Let $a_1 , a_2 ,... , a_n$ be an arrangement of the integers $1,2,..., n$. Let $$S=\frac{a_1}{1}+\frac{a_2}{2}+\frac{a_3}{3}+...+\frac{a_n}{1}.$$ Find a natural number $n$ such that among the values of $S$ for all arrangements $a_1 , a_2 ,... , a_n$ , all the integers from $n$ to $n + 100$ appear .

Find the largest $k$ for which there exists a permutation $(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_{2022})$ of integers from $1$ to $2022$ such that for at least $k$ distinct $i$ with $1 \le i \le 2022$ the number $\frac{a_1 + a_2 + \ldots + a_i}{1 + 2 + \ldots + i}$ is an integer larger than $1$. [i](Proposed by Oleksii Masalitin)[/i]

Let $a_1,a_2,..., a_n$ be different integers and let $(b_1,b_2,..., b_n),(c_1,c_2,..., c_n)$ be two of their permutations, different from the identity. Prove that $$(|a_1-b_1|+|a_2-b_2|+...+|a_n-b_n| , |a_1-c_1|+|a_2-c_2|+...+|a_n-c_n| ) \ge 2$$ where $(x,y)$ denotes the greatest common divisor of the numbers $x,y$

On a table, cards numbered $1, 2, \ldots , 200$ are laid out in a row in some order, and a line is drawn on the table between some two of them. It is allowed to swap two adjacent cards if the number on the left is greater than the number on the right. After a few such moves, the cards were arranged in ascending order. Prove we have swapped pairs of cards separated by the line no more than 1884 times.

1) Prove that there are infinitely many positive integers $n$ such that there exists a permutation of $1, 2, 3, . . . , n$ with the property that the difference between any two adjacent numbers is equal to either $2015$ or $2016$. 2) Let $k$ be a positive integer. Is the statement in 1) still true if we replace the numbers $2015$ and $2016$ by $k$ and $k + 2016$, respectively?

For a permutation $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$, let $\text{Inv}(\pi)$ be the number of pairs $(i,j)$ with $1 \leq i < j \leq n$ and $\pi(i) > \pi(j)$. [list=1] [*] Given $n$, what is $\sum \text{Inv}(\pi)$ where the sum ranges over all permutations $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$? [*] Given $n$, what is $\sum \left(\text{Inv}(\pi)\right)^2$ where the sum ranges over all permutations $\pi$ of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$?[/list] [i]Brian Hamrick.[/i]

From a collection of $n$ persons $q$ distinct two-member teams are selected and ranked $1, \cdots, q$ (no ties). Let $m$ be the least integer larger than or equal to $2q/n$. Show that there are $m$ distinct teams that may be listed so that : [b](i)[/b] each pair of consecutive teams on the list have one member in common and [b](ii)[/b] the chain of teams on the list are in rank order. [i]Alternative formulation.[/i] Given a graph with $n$ vertices and $q$ edges numbered $1, \cdots , q$, show that there exists a chain of $m$ edges, $m \geq \frac{2q}{n}$ , each two consecutive edges having a common vertex, arranged monotonically with respect to the numbering.

A rectangle $3 \times 5$ is divided into $15$ $1 \times 1$ cells. The middle $3$ cells that have no common points with the border of the rectangle are deleted. Is it possible to put in the remaining $12$ cells numbers $1, 2, \ldots, 12$ in some order, so that the sums of the numbers in the cells along each of the four sides of the rectangle are equal? [i]Proposed by Mariia Rozhkova[/i]

Consider the string of length $6$ composed of three characters $a, b, c$. For each string, if two $a$s are next to each other, or two $b$s are next to each other, then replace $aa$ by $b$, and replace $bb$ by $a$. Also, if $a$ and $b$ are next to each other, or two $c$s are next to each other, remove all two of them (i.e. delete $ab, ba, cc$). Determine the number of strings that can be reduced to $c$, the string of length $1$, by the reducing processes mentioned above.

Let $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n$ be positive reals for $n \geq 2$. For a permutation $(b_1, b_2, \ldots, b_n)$ of $(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n)$, define its $\textit{score}$ to be $$\sum_{i=1}^{n-1}\frac{b_i^2}{b_{i+1}}.$$ Show that some two permutations of $(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n)$ have scores that differ by at most $3|a_1-a_n|$.

$(GDR 3)$ Find the number of permutations $a_1, \cdots, a_n$ of the set $\{1, 2, . . ., n\}$ such that $|a_i - a_{i+1}| \neq 1$ for all $i = 1, 2, . . ., n - 1.$ Find a recurrence formula and evaluate the number of such permutations for $n \le 6.$

Let $x_1,x_2,...,x_k$ be a sequence of integers. A rearrangement of this sequence (the numbers in the sequence listed in some other order) is called a [b]scramble[/b] if no number in the new sequence is equal to the number originally in its location. For example, if the original sequence is $1,3,3,5$ then $3,5,1,3$ is a scramble, but $3,3,1,5$ is not. A rearrangement is called a [b]two-two[/b] if exactly two of the numbers in the new sequence are each exactly two more than the numbers that originally occupied those locations. For example, $3,5,1,3$ is a two-two of the sequence $1,3,3,5$ (the first two values $3$ and $5$ of the new sequence are exactly two more than their original values $1$ and $3$). Let $n\geq 2$. Prove that the number of scrambles of $1,1,2,3,...,n-1,n$ is equal to the number of two-twos of $1,2,3,...,n,n+1$. (Notice that both sequences have $n+1$ numbers, but the first one contains two 1s.)

Prove that among any $ 16 $ numbers smaller than $ 101 $ there are four of them that have the property that the sum of two of them is equal to the sum of the other two.

Cards numbered 1 to 9 are arranged at random in a row. In a move, one may choose any block of consecutive cards whose numbers are in ascending or descending order, and switch the block around. For example, 9 1 $\underline{6\ 5\ 3}$ $2\ 7\ 4\ 8$ may be changed to $9 1$ $\underline{3\ 5\ 6}$ $2\ 7\ 4\ 8$. Prove that in at most 12 moves, one can arrange the 9 cards so that their numbers are in ascending or descending order.

Fix an integer $n \ge 3$ and let $a_0 = n$. Does there exist a permutation $a_1, a_2,..., a_{n-1}$ of the first $n-1$ positive integers such that $\Sigma_{j=0}^{k-1} a_j$ is divisible by $a_k$ for all indices $k < n$?

A set of numbers $a_1, a_2 , . . . , a_{100}$ is obtained by rearranging the numbers $1 , 2,..., 100$ . Form the numbers $b_1=a_1$ $b_2= a_1 + a_2$ $b_3=a_1 + a_2 + a_3$ ... $b_{100}=a_1 + a_2 + ...+a_{100}$ Prove that among the remainders on dividing the numbers by $100 , 11$ of them are different . ( L . D . Kurlyandchik , Leningrad)

Given an ordered $n$-tuple $A=(a_1,a_2,\cdots ,a_n)$ of real numbers, where $n\ge 2$, we define $b_k=\max{a_1,\ldots a_k}$ for each k. We define $B=(b_1,b_2,\cdots ,b_n)$ to be the “[i]innovated tuple[/i]” of $A$. The number of distinct elements in $B$ is called the “[i]innovated degree[/i]” of $A$. Consider all permutations of $1,2,\ldots ,n$ as an ordered $n$-tuple. Find the arithmetic mean of the first term of the permutations whose innovated degrees are all equal to $2$

For any finite sequence $(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$, denote by $N(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ the number of ordered index pairs $(i,j)$ for which $1 \le i<j\le n$ and $x_i=x_j$. Let $p$ be an odd prime, $1 \le n<p$, and let $a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n$ and $b_1,b_2,\ldots,b_n$ be arbitrary residue classes modulo $p$. Prove that there exists a permutation $\pi$ of the indices $1,2,\ldots,n$ for which \[N(a_1+b_{\pi(1)},a_2+b_{\pi(2)},\ldots,a_n+b_{\pi(n)})\le \min(N(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n),N(b_1,b_2,\ldots,b_n)).\]

Let $a_1, a_2, ...,a_n$ represent an arbitrary arrangement of the numbers $1, 2, ...,n$. Prove that, if $n$ is odd, the product $$(a_1 - 1)(a_2 - 2) ... (a_n -n)$$ is an even number.

Find all positive integers $n\geqslant 2$ such that there exists a permutation $a_1$, $a_2$, $a_3$, \ldots, $a_{2n}$ of the numbers $1, 2, 3, \ldots, 2n$ satisfying $$a_1\cdot a_2 + a_3\cdot a_4 + \ldots + a_{2n-3} \cdot a_{2n-2} = a_{2n-1} \cdot a_{2n}.$$

How many permutations $a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4$ of $1, 2, 3, 4$ satisfy the condition that for $k = 1, 2, 3,$ the list $a_1,. . . , a_k$ contains a number greater than $k$?

We consider an integer $n \ge 3,$ the set $S=\{1,2,3,\ldots,n\}$ and the set $\mathcal{F}$ of the functions from $S$ to $S.$ We say that $\mathcal{G} \subset \mathcal{F}$ is a generating set for $\mathcal{H} \subset \mathcal{F}$ if any function in $\mathcal{H}$ can be represented as a composition of functions from $\mathcal{G}.$ a) Let the functions $a:S \to S,$ $a(n-1)=n,$ $a(n)=n-1$ and $a(k)=k$ for $k \in S \setminus \{n-1,n\}$ and $b:S \to S,$ $b(n)=1$ and $b(k)=k+1$ for $k \in S \setminus \{n\}.$ Prove that $\{a,b\}$ is a generating set for the set $\mathcal{B}$ of bijective functions of $\mathcal{F}.$ b) Prove that the smallest number of elements that a generating set of $\mathcal{F}$ has is $3.$

A [i]permutation[/i] of the set of positive integers $[n] = \{1, 2, . . . , n\}$ is a sequence $(a_1 , a_2 , \ldots, a_n ) $ such that each element of $[n]$ appears precisely one time as a term of the sequence. For example, $(3, 5, 1, 2, 4)$ is a permutation of $[5]$. Let $P (n)$ be the number of permutations of $[n]$ for which $ka_k$ is a perfect square for all $1 \leq k \leq n$. Find with proof the smallest $n$ such that $P (n)$ is a multiple of $2010$.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Initially, a bishop is placed in each square of the top row of a $2^n \times 2^n$ chessboard; those bishops are numbered from $1$ to $2^n$ from left to right. A [i]jump[/i] is a simultaneous move made by all bishops such that each bishop moves diagonally, in a straight line, some number of squares, and at the end of the jump, the bishops all stand in different squares of the same row. Find the total number of permutations $\sigma$ of the numbers $1, 2, \ldots, 2^n$ with the following property: There exists a sequence of jumps such that all bishops end up on the bottom row arranged in the order $\sigma(1), \sigma(2), \ldots, \sigma(2^n)$, from left to right. [i]Israel[/i]

For a randomly selected permutation $ \mathbf{f} = (f_1,..., f_n) $ of the set $ \{1,\ldots, n\} $ let us denote by $ X(\mathbf{f}) $ the largest number $ k \leq n $ such that $ f_i < f_{ i+1} $ for all numbers $ i < k $. Prove that the expected value of the random variable $ X $ is $ \sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{k!} $.