[b]p1.[/b] Archimedes, Euclid, Fermat, and Gauss had a math competition. Archimedes said, “I did not finish $1$st or $4$th.” Euclid said, “I did not finish $4$th.” Fermat said, “I finished 1st.” Gauss said, “I finished $4$th.” There were no ties in the competition, and exactly three of the mathematicians told the truth. Who finished first and who finished last? Justify your answers. [b]p2.[/b] Find the area of the set in the xy-plane defined by $x^2 - 2|x| + y^2 \le 0$. Justify your answer. [b]p3.[/b] There is a collection of $2004$ circular discs (not necessarily of the same radius) in the plane. The total area covered by the discs is $1$ square meter. Show that there is a subcollection $S$ of discs such that the discs in S are non-overlapping and the total area of the discs in $S$ is at least $1/9$ square meter. [b]p4.[/b] Let $S$ be the set of all $2004$-digit integers (in base $10$) all of whose digits lie in the set $\{1, 2, 3, 4\}$. (For example, $12341234...1234$ is in $S$.) Let $n_0$ be the number of $s \in S$ such that $s$ is a multiple of $3$, let $n_1$ be the number of $s \in S$ such that $s$ is one more than a multiple of $3$, and let $n_2$ be the number of $s \in S$ such that $s$ is two more than a multiple of $3$. Determine which of $n_0$, $n_1$, $n_2$ is largest and which is smallest (and if there are any equalities). Justify your answers. [b]p5.[/b] There are $6$ members on the Math Competition Committee. The problems are kept in a safe. There are $\ell$ locks on the safe and there are $k$ keys, several for each lock. The safe does not open unless all of the locks are unlocked, and each key works on exactly one lock. The keys should be distributed to the $6$ members of the committee so that each group of $4$ members has enough keys to open all of the $\ell$ locks. However, no group of $3$ members should be able to open all of the $\ell$ locks. (a) Show that this is possible with $\ell = 20$ locks and $k = 60$ keys. That is, it is possible to use $20$ locks and to choose and distribute 60 keys in such a way that every group of $4$ can open the safe, but no group of $3$ can open the safe. (b) Show that we always must have $\ell \ge 20$ and $k\ge60$. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Give a prime number $p>2023$. Let $r(x)$ be the remainder of $x$ modulo $p$. Let $p_1<p_2< \ldots <p_m$ be all prime numbers less that $\sqrt[4]{\frac{1}{2}p}$. Let $q_1, q_2, \ldots, q_n$ be the inverses modulo $p$ of $p_1, p_2, \ldots p_n$. Prove that for every integers $0 < a,b < p$, the sets $$\{r(q_1), r(q_2), \ldots, r(q_m)\}, ~~ \{r(aq_1+b), r(aq_2+b), \ldots, r(aq_m+b)\}$$ have at most $3$ common elements.

Find all the pairs $(n, m)$ of positive integers which fulfil simultaneously the conditions: i) the number $n$ is composite; ii) if the numbers $d_1, d_2, ..., d_k, k \in N^*$ are all the proper divisors of $n$, then the numbers $d_1 + 1, d_2 + 1, . . . , d_k + 1$ are all the proper divisors of $m$.

Let $\psi (n)$ be the number of integers $0 \le r < n$ such that there exists an integer $x$ that satises $x^2 + x \equiv r$ (mod $n$). Find the sum of all distinct prime factors of $$\sum^4_{i=0}\sum^4_{j=0} \psi(3^i5^j).$$

Determine every prime numbers $p$ and $q , p \le q$ for which $pq | (5^p - 2^ p )(7^q -2 ^q )$

Let $(A_i)_{i\ge 1}$ be sequence of sets of two integer numbers, such that no integer is contained in more than one $A_i$ and for every $A_i$ the sum of its elements is $i$. Prove that there are infinitely many values of $k$ for which one of the elements of $A_k$ is greater than $13k/7$.

Do there exist positive integers $a_1<a_2<\ldots<a_{100}$ such that for $2\le k\le100$, the least common multiple of $a_{k-1}$ and $a_k$ is greater than the least common multiple of $a_k$ and $a_{k+1}$?

Find all functions $f:\mathbb Z\to\mathbb Z$ such that $f$ is unbounded and \[2f(m)f(n)-f(n-m)-1\] is a perfect square for all integer $m,n.$

Find all prime numbers $p$, $q$ and $r$ such that the fourth power of any of them minus one is divisible by the product of the other two. (Author: V. Senderov)

For positive rational $x$, if $x$ is written in the form $p/q$ with $p, q$ positive relatively prime integers, define $f(x)=p+q$. For example, $f(1)=2$. a) Prove that if $f(x)=f(mx/n)$ for rational $x$ and positive integers $m, n$, then $f(x)$ divides $|m-n|$. b) Let $n$ be a positive integer. If all $x$ which satisfy $f(x)=f(2^nx)$ also satisfy $f(x)=2^n-1$, find all possible values of $n$. [i]Anderson Wang.[/i]

Let $\mathbb{N}$ be the set of positive integers. Determine all positive integers $k$ for which there exist functions $f:\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ and $g: \mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$ such that $g$ assumes infinitely many values and such that $$ f^{g(n)}(n)=f(n)+k$$ holds for every positive integer $n$. ([i]Remark.[/i] Here, $f^{i}$ denotes the function $f$ applied $i$ times i.e $f^{i}(j)=f(f(\dots f(j)\dots ))$.)

Find all integer solutions $(x,y)$ to the equation $\displaystyle \frac{x+y}{x^2-xy+y^2}=\frac{3}{7}$.

The sequence of positive integers $a_1,a_2,a_3,\dots$ is [i]brazilian[/i] if $a_1=1$ and $a_n$ is the least integer greater than $a_{n-1}$ and $a_n$ is [b]coprime[/b] with at least half elements of the set $\{a_1,a_2,\dots, a_{n-1}\}$. Is there any odd number which does [b]not[/b] belong to the brazilian sequence?

Find all non negative integers $(a, b)$ such that $$a + 2b - b^2 =\sqrt{2a + a^2 + |2a + 1 - 2b|}.$$

Consider a sequence of positive integers $a_1, a_2, a_3, . . .$ such that for $k \geq 2$ we have $a_{k+1} =\frac{a_k + a_{k-1}}{2015^i},$ where $2015^i$ is the maximal power of $2015$ that divides $a_k + a_{k-1}.$ Prove that if this sequence is periodic then its period is divisible by $3.$

Find all sequences of positive integers $(a_n)_{n\ge 1}$ which satisfy $$a_{n+2}(a_{n+1}-1)=a_n(a_{n+1}+1)$$ for all $n\in \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 1}$. [i](Bogdan Blaga)[/i]

Let $f(x)$ be the polynomial with integer coefficients ($f(x)$ is not constant) such that \[(x^3+4x^2+4x+3)f(x)=(x^3-2x^2+2x-1)f(x+1)\] Prove that for each positive integer $n\geq8$, $f(n)$ has at least five distinct prime divisors.

Given a prime $p$ in the form $4m+1$ ($m\in\mathbb{Z}$). Prove that the number $216p^3$ can't be represented in the form $x^2+y^2+z^9$, $x,y,z\in\mathbb{Z}$

Do there exist a positive integer $k$ and a non-constant sequence $a_1, a_2, a_3, ...$ of positive integers such that $a_n = gcd(a_{n+k}, a_{n+k+1})$ for all positive integers $n$?

Find all positive integers $n\geq 2$, for which there exist positive integers $a_1, a_2, ..., a_n$ such that both sets $$\{a_1, a_2, ..., a_n\}\;\;\;and\;\;\;\{a_1+a_2, a_2+a_3, ..., a_n+a_1\}$$ contain $n$ consecutive integers.

Let $f : N \to R$ be a function, satisfying the following condition: for every integer $n > 1$, there exists a prime divisor $p$ of $n$ such that $f(n) = f \big(\frac{n}{p}\big)-f(p)$. If $f(2^{2007}) + f(3^{2008}) + f(5^{2009}) = 2006$, determine the value of $f(2007^2) + f(2008^3) + f(2009^5)$

Let $f_n$ be $n$th Fibonacci number defined by recurrence $f_{n+1} - f_n - f_{n-1} = 0$, $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and initial conditions $f_0 = 0$, $f_1 = 1$. Prove that for any $n \in \mathbb{N}$ $$(n - 1) (n + 1) (2nf_{n+1} - (n + 6) f_n)$$is divisible by 150 for any $n \in \mathbb{N}$.

Azambuja writes a rational number $q$ on a blackboard. One operation is to delete $q$ and replace it by $q+1$; or by $q-1$; or by $\frac{q-1}{2q-1}$ if $q \neq \frac{1}{2}$. The final goal of Azambuja is to write the number $\frac{1}{2018}$ after performing a finite number of operations. [b]a)[/b] Show that if the initial number written is $0$, then Azambuja cannot reach his goal. [b]b)[/b] Find all initial numbers for which Azambuja can achieve his goal.

It is initially considered a number of three different digits, none of which is equal to zero. Changing instead two of its digits meet a second number less than the first. If the difference between the first and second is a two-digit number and the sum of the first and the second is a palindromic number less than $500$, what are the palindromics that can be obtained?

Let $\sigma(x)$ denote the sum of divisors of natural number $x$, including $1$ and $x$. For every $n\in \mathbb{N}$ define $f(n)$ as number of natural numbers $m, m\leq n$, for which $\sigma(m)$ is odd number. Prove that there are infinitely many natural numbers $n$, such that $f(n)|n$.