, 3
Let $\mathcal M$ be the set of $n\times n$ matrices with integer entries. Find all $A\in\mathcal M$ such that $\det(A+B)+\det(B)$ is even for all $B\in\mathcal M$.
[i]Proposed by Ethan Tan[/i]
2010 AIME Problems, 11
Define a [i]T-grid[/i] to be a $ 3\times3$ matrix which satisfies the following two properties:
(1) Exactly five of the entries are $ 1$'s, and the remaining four entries are $ 0$'s.
(2) Among the eight rows, columns, and long diagonals (the long diagonals are $ \{a_{13},a_{22},a_{31}\}$ and $ \{a_{11},a_{22},a_{33}\}$, no more than one of the eight has all three entries equal.
Find the number of distinct T-grids.
2005 VJIMC, Problem 1
For an arbitrary square matrix $M$, define
$$\exp(M)=I+\frac M{1!}+\frac{M^2}{2!}+\frac{M^3}{3!}+\ldots.$$Construct $2\times2$ matrices $A$ and $B$ such that $\exp(A+B)\ne\exp(A)\exp(B)$.
2017 IMC, 1
Determine all complex numbers $\lambda$ for which there exists a positive integer $n$ and a real $n\times n$ matrix $A$ such that $A^2=A^T$ and $\lambda$ is an eigenvalue of $A$.
2019 District Olympiad, 3
Let $n$ be an odd natural number and $A,B \in \mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{C})$ be two matrices such that $(A-B)^2=O_n.$ Prove that $\det(AB-BA)=0.$
1995 VJIMC, Problem 1
Discuss the solvability of the equations
\begin{align*}\lambda x+y+z&=a\\x+\lambda y+z&=b\\x+y+\lambda z&=c\end{align*}for all numbers $\lambda,a,b,c\in\mathbb R$.
2000 IMC, 6
Let $A$ be a real $n\times n$ Matrix and define $e^{A}=\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \frac{A^{k}}{k!}$
Prove or disprove that for any real polynomial $P(x)$ and any real matrices $A,B$,
$P(e^{AB})$ is nilpotent if and only if $P(e^{BA})$ is nilpotent.
2022 Brazil Undergrad MO, 2
Let $G$ be the set of $2\times 2$ matrices that such
$$
G =
\left\{
\begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d
\end{pmatrix}
\mid\, a,b,c,d \in \mathbb{Z}, ad-bc = 1, c \text{ is a multiple of } 3
\right\}
$$
and two matrices in $G$:
$$
A =
\begin{pmatrix} 1 & 1 \\ 0 & 1
\end{pmatrix}\;\;\;
B =
\begin{pmatrix} -1 & 1 \\ -3 & 2
\end{pmatrix}
$$
Show that any matrix in $G$ can be written as a product $M_1M_2\cdots M_r$ such that $M_i \in \{A, A^{-1}, B, B^{-1}\}, \forall i \leq r$
2019 IMC, 5
Determine whether there exist an odd positive integer $n$ and $n\times n$ matrices $A$ and $B$ with integer entries, that satisfy the following conditions:
[list=1]
[*]$\det (B)=1$;[/*]
[*]$AB=BA$;[/*]
[*]$A^4+4A^2B^2+16B^4=2019I$.[/*]
[/list]
(Here $I$ denotes the $n\times n$ identity matrix.)
[i]Proposed by Orif Ibrogimov, ETH Zurich and National University of Uzbekistan[/i]
1998 IMC, 1
$V$ is a real vector space and $ f, f_{i}: V \rightarrow \mathbb{R} $ are linear for $i = 1, 2, ... , k.$ Also $f $ is zero at all points for which all of $ f_{i }$ are zero. Show that $ f $ is a linear combination of the $f_{i}$.
2019 District Olympiad, 2
Let $n \in \mathbb{N},n \ge 2,$ and $A,B \in \mathcal{M}_n(\mathbb{R}).$ Prove that there exists a complex number $z,$ such that $|z|=1$ and $$\Re \left( {\det(A+zB)} \right) \ge \det(A)+\det(B),$$ where $\Re(w)$ is the real part of the complex number $w.$
2004 Nicolae Coculescu, 4
Let be a matrix $ A\in\mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}) $ having the property that the numbers $ \det (A+X) ,\det (A^2+X^2) ,\det (A^3+X^3) $ are (in this order) in geometric progression, for any matrix $ X\in\mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{R}) . $
Prove that $ A=0. $
[i]Marius Ghergu[/i]
2012 IMC, 4
Let $n \ge 2$ be an integer. Find all real numbers $a$ such that there exist real numbers $x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n$ satisfying
\[x_1(1-x_2)=x_2(1-x_3)=\dots=x_n(1-x_1)=a.\]
[i]Proposed by Walther Janous and Gerhard Kirchner, Innsbruck.[/i]
2002 IMC, 6
For an $n\times n$ matrix with real entries let $||M||=\sup_{x\in \mathbb{R}^{n}\setminus\{0\}}\frac{||Mx||_{2}}{||x||_{2}}$, where
$||\cdot||_{2}$ denotes the Euclidean norm on $\mathbb{R}^{n}$. Assume that an $n\times n$ matrxi $A$ with real entries satisfies $||A^{k}-A^{k-1}||\leq\frac{1}{2002k}$ for all positive integers $k$. Prove that $||A^{k}||\leq 2002$ for all positive integers $k$.
2021 IMC, 8
Let $n$ be a positive integer. At most how many distinct unit vectors can be selected in $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that from any three of them, at least two are orthogonal?
2004 IMO Shortlist, 6
For an ${n\times n}$ matrix $A$, let $X_{i}$ be the set of entries in row $i$, and $Y_{j}$ the set of entries in column $j$, ${1\leq i,j\leq n}$. We say that $A$ is [i]golden[/i] if ${X_{1},\dots ,X_{n},Y_{1},\dots ,Y_{n}}$ are distinct sets. Find the least integer $n$ such that there exists a ${2004\times 2004}$ golden matrix with entries in the set ${\{1,2,\dots ,n\}}$.
2021 Brazil Undergrad MO, Problem 1
Consider the matrices like
$$M=
\left(
\begin{array}{ccc}
a & b & c \\
c & a & b \\
b & c & a
\end{array}
\right)$$
such that $det(M) = 1$.
Show that
a) There are infinitely many matrices like above with $a,b,c \in \mathbb{Q}$
b) There are finitely many matrices like above with $a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}$
1967 IMO Shortlist, 6
Solve the system of equations:
$
\begin{matrix}
|x+y| + |1-x| = 6 \\ |x+y+1| + |1-y| = 4.
\end{matrix}
$
2007 All-Russian Olympiad Regional Round, 8.8
In the class, there are $ 15$ boys and $ 15$ girls. On March $ 8$, some boys made phone calls to some girls to congratulate them on the holiday ( each boy made no more than one call to each girl). It appears that there is a unique way to split the class in $ 15$ pairs (each consisting of a boy and a girl) such that in every pair the boy has phoned the girl. Find the maximal possible number of calls.
2006 District Olympiad, 2
Let $n,p \geq 2$ be two integers and $A$ an $n\times n$ matrix with real elements such that $A^{p+1} = A$.
a) Prove that $\textrm{rank} \left( A \right) + \textrm{rank} \left( I_n - A^p \right) = n$.
b) Prove that if $p$ is prime then \[ \textrm{rank} \left( I_n - A \right) = \textrm{rank} \left( I_n - A^2 \right) = \ldots = \textrm{rank} \left( I_n - A^{p-1} \right) . \]
2014 Taiwan TST Round 3, 1
Let $\mathbb R$ be the real numbers. Set $S = \{1, -1\}$ and define a function $\operatorname{sign} : \mathbb R \to S$ by
\[ \operatorname{sign} (x) =
\begin{cases}
1 & \text{if } x \ge 0; \\
-1 & \text{if } x < 0.
\end{cases}
\] Fix an odd integer $n$. Determine whether one can find $n^2+n$ real numbers $a_{ij}, b_i \in S$ (here $1 \le i, j \le n$) with the following property: Suppose we take any choice of $x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n \in S$ and consider the values \begin{align*}
y_i &= \operatorname{sign} \left( \sum_{j=1}^n a_{ij} x_j \right), \quad \forall 1 \le i \le n; \\
z &= \operatorname{sign} \left( \sum_{i=1}^n y_i b_i \right)
\end{align*} Then $z=x_1 x_2 \dots x_n$.
2004 Italy TST, 1
At the vertices $A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H$ of a cube, $2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2007$ and $2006$ stones respectively are placed. It is allowed to move a stone from a vertex to each of its three neighbours, or to move a stone to a vertex from each of its three neighbours. Which of the following arrangements of stones at $A, B, \ldots , H$ can be obtained?
$(\text{a})\quad 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2005;$
$(\text{b})\quad 2002, 2003, 2004, 2001, 2006, 2005, 2008, 2007;$
$(\text{c})\quad 2004, 2002, 2003, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2007, 2006.$