Let $ A_0 \equal{} (a_1,\dots,a_n)$ be a finite sequence of real numbers. For each $ k\geq 0$, from the sequence $ A_k \equal{} (x_1,\dots,x_k)$ we construct a new sequence $ A_{k \plus{} 1}$ in the following way. 1. We choose a partition $ \{1,\dots,n\} \equal{} I\cup J$, where $ I$ and $ J$ are two disjoint sets, such that the expression \[ \left|\sum_{i\in I}x_i \minus{} \sum_{j\in J}x_j\right| \] attains the smallest value. (We allow $ I$ or $ J$ to be empty; in this case the corresponding sum is 0.) If there are several such partitions, one is chosen arbitrarily. 2. We set $ A_{k \plus{} 1} \equal{} (y_1,\dots,y_n)$ where $ y_i \equal{} x_i \plus{} 1$ if $ i\in I$, and $ y_i \equal{} x_i \minus{} 1$ if $ i\in J$. Prove that for some $ k$, the sequence $ A_k$ contains an element $ x$ such that $ |x|\geq\frac n2$. [i]Author: Omid Hatami, Iran[/i]

Let $0<f(1)<f(2)<f(3)<\ldots$ a sequence with all its terms positive$.$ The $n-th$ positive integer which doesn't belong to the sequence is $f(f(n))+1.$ Find $f(240).$

In a regular 100-gon, 41 vertices are colored black and the remaining 59 vertices are colored white. Prove that there exist 24 convex quadrilaterals $Q_{1}, \ldots, Q_{24}$ whose corners are vertices of the 100-gon, so that [list] [*] the quadrilaterals $Q_{1}, \ldots, Q_{24}$ are pairwise disjoint, and [*] every quadrilateral $Q_{i}$ has three corners of one color and one corner of the other color. [/list]

Prove that every partition of $3$-dimensional space into three disjoint subsets has the following property: One of these subsets contains all possible distances; i.e., for every $a \in \mathbb R^+$, there are points $M$ and $N$ inside that subset such that distance between $M$ and $N$ is exactly $a.$

Let $f(n)$ be the number of ways to express positive integer $n$ as a sum of positive odd integers. Compute $f(n).$ (If the order of odd numbers are different, then it is considered as different expression.)

For a set $S$ of nonnegative integers, let $r_S(n)$ denote the number of ordered pairs $(s_1, s_2)$ such that $s_1 \in S$, $s_2 \in S$, $s_1 \neq s_2$, and $s_1 + s_2 = n$. Is it possible to partition the nonnegative integers into two sets $A$ and $B$ in such a way that $r_A(n) = r_B(n)$ for all $n$?

Let $0<f(1)<f(2)<f(3)<\ldots$ a sequence with all its terms positive$.$ The $n-th$ positive integer which doesn't belong to the sequence is $f(f(n))+1.$ Find $f(240).$

For positive integers $n, k, l$, we define the number of $l$-tuples of positive integers $(a_1,a_2,\cdots a_l)$ satisfying the following as $Q(n,k,l)$. (i): $n=a_1+a_2+\cdots +a_l$ (ii): $a_1>a_2>\cdots > a_l > 0$. (iii): $a_l$ is an odd number. (iv): There are $k$ odd numbers out of $a_i$. For example, from $9=8+1=6+3=6+2+1$, we have $Q(9,1,1)=1$, $Q(9,1,2)=2$, $Q(9,1,3)=1$. Prove that if $n>k^2$, $\sum_{l=1}^n Q(n,k,l)$ is $0$ or an even number.

Prove that in the set $ \{1,2, \ldots, 1989\}$ can be expressed as the disjoint union of subsets $ A_i, \{i \equal{} 1,2, \ldots, 117\}$ such that [b]i.)[/b] each $ A_i$ contains 17 elements [b]ii.)[/b] the sum of all the elements in each $ A_i$ is the same.

let $ V$ be a finitive set and $ g$ and $ f$ be two injective surjective functions from $ V$to$ V$.let $ T$ and $ S$ be two sets such that they are defined as following" $ S \equal{} \{w \in V: f(f(w)) \equal{} g(g(w))\}$ $ T \equal{} \{w \in V: f(g(w)) \equal{} g(f(w))\}$ we know that $ S \cup T \equal{} V$, prove: for each $ w \in V : f(w) \in S$ if and only if $ g(w) \in S$

Anton has an isosceles right triangle, which he wants to cut into $9$ triangular parts in the way shown in the picture. What is the largest number of the resulting $9$ parts that can be equilateral triangles? A more formal description of partitioning. Let triangle $ABC$ be given. We choose two points on its sides so that they go in the order $AC_1C_2BA_1A_2CB_1B_2$, and no two coincide. In addition, the segments $C_1A_2$, $A_1B_2$ and $B_1C_2$ must intersect at one point. Then the partition is given by segments $C_1A_2$, $A_1B_2$, $B_1C_2$, $A_1C_2$, $B_1A_2$ and $C_1B_2$. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/0/5/5dd914b987983216342e23460954d46755d351.png[/img]

On a blackboard the numbers $1,2,3,\dots,170$ are written. You want to color each of these numbers with $k$ colors $C_1,C_2, \dots, C_k$, such that the following condition is satisfied: for each $i$ with $1 \leq i < k$, the sum of all numbers with color $C_i$ divide the sum of all numbers with color $C_{i+1}$. Determine the largest possible value of $k$ for which it is possible to do that coloring.

For any integer $r \geq 1$, determine the smallest integer $h(r) \geq 1$ such that for any partition of the set $\{1, 2, \cdots, h(r)\}$ into $r$ classes, there are integers $a \geq 0 \ ; 1 \leq x \leq y$, such that $a + x, a + y, a + x + y$ belong to the same class. [i]Proposed by Romania[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer. What is the smallest value of $m$ with $m > n$ such that the set $M = \{n, n + 1, ..., m\}$ can be partitioned into subsets so that in each subset, there is a number which equals to the sum of all other numbers of this subset?