A cake has the form of an $ n$ x $ n$ square composed of $ n^{2}$ unit squares. Strawberries lie on some of the unit squares so that each row or column contains exactly one strawberry; call this arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Let $\mathcal{B}$ be another such arrangement. Suppose that every grid rectangle with one vertex at the top left corner of the cake contains no fewer strawberries of arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ than of arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Prove that arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ can be obtained from $ \mathcal{A}$ by performing a number of switches, defined as follows: A switch consists in selecting a grid rectangle with only two strawberries, situated at its top right corner and bottom left corner, and moving these two strawberries to the other two corners of that rectangle.

Let $A$ be the $n\times n$ matrix whose entry in the $i$-th row and $j$-th column is \[\frac1{\min(i,j)}\] for $1\le i,j\le n.$ Compute $\det(A).$

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 $n$).

Let be a natural number $ n\ge 2. $ Prove that there exist exactly two subsets of the set $ \left\{ \left.\left(\begin{matrix} a& b\\-b& a \end{matrix}\right)\right| a,b\in\mathbb{R} \right\} $ that are closed under multiplication and their cardinal is $ n. $ [i]Marcel Tena[/i]

In how many ways can we enter numbers from the set $\{1,2,3,4\}$ into a $4\times 4$ array so that all of the following conditions hold? (a) Each row contains all four numbers. (b) Each column contains all four numbers. (c) Each "quadrant" contains all four numbers. (The quadrants are the four corner $2\times 2$ squares.)

A cake has the form of an $ n$ x $ n$ square composed of $ n^{2}$ unit squares. Strawberries lie on some of the unit squares so that each row or column contains exactly one strawberry; call this arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Let $\mathcal{B}$ be another such arrangement. Suppose that every grid rectangle with one vertex at the top left corner of the cake contains no fewer strawberries of arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ than of arrangement $\mathcal{A}$. Prove that arrangement $\mathcal{B}$ can be obtained from $ \mathcal{A}$ by performing a number of switches, defined as follows: A switch consists in selecting a grid rectangle with only two strawberries, situated at its top right corner and bottom left corner, and moving these two strawberries to the other two corners of that rectangle.

Let \begin{align*}X&=\begin{pmatrix}7&8&9\\8&-9&-7\\-7&-7&9\end{pmatrix}\\Y&=\begin{pmatrix}9&8&-9\\8&-7&7\\7&9&8\end{pmatrix}.\end{align*}Let $A=Y^{-1}X$ and let $B$ be the inverse of $X^{-1}+A^{-1}$. Find a matrix $M$ such that $M^2=XY-BY$ (you may assume that $A$ and $X^{-1}+A^{-1}$ are invertible).

$A = \begin{pmatrix} 2019 & 2020 & 2021 \\ 2020 & 2021 & 2022 \\ 2021 & 2022 & 2023 \end{pmatrix}$. Find $\text{rank}(A)$.

Consider the matrix $X\in\mathcal{M}_2(\mathbb{C})$ which satisfies $X^{2022}=X^{2023}.$ Prove that $X^2=X^3.$

Triangle $ ABC$ has vertices $ A\equal{}(3,0)$, $ B\equal{}(0,3)$, and $ C$, where $ C$ is on the line $ x\plus{}y\equal{}7$. What is the area of $ \triangle ABC$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 6\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 8\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 10\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 12\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 14$

Let $N$ be a positive integer. Consider a $N \times N$ array of square unit cells. Two corner cells that lie on the same longest diagonal are colored black, and the rest of the array is white. A [i]move[/i] consists of choosing a row or a column and changing the color of every cell in the chosen row or column. What is the minimal number of additional cells that one has to color black such that, after a finite number of moves, a completely black board can be reached?

In the following $6\times 6$ matrix, one can choose any $k\times k$ submatrix, with $1<k\leq6 $ and add $1$ to all its entries. Is it possible to perform the operation a finite number of times so that all the entries in the $6\times 6$ matrix are multiples of $3$? $ \begin{pmatrix} 2 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 0 \\ 0 & 2 & 0 & 1 & 2 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 2 & 0 & 2 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 2 & 0 \\ 1 & 1 & 1 & 1 & 2 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} $ Note: A $p\times q$ submatrix of a $m\times n$ matrix (with $p\leq m$, $q\leq n$) is a $p\times q$ matrix formed by taking a block of the entries of this size from the original matrix.

Find all positive integers $x>1, y$ and primes $p,q$ such that $p^{x}=2^{y}+q^{x}$

Let $ G$ be a finite non-commutative group of order $ t \equal{} 2^nm$, where $ n, m$ are positive and $ m$ is odd. Prove, that if the group contains an element of order $ 2^n$, then (i) $ G$ is not simple; (ii) $ G$ contains a normal subgroup of order $ m$.

In a $999 \times 999$ square table some cells are white and the remaining ones are red. Let $T$ be the number of triples $(C_1,C_2,C_3)$ of cells, the first two in the same row and the last two in the same column, with $C_1,C_3$ white and $C_2$ red. Find the maximum value $T$ can attain. [i]Proposed by Merlijn Staps, The Netherlands[/i]

How many of the integers between 1 and 1000, inclusive, can be expressed as the difference of the squares of two nonnegative integers?

In a group of people, every two people have exactly one friend in common. Prove that there is a person who is a friend of everyone else.

Let $f(x)=\frac{ax+b}{cx+d}$ $F_n(x)=f(f(f...f(x)...))$ (with $n\ f's$) Suppose that $f(0) \not =0$, $f(f(0)) \not = 0$, and for some $n$ we have $F_n(0)=0$, show that $F_n(x)=x$ (for any valid x).

Let be three natural numbers $ n,p,q , $ a field $ \mathbb{F} , $ and two matrices $ A,B\in\mathcal{M}_n\left( \mathbb{F} \right) $ such that $$ A^pB=0=(A+I)^qB. $$ Prove that $ B=0. $ [i]D.M. Bătinețu[/i]

Hey, This problem is from the VTRMC 2006. 3. Recall that the Fibonacci numbers $ F(n)$ are defined by $ F(0) \equal{} 0$, $ F(1) \equal{} 1$ and $ F(n) \equal{} F(n \minus{} 1) \plus{} F(n \minus{} 2)$ for $ n \geq 2$. Determine the last digit of $ F(2006)$ (e.g. the last digit of 2006 is 6). As, I and a friend were working on this we noticed an interesting relationship when writing the Fibonacci numbers in "mod" notation. Consider the following, 01 = 1 mod 10 01 = 1 mod 10 02 = 2 mod 10 03 = 3 mod 10 05 = 5 mod 10 08 = 6 mod 10 13 = 3 mod 10 21 = 1 mod 10 34 = 4 mod 10 55 = 5 mod 10 89 = 9 mod 10 Now, consider that between the first appearance and second apperance of $ 5 mod 10$, there is a difference of five terms. Following from this we see that the third appearance of $ 5 mod 10$ occurs at a difference 10 terms from the second appearance. Following this pattern we can create the following relationships. $ F(55) \equal{} F(05) \plus{} 5({2}^{2})$ This is pretty much as far as we got, any ideas?

[b]4.[/b] Let $f(x)$ be a real- or complex-value integrable function on $(0,1)$ with $\mid f(x) \mid \leq 1 $. Set $ c_k = \int_0^1 f(x) e^{-2 \pi i k x} dx $ and construct the following matrices of order $n$: $ T= (t_{pq})_{p,q=0}^{n-1}, T^{*}= (t_{pq}^{*})_{p,q =0}^{n-1} $ where $t_{pq}= c_{q-p}, t^{*}= \overline {c_{p-q}}$ . Further, consider the following hyper-matrix of order $m$: $ S= \begin{bmatrix} E & T & T^2 & \dots & T^{m-2} & T^{m-1} \\ T^{*} & E & T & \dots & T^{m-3} & T^{m-2} \\ T^{*2} & T^{*} & E & \dots & T^{m-3} & T^{m-2} \\ \dots & \dots & \dots & \dots & \dots & \dots \\ T^{*m-1} & T^{*m-2} & T^{*m-3} & \dots & T^{*} & E \end{bmatrix} $ ($S$ is a matrix of order $mn$ in the ordinary sense; E denotes the unit matrix of order $n$). Show that for any pair $(m , n) $ of positive integers, $S$ has only non-negative real eigenvalues. [b](R. 19)[/b]

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 $M_i \in \{A, A^{-1}, B, B^{-1}\}, \forall i \leq r$

For $n \geq 3$ find the eigenvalues (with their multiplicities) of the $n \times n$ matrix $$\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 2 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ 1 & 0 & 2 & 0 & 1 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 0 & 1 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 0\\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \ddots & & \vdots & \vdots\\ \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots & & \ddots & \vdots & \vdots\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 2 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & \dots & \dots & 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}$$

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 $X$.

Consider the $ 4\times 4 $ integer matrices that have the property that each one of them multiplied by its transpose is $ 4I. $ [b]a)[/b] Show that the product of the elements of such a matrix is either $ 0, $ either $ 1. $ [b]b)[/b] How many such matrices have the property that the product of its elements is $ 0? $