Put $ M\equal{}\begin{pmatrix}p&q&r\\ r&p&q\\q&r&p\end{pmatrix}$ where $ p,q,r>0$ and $ p\plus{}q\plus{}r\equal{}1$. Prove that $ \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}M^n\equal{}\begin{bmatrix}\frac13&\frac13&\frac13\\ \frac13&\frac13&\frac13\\\frac13&\frac13&\frac13\end{bmatrix}$

Suppose that $A\in\mathcal M_{n}(\mathbb R)$ with $\text{Rank}(A)=k$. Prove that $A$ is sum of $k$ matrices $X_{1},\dots,X_{k}$ with $\text{Rank}(X_{i})=1$.

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 $m.$

Let $ n$ and $ k$ be positive integers. Say that a permutation $ \sigma$ of $ \{1,2,\dots n\}$ is $ k$-[i]limited[/i] if $ |\sigma(i)\minus{}i|\le k$ for all $ i.$ Prove that the number of $ k$-limited permutations of $ \{1,2,\dots n\}$ is odd if and only if $ n\equiv 0$ or $ 1\pmod{2k\plus{}1}.$

Let $G$ be an abelian group with $n$ elements, and let \[\{g_1=e,g_2,\dots,g_k\}\subsetneq G\] be a (not necessarily minimal) set of distinct generators of $G.$ A special die, which randomly selects one of the elements $g_1,g_2,\dots,g_k$ with equal probability, is rolled $m$ times and the selected elements are multiplied to produce an element $g\in G.$ Prove that there exists a real number $b\in(0,1)$ such that \[\lim_{m\to\infty}\frac1{b^{2m}}\sum_{x\in G}\left(\mathrm{Prob}(g=x)-\frac1n\right)^2\] is positive and finite.

Let $A$ be a $n\times n$ matrix such that $A_{ij} = i+j$. Find the rank of $A$. [hide="Remark"]Not asked in the contest: $A$ is diagonalisable since real symetric matrix it is not difficult to find its eigenvalues.[/hide]

Let $ a$, $ b$, $ c$, $ x$, $ y$, and $ z$ be real numbers that satisfy the three equations \begin{align*} 13x + by + cz &= 0 \\ ax + 23y + cz &= 0 \\ ax + by + 42z &= 0. \end{align*}Suppose that $ a \ne 13$ and $ x \ne 0$. What is the value of \[ \frac{13}{a - 13} + \frac{23}{b - 23} + \frac{42}{c - 42} \, ?\]

Let $v_{0}$ be the zero ector and let $v_{1},...,v_{n+1}\in\mathbb{R}^{n}$ such that the Euclidian norm $|v_{i}-v_{j}|$ is rational for all $0\le i,j\le n+1$. Prove that $v_{1},...,v_{n+1}$ are linearly dependent over the rationals.

How many ordered pairs of positive integers $(x,y)$ are there such that $y^2-x^2=2y+7x+4$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 0 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{Infinitely many} $

Let $X$ be a $5\times 5$ matrix with each entry be $0$ or $1$. Let $x_{i,j}$ be the $(i,j)$-th entry of $X$ ($i,j=1,2,\hdots,5$). Consider all the $24$ ordered sequence in the rows, columns and diagonals of $X$ in the following: \begin{align*} &(x_{i,1}, x_{i,2},\hdots,x_{i,5}),\ (x_{i,5},x_{i,4},\hdots,x_{i,1}),\ (i=1,2,\hdots,5) \\ &(x_{1,j}, x_{2,j},\hdots,x_{5,j}),\ (x_{5,j},x_{4,j},\hdots,x_{1,j}),\ (j=1,2,\hdots,5) \\ &(x_{1,1},x_{2,2},\hdots,x_{5,5}),\ (x_{5,5},x_{4,4},\hdots,x_{1,1}) \\ &(x_{1,5},x_{2,4},\hdots,x_{5,1}),\ (x_{5,1},x_{4,2},\hdots,x_{1,5}) \end{align*} Suppose that all of the sequences are different. Find all the possible values of the sum of all entries in $X$.

Let $A,B$ be two matrices with positive integer entries such that sum of entries of a row in $A$ is equal to sum of entries of the same row in $B$ and sum of entries of a column in $A$ is equal to sum of entries of the same column in $B$. Show that there exists a sequence of matrices $A_1,A_2,A_3,\cdots , A_n$ such that all entries of the matrix $A_i$ are positive integers and in the sequence \[A=A_0,A_1,A_2,A_3,\cdots , A_n=B,\] for each index $i$, there exist indexes $k,j,m,n$ such that \[\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} \\ {{A_{i + 1}} - {A_{i}} = } \end{array}\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} \quad \quad \ \ j& \ \ \ {k} \end{array}} \\ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} m \\ n \end{array}\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} { + 1}&{ - 1} \\ { - 1}&{ + 1} \end{array}} \right)} \end{array} \ \text{or} \ \begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} \quad \quad \ \ j& \ \ \ {k} \end{array}} \\ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} m \\ n \end{array}\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} { - 1}&{ + 1} \\ { + 1}&{ - 1} \end{array}} \right)} \end{array}.\] That is, all indices of ${A_{i + 1}} - {A_{i}}$ are zero, except the indices $(m,j), (m,k), (n,j)$, and $(n,k)$.

Let $ a$ be a fixed integer. Find all integer solutions $ x,y,z$ of the system: $ 5x\plus{}(a\plus{}2)y\plus{}(a\plus{}2)z\equal{}a,$ $ (2a\plus{}4)x\plus{}(a^2\plus{}3)y\plus{}(2a\plus{}2)z\equal{}3a\minus{}1,$ $ (2a\plus{}4)x\plus{}(2a\plus{}2)y\plus{}(a^2\plus{}3)z\equal{}a\plus{}1.$

Given a prime number $p$ congruent to $1$ modulo $5$ such that $2p+1$ is also prime, show that there exists a matrix of $0$s and $1$s containing exactly $4p$ (respectively, $4p+2$) $1$s no sub-matrix of which contains exactly $2p$ (respectively, $2p+1$) $1$s.

[b]Problem 1. [/b]In the cells of square table are written the numbers $1$, $0$ or $-1$ so that in every line there is exactly one $1$, amd exactly one $-1$. Each turn we change the places of two columns or two rows. Is it possible, from any such table, after finite number of turns to obtain its opposite table (two tables are opposite if the sum of the numbers written in any two corresponding squares is zero)? [i] Emil Kolev[/i]

Some $n>2$ lamps are cyclically connected: lamp $1$ with lamp $2$, ..., lamp $k$ with lamp $k+1$,..., lamp $n-1$ with lamp $n$, lamp $n$ with lamp $1$. At the beginning all lamps are off. When one pushes the switch of a lamp, that lamp and the two ones connected to it change status (from off to on, or vice versa). Determine the number of configurations of lamps reachable from the initial one, through some set of switches being pushed.