Consider $n$ students with numbers $1, 2, \ldots, n$ standing in the order $1, 2, \ldots, n.$ Upon a command, any of the students either remains on his place or switches his place with another student. (Actually, if student $A$ switches his place with student $B,$ then $B$ cannot switch his place with any other student $C$ any more until the next command comes.) Is it possible to arrange the students in the order $n,1, 2, \ldots, n-1$ after two commands ?

Show that there exist (at least) a rearrangement $a_0, a_1, a_2,..., a_{63}$ of the numbers $0,1, 2,..., 63$, such that $a_i - a_j \ne a_j - a_k$, for any $i < j < k \in \{0,1, 2,..., 63\}$.

Consider an odd prime $p$ and a positive integer $N < 50p$. Let $a_1, a_2, \ldots , a_N$ be a list of positive integers less than $p$ such that any specific value occurs at most $\frac{51}{100}N$ times and $a_1 + a_2 + \cdots· + a_N$ is not divisible by $p$. Prove that there exists a permutation $b_1, b_2, \ldots , b_N$ of the $a_i$ such that, for all $k = 1, 2, \ldots , N$, the sum $b_1 + b_2 + \cdots + b_k$ is not divisible by $p$. [i]Will Steinberg, United Kingdom[/i]

A permutation f of the set of integers is called bounded if | x - f (x) | is bounded. Bounded permutations with permutation multiplication form a group W. Show that the additive group of rational numbers is not isomorphic to any subgroup of W.

Find the number of all $\text{permutations}$ of $\left \{ 1,2,\cdots ,n \right \}$ like $p$ such that there exists a unique $i \in \left \{ 1,2,\cdots ,n \right \}$ that : $$p(p(i)) \geq i$$

An $n$ by $n$ table has an integer in each cell, such that no two cells within a row share the same number. Prove that it is possible to permute the elements within each row to obtain a table that has $n$ distinct numbers in each column.

Anna and Ben are playing with a permutation $p$ of length $2020$, initially $p_i = 2021 - i$ for $1\le i \le 2020$. Anna has power $A$, and Ben has power $B$. Players are moving in turns, with Anna moving first. In his turn player with power $P$ can choose any $P$ elements of the permutation and rearrange them in the way he/she wants. Ben wants to sort the permutation, and Anna wants to not let this happen. Determine if Ben can make sure that the permutation will be sorted (of form $p_i = i$ for $1\le i \le 2020$) in finitely many turns, if a) $A = 1000, B = 1000$ b) $A = 1000, B = 1001$ c) $A = 1000, B = 1002$ [i]Anton Trygub[/i]

For each positive integer $n$, let $a_n$ be the number of permutations $\tau$ of $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$ such that $\tau (\tau (\tau (x))) = x$ for $x = 1, 2, ..., n$. The first few values are $a_1 = 1, a_2 = 1, a_3 = 3, a_4 = 9$. Prove that $3^{334}$ divides $a_{2001}$. (A permutation of $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$ is a rearrangement of the numbers $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$ or equivalently, a one-to-one and onto function from $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$ to $\{1, 2, ... , n\}$. For example, one permutation of $\{1, 2, 3\}$ is the rearrangement $\{2, 1, 3\}$, which is equivalent to the function $\sigma : \{1, 2, 3\} \to \{1, 2, 3\}$ defined by $\sigma (1) = 2, \sigma (2) = 1, \sigma (3) = 3$.)

Let $n \ge 2$ be an integer. There are $n$ beads numbered $1, 2, \ldots, n$. Two necklaces made out of some of these beads are considered the same if we can get one by rotating the other (with no flipping allowed). For example, with $n \ge 5$, the necklace with four beads $1, 5, 3, 2$ in the clockwise order is same as the one with $5, 3, 2, 1$ in the clockwise order, but is different from the one with $1, 2, 3, 5$ in the clockwise order. We denote by $D_0(n)$ (respectively $D_1(n)$) the number of ways in which we can use all the beads to make an even number (resp. an odd number) of necklaces each of length at least $3$. Prove that $n - 1$ divides $D_1(n) - D_0(n)$.

We choose a random permutation of $1,2,\ldots,n$ with uniform distribution. Prove that the expected value of the length of the longest increasing subsequence in the permutation is at least $\sqrt{n}.$

Fix an odd integer $n > 1$. For a permutation $p$ of the set $\{1,2,...,n\}$, let S be the number of pairs of indices $(i, j)$, $1 \le i \le j \le n$, for which $p_i +p_{i+1} +...+p_j$ is divisible by $n$. Determine the maximum possible value of $S$. Croatia

$\indent$ For a positive integer $n$, let $S_n$ be the set of bijective functions from $\{1,2,\dots ,n\}$ to itself. For a pair of positive integers $(a,b)$ such that $1 \leq a <b \leq n$, and for a permutation $\sigma \in S_n$, we say the pair $(a,b)$ is [i][u]expanding[/u][/i] for $\sigma$ if $|\sigma (a)- \sigma(b)| \geq |a-b|$ $\indent$ [b](a)[/b] Is it true that for all integers $n > 1$, there exists $\sigma \in S_n$ so that the number of pairs $(a,b)$ that are expanding for permutation $\sigma$ is less than $1000n\sqrt n$ ? $\indent$ [b](b)[/b] Does there exist a positive integer $n>1$ and a permutation $\sigma \in S_n$ so that the number of pairs $(a,b)$ that are expanding for the permutation $\sigma$ is less than $\frac{n\sqrt n}{1000}$?

Let $P(x)$ be a non-constant polynomial with integer coefficients. Prove that there is no function $T$ from the set of integers into the set of integers such that the number of integers $x$ with $T^n(x)=x$ is equal to $P(n)$ for every $n\geq 1$, where $T^n$ denotes the $n$-fold application of $T$. [i]Proposed by Jozsef Pelikan, Hungary[/i]

Determine with proof, the number of permutations $a_1,a_2,a_3,...,a_{2016}$ of $1,2,3,...,2016$ such that the value of $|a_i-i|$ is fixed for all $i=1,2,3,...,2016$, and its value is an integer multiple of $3$.

For every positive integer $n$, denote by $D_n$ the number of permutations $(x_1, \dots, x_n)$ of $(1,2,\dots, n)$ such that $x_j\neq j$ for every $1\le j\le n$. For $1\le k\le \frac{n}{2}$, denote by $\Delta (n,k)$ the number of permutations $(x_1,\dots, x_n)$ of $(1,2,\dots, n)$ such that $x_i=k+i$ for every $1\le i\le k$ and $x_j\neq j$ for every $1\le j\le n$. Prove that $$\Delta (n,k)=\sum_{i=0}^{k=1} \binom{k-1}{i} \frac{D_{(n+1)-(k+i)}}{n-(k+i)}$$ (Proposed by Combinatorics; Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran; Mirzavaziri)

Let $n$ be a positive integer divisible by $4$. We consider the permutations $(a_1, a_2,...,a_n)$ of $(1,2,..., n)$ having the following property: for each j we have $a_i + j = n + 1$ where $i = a_j$ . Prove that there are exactly $\frac{ (\frac12 n)!}{(\frac14 n)!}$ such permutations.

How many permutations $(s_1, s_2,...,s_n) $of $(1,2 ,...,n)$ are there satisfying the condition $s_i > s_j$ for all $i \ge j + 3$ when $n = 5$ and when $n = 7$?

A permutation of the integers \(2020, 2021,...,2118, 2119\) is a list \(a_1,a_2,a_3,...,a_{100}\) where each one of the numbers appears exactly once. For each permutation we define the partial sums. $s_1=a_1$ $s_2=a_1+a_2$ $s_3=a_1+a_2+a_3$ $...$ $s_{100}=a_1+a_2+...+a_{100}$ How many of these permutations satisfy that none of the numbers \(s_1,...,s_{100}\) is divisible by $3$?

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Marc has $2n$ boxes, and in particular, he has one box filled with $k$ apples for each $k=1,2,3,\ldots,2n$. Every day, Marc opens a box and eats all the apples in it. However, if he eats strictly more than $2n+1$ apples in two consecutive days, he gets stomach ache. Prove that Marc has exactly $2^n$ distinct ways of choosing the boxes so that he eats all the apples but doesn't get stomach ache.

Let $p\ge 5$ be a prime number. Consider the function given by the formula $$f (x_1,..., x_p) = x_1 + 2x_2 +... + px_p.$$ Let $A_k$ denote the set of all these permutations $(a_1,..., a_p)$ of the set $\{1,..., p\}$, for integer number $f (a_1,..., a_p) - k$ is divisible by $p$ and $a_i \ne i$ for all $i \in \{1,..., p\}$. Prove that the sets $A_1$ and $A_4$ have the same number of elements.

Let $n$ be an odd integer greater than $1.$ Let $A$ be an $n\times n$ symmetric matrix such that each row and column consists of some permutation of the integers $1,2, \ldots, n.$ Show that each of the integers $1,2, \ldots, n$ must appear in the main diagonal of $A$.

Find all positive integers $k$ such that there exists some permutation of $(1, 2,...,1000)$ namely $(a_1, a_2,..., a_{1000}) $ and satisfy $|a_i - i| = k$ for all $i = 1,1000$.

Find all positive integer $n$ such that there exists a permutation $(a_1, a_2,...,a_n)$ of $(1, 2,3,..., n)$ satisfying the condition: $a_1 + a_2 +... + a_k$ is divisible by $k$ for each $k = 1, 2,3,..., n$.

Let $X$ be the set of natural numbers whose all digits in the decimal representation are different. For $n \in N$, denote by $A_n$ the set of numbers whose digits are a permutation of the digits of $n$, and $d_n$ be the greatest common divisor of the numbers in $A_n$. (For example, $A_{1120} =\{112,121,...,2101,2110\}$, so $d_{1120} = 1$.) Find the maximum possible value of $d_n$.

A permutation of a set is a bijection from the set to itself. For example, if $\sigma$ is the permutation $1 7\mapsto 3$, $2 \mapsto 1$, and $3 \mapsto 2$, and we apply it to the ordered triplet $(1, 2, 3)$, we get the reordered triplet $(3, 1, 2)$. Let $\sigma$ be a permutation of the set $\{1, ... , n\}$. Let $$\theta_k(m) = \begin{cases} m + 1 & \text{for} \,\, m < k\\ 1 & \text{for} \,\, m = k\\ m & \text{for} \,\, m > k\end{cases}$$ Call a finite sequence $\{a_i\}^{j}_{i=1}$ a disentanglement of $\sigma$ if $\theta_{a_j} \circ ...\circ \theta_{a_j} \circ \sigma$ is the identity permutation. For example, when $\sigma = (3, 2, 1)$, then $\{2, 3\}$ is a disentaglement of $\sigma$. Let $f(\sigma)$ denote the minimum number $k$ such that there is a disentanglement of $\sigma$ of length $k$. Let $g(n)$ be the expected value for $f(\sigma)$ if $\sigma$ is a random permutation of $\{1, ... , n\}$. What is $g(6)$?