Given some monic polynomials $P_1, \ldots, P_n$ with real coefficients, for any real number $y$, let $S_y$ be the set of real number $x$ such that $y = P_i(x)$ for some $i = 1, 2, ..., n$. If the sets $S_{y_1}, S_{y_2}$ have the same size for any two real numbers $y_1, y_2$, show that $P_1, \ldots, P_n$ have the same degree. [i] Proposed by usjl[/i]

[b]p1.[/b] Prair takes some set $S$ of positive integers, and for each pair of integers she computes the positive difference between them. Listing down all the numbers she computed, she notices that every integer from $1$ to $10$ is on her list! What is the smallest possible value of $|S|$, the number of elements in her set $S$? [b]p2.[/b] Jake has $2021$ balls that he wants to separate into some number of bags, such that if he wants any number of balls, he can just pick up some bags and take all the balls out of them. What is the least number of bags Jake needs? [b]p3.[/b] Claire has stolen Cat’s scooter once again! She is currently at (0; 0) in the coordinate plane, and wants to ride to $(2, 2)$, but she doesn’t know how to get there. So each second, she rides one unit in the positive $x$ or $y$-direction, each with probability $\frac12$ . If the probability that she makes it to $(2, 2)$ during her ride can be expressed as $\frac{a}{b}$ for positive integers $a, b$ with $gcd(a, b) = 1$, then find $a + b$. [b]p4.[/b] Triangle $ABC$ with $AB = BC = 6$ and $\angle ABC = 120^o$ is rotated about $A$, and suppose that the images of points $B$ and $C$ under this rotation are $B'$ and $C'$, respectively. Suppose that $A$, $B'$ and $C$ are collinear in that order. If the area of triangle $B'CC'$ can be expressed as $a - b\sqrt{c}$ for positive integers $a, b, c$ with csquarefree, find $a + b + c$. [b]p5.[/b] Find the sum of all possible values of $a + b + c + d$ if $a, b, c, $d are positive integers satisfying $$ab + cd = 100,$$ $$ac + bd = 500.$$ [b]p6.[/b] Alex lives in Chutes and Ladders land, which is set in the coordinate plane. Each step they take brings them one unit to the right or one unit up. However, there’s a chute-ladder between points $(1, 2)$ and $(2, 0)$ and a chute-ladder between points $(1, 3)$ and $(4, 0)$, whenever Alex visits an endpoint on a chute-ladder, they immediately appear at the other endpoint of that chute-ladder! How many ways are there for Alex to go from $(0, 0)$ to $(4, 4)$? [b]p7.[/b] There are $8$ identical cubes that each belong to $8$ different people. Each person randomly picks a cube. The probability that exactly $3$ people picked their own cube can be written as $\frac{a}{b}$ , where $a$ and $b$ are positive integers with $gcd(a, b) = 1$. Find $a + b$. [b]p8.[/b] Suppose that $p(R) = Rx^2 + 4x$ for all $R$. There exist finitely many integer values of $R$ such that $p(R)$ intersects the graph of $x^3 + 2021x^2 + 2x + 1$ at some point $(j, k)$ for integers $j$ and $k$. Find the sum of all possible values of $R$. [b]p9.[/b] Let $a, b, c$ be the roots of the polynomial $x^3 - 20x^2 + 22$. Find $\frac{bc}{a^2} +\frac{ac}{b^2} +\frac{ab}{c^2}$. [b]p10.[/b] In any finite grid of squares, some shaded and some not, for each unshaded square, record the number of shaded squares horizontally or vertically adjacent to it, this grid’s score is the sum of all numbers recorded this way. Deyuan shades each square in a blank $n \times n$ grid with probability $k$; he notices that the expected value of the score of the resulting grid is equal to $k$, too! Given that $k > 0.9999$, find the minimum possible value of $n$. [b]p11.[/b] Find the sum of all $x$ from $2$ to $1000$ inclusive such that $$\prod^x_{n=2} \log_{n^n}(n + 1)^{n+2}$$ is an integer. [b]p12.[/b] Let triangle $ABC$ with incenter $I$ and circumcircle $\Gamma$ satisfy $AB = 6\sqrt3$, $BC = 14$, and $CA = 22$. Construct points $P$ and $Q$ on rays $BA$ and $CA$ such that $BP = CQ = 14$. Lines $PI$ and $QI$ meet the tangents from $B$ and $C$ to $\Gamma$, respectively, at points $X$ and $Y$ . If $XY$ can be expressed as $a\sqrt{b}-c$ for positive integers $a, b, c$ with $c$ squarefree, find $a + b + c$. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

(Eisentein's Criterion) Let $f(x)=a_{n}x^{n} +\cdots +a_{1}x+a_{0}$ be a nonconstant polynomial with integer coefficients. If there is a prime $p$ such that $p$ divides each of $a_{0}$, $a_{1}$, $\cdots$,$a_{n-1}$ but $p$ does not divide $a_{n}$ and $p^2$ does not divide $a_{0}$, then $f(x)$ is irreducible in $\mathbb{Q}[x]$.

Find the least positive integer $ n$ so that the polynomial $ P(X)\equal{}\sqrt3\cdot X^{n\plus{}1}\minus{}X^n\minus{}1$ has at least one root of modulus $ 1$.

Prove that for every positive integer $n$ there exists a polynomial $p(x)$ of degree $n$ with real coefficients, having $n$ distinct real roots and satisfying $$p(x)p(4-x)=p(x(4-x))$$

Real numbers $x_1,x_2,\ldots ,x_{1996}$ have the following property: For any polynomial $W$ of degree $2$ at least three of the numbers $W(x_1),W(x_2),\ldots ,W(x_{1996})$ are equal. Prove that at least three of the numbers $x_1,x_2,\ldots ,x_{1996}$ are equal.

A sequence is called an [i]arithmetic progression of the first order[/i] if the differences of the successive terms are constant. It is called an [i]arithmetic progression of the second order[/i] if the differences of the successive terms form an arithmetic progression of the first order. In general, for $k\geq 2$, a sequence is called an [i]arithmetic progression of the $k$-th order[/i] if the differences of the successive terms form an arithmetic progression of the $(k-1)$-th order. The numbers \[4,6,13,27,50,84\] are the first six terms of an arithmetic progression of some order. What is its least possible order? Find a formula for the $n$-th term of this progression.

Is that true that there exist a polynomial $f(x)$ with rational coefficients, not all integers, with degree $n>0$, a polynomial $g(x)$, with integer coefficients, and a set $S$ with $n+1$ integers such that $f(t)=g(t)$ for all $t \in S$?

Let $N{}$ be the number of positive integers with $10$ digits $\overline{d_9d_8\cdots d_0}$ in base $10$ (where $0\le d_i\le9$ for all $i$ and $d_9>0$) such that the polynomial \[d_9x^9+d_8x^8+\cdots+d_1x+d_0\] is irreducible in $\Bbb Q$. Prove that $N$ is even. (A polynomial is irreducible in $\Bbb Q$ if it cannot be factored into two non-constant polynomials with rational coefficients.)

Let $ f(x) \equal{} c_m x^m \plus{} c_{m\minus{}1} x^{m\minus{}1} \plus{}...\plus{} c_1 x \plus{} c_0$, where each $ c_i$ is a non-zero integer. Define a sequence $ \{ a_n \}$ by $ a_1 \equal{} 0$ and $ a_{n\plus{}1} \equal{} f(a_n)$ for all positive integers $ n$. (a) Let $ i$ and $ j$ be positive integers with $ i<j$. Show that $ a_{j\plus{}1} \minus{} a_j$ is a multiple of $ a_{i\plus{}1} \minus{} a_i$. (b) Show that $ a_{2008} \neq 0$

Two numbers are written on each vertex of a convex $100$-gon. Prove that it is possible to remove a number from each vertex so that the remaining numbers on any two adjacent vertices are different. [i]F. Petrov [/i]

Let $S$ be the number of ordered pairs of integers $(a,b)$ with $1 \leq a \leq 100$ and $b \geq 0$ such that the polynomial $x^2+ax+b$ can be factored into the product of two (not necessarily distinct) linear factors with integer coefficients. Find the remainder when $S$ is divided by $1000$.

Determine all polynomials $P(x)$ with real coeffcients such that $(x^3+3x^2+3x+2)P(x-1)=(x^3-3x^2+3x-2)P(x)$.

Find all polynomials $P(x,y)$ with real coefficients such that for all real numbers $x,y$ and $z$: $$P(x,2yz)+P(y,2zx)+P(z,2xy)=P(x+y+z,xy+yz+zx).$$ [i]Proposed by Sina Saleh[/i]

Let $P(x)=x^{2000}-x^{1000}+1$. Prove that there don't exist 8002 distinct positive integers $a_1,\dots,a_{8002}$ such that $a_ia_ja_k|P(a_i)P(a_j)P(a_k)$ for all $i\neq j\neq k$. [I]Proposed by A. Baranov[/i]