Found problems: 4275
Prove that for any interval $[a,b]$ of real numbers and any positive integer $n$ there exists a positive integer $k$ and a partition of the given interval
\[a = x (0) < x (1) < x (2) < \cdots < x (k-1) < x (k) = b\]
such that
\[\int_{x(0)}^{x(1)}f(x)dx+\int_{x(2)}^{x(3)}f(x)dx+\cdots=\int_{x(1)}^{x(2)}f(x)dx+\int_{x(3)}^{x(4)}f(x)dx+\cdots\]
for all polynomials $f$ with real coefficients and degree less than $n$.
The following is known about the reals $ \alpha$ and $ \beta$
$ \alpha^{3}-3\alpha^{2}+5\alpha-17=0$ and $ \beta^{3}-3\beta^{2}+5\beta+11=0$
Determine $ \alpha+\beta$
Let $ f(x)$ be a polynomial with the following properties:
(i) $ f(0)\equal{}0$; (ii) $ \frac{f(a)\minus{}f(b)}{a\minus{}b}$ is an integer for any two different integers $ a$ and $ b$. Is there a polynomial which has these properties, although not all of its coefficients are integers?
The side lengths of a triangle are the roots of a cubic polynomial with rational coefficients. Prove that the altitudes of this triangle are roots of a polynomial of sixth degree with rational coefficients.
Suppose $f,g \in \mathbb{R}[x]$ are non constant polynomials. Suppose neither of $f,g$ is the square of a real polynomial but $f(g(x))$ is. Prove that $g(f(x))$ is not the square of a real polynomial.
Let $P$ be an odd-degree integer-coefficient polynomial. Suppose that $xP(x)=yP(y)$ for infinitely many pairs $x,y$ of integers with $x\ne y$. Prove that the equation $P(x)=0$ has an integer root.
[i]Victor Wang[/i]
Let $a,b,c,d,e,f$ be real numbers such that the polynomial
\[ p(x)=x^8-4x^7+7x^6+ax^5+bx^4+cx^3+dx^2+ex+f \]
factorises into eight linear factors $x-x_i$, with $x_i>0$ for $i=1,2,\ldots,8$. Determine all possible values of $f$.
Let $P_1(x), P_2(x), \ldots, P_k(x)$ be monic polynomials of degree $13$ with integer coefficients. Suppose there are pairwise distinct positive integers $n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k$ for which, for all positive integers $i$ and $j$ less than or equal to $k,$ the statement "$n_i$ divides $P_j(m)$ for every integer $m$" holds if and only if $i=j.$ Compute the largest possible value of $k.$
An "unfair" coin has a $2/3$ probability of turning up heads. If this coin is tossed $50$ times, what is the probability that the total number of heads is even?
$ \textbf{(A)}\ 25\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^{50}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{1}{2}\left(1 - \frac{1}{3^{50}}\right)\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac{1}{2}\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{1}{2}\left(1 + \frac{1}{3^{50}}\right)\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{2}{3} $
Find all polynomials $P(x)$ such that, for all real numbers $x, y, z$ that satisfy $x+ y +z =0$,
$$P(x) +P(y) +P(z)=0$$
The polynomial $ P(x)\equal{}x^3\plus{}ax^2\plus{}bx\plus{}d$ has three distinct real roots. The polynomial $ P(Q(x))$, where $ Q(x)\equal{}x^2\plus{}x\plus{}2001$, has no real roots. Prove that $ P(2001)>\frac{1}{64}$.
Find all polynomials \(P(x)\) with real coefficients such that for all nonzero real numbers \(x\), \[P(x)+P\left(\frac1x\right) =\frac{P\left(x+\frac1x\right) +P\left(x-\frac1x\right)}2.\]
[i]Proposed by Holden Mui[/i]
Let $n{}$ be a positive integer. Show that there exists a polynomial $f{}$ of degree $n{}$ with integral coefficients such that \[f^2=(x^2-1)g^2+1,\] where $g{}$ is a polynomial with integral coefficients.
Compute the sum of all real numbers $x$ such that \[2x^6-3x^5+3x^4+x^3-3x^2+3x-1=0.\]
Let $f(x) = x^2 - 3/4$. Let $f^{(n)}(x)$ denote the composition of $f$ with itself $n$ times. For example, $f^{(3)}(x) = f(f(f(x)))$. Let $R$ be the set of complex numbers that is the union of the roots of the polynomials
$f^{(n)}(x^2 + 3/4)$ over positive integers $n$. Let $B$ be the smallest rectangle in the complex plane with sides parallel to the real and imaginary axes that contains $R$. What is the square of the area of $B$?
Steve says to Jon, "I am thinking of a polynomial whose roots are all positive integers. The polynomial has the form $P(x)=2x^3-2ax^2+(a^2-81)x-c$ for some positive integers $a$ and $c$. Can you tell me the values of $a$ and $c$?"
After some calculations, Jon says, "There is more than one such polynomial."
Steve says, "You’re right. Here is the value of $a$." He writes down a positive integer and asks, "Can you tell me the value of $c$?"
Jon says, "There are still two possible values of $c$."
Find the sum of the two possible values of $c$.
In solving a problem that reduces to a quadratic equation one student makes a mistake only in the constant term of the equation and obtains $ 8$ and $ 2$ for the roots. Another student makes a mistake only in the coefficient of the first degree term and find $ \minus{}9$ and $ \minus{}1$ for the roots. The correct equation was:
$ \textbf{(A)}\ x^2\minus{}10x\plus{}9\equal{}0 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ x^2\plus{}10x\plus{}9\equal{}0 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ x^2\minus{}10x\plus{}16\equal{}0\\
\textbf{(D)}\ x^2\minus{}8x\minus{}9\equal{}0 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{none of these}$
[u]Round 5[/u]
[b]5.1.[/b] A triangle has lengths such that one side is $12$ less than the sum of the other two sides, the semi-perimeter of the triangle is $21$, and the largest and smallest sides have a difference of $2$. Find the area of this triangle.
[b]5.2.[/b] A rhombus has side length $85$ and diagonals of integer lengths. What is the sum of all possible areas of the rhombus?
[b]5.3.[/b] A drink from YAKSHAY’S SHAKE SHOP is served in a container that consists of a cup, shaped like an upside-down truncated cone, and a semi-spherical lid. The ratio of the radius of the bottom of the cup to the radius of the lid is $\frac23$ , the volume of the combined cup and lid is $296\pi$, and the height of the cup is half of the height of the entire drink container. What is the volume of the liquid in the cup if it is filled up to half of the height of the entire drink container?
[u]Round 6[/u]
[i]Each answer in the next set of three problems is required to solve a different problem within the same set. There is one correct solution to all three problems; however, you will receive points for any correct answer regardless whether other answers are correct.[/i]
[b]6.1.[/b] Let the answer to problem $2$ be $b$. There are b people in a room, each of which is either a truth-teller or a liar. Person $1$ claims “Person $2$ is a liar,” Person $2$ claims “Person $3$ is a liar,” and so on until Person $b$ claims “Person $1$ is a liar.” How many people are truth-tellers?
[b]6.2.[/b] Let the answer to problem $3$ be $c$. What is twice the area of a triangle with coordinates $(0, 0)$, $(c, 3)$ and $(7, c)$ ?
[b]6.3.[/b] Let the answer to problem $ 1$ be $a$. Compute the smaller zero to the polynomial $x^2 - ax + 189$ which has $2$ integer roots.
[u]Round 7[/u]
[b]7.1. [/b]Sir Isaac Neeton is sitting under a kiwi tree when a kiwi falls on his head. He then discovers Neeton’s First Law of Kiwi Motion, which states:
[i]Every minute, either $\left\lfloor \frac{1000}{d} \right\rfloor$ or $\left\lceil \frac{1000}{d} \right\rceil$ kiwis fall on Neeton’s head, where d is Neeton’s distance from the tree in centimeters.[/i]
Over the next minute, $n$ kiwis fall on Neeton’s head. Let $S$ be the set of all possible values of Neeton’s distance from the tree. Let m and M be numbers such that $m < x < M$ for all elements $x$ in $S$. If the least possible value of $M - m$ is $\frac{2000}{16899}$ centimeters, what is the value of $n$?
Note that $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$, and $\lceil x \rceil$ is the least integer greater than or equal to $x$.
[b]7.2.[/b] Nithin is playing chess. If one queen is randomly placed on an $ 8 \times 8$ chessboard, what is the expected number of squares that will be attacked including the square that the queen is placed on? (A square is under attack if the queen can legally move there in one move, and a queen can legally move any number of squares diagonally, horizontally or vertically.)
[b]7.3.[/b] Nithin is writing binary strings, where each character is either a $0$ or a $1$. How many binary strings of length $12$ can he write down such that $0000$ and $1111$ do not appear?
[u]Round 8[/u]
[b]8.[/b] What is the period of the fraction $1/2018$? (The period of a fraction is the length of the repeated portion of its decimal representation.) Your answer will be scored according to the following formula, where $X$ is the correct answer and $I$ is your input.
$$max \left\{ 0, \left\lceil min \left\{13 - \frac{|I-X|}{0.1 |I|}, 13 - \frac{|I-X|}{0.1 |I-2X|} \right\} \right\rceil \right\}$$
PS. You should use hide for answers. Rounds 1-4 have been posted [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3h2765571p24215461]here[/url]. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].
If $ a$ and $b$ are positive numbers, prove that the equation
$$\frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{x - a}+\frac{1}{x+ b}= 0$$
has two rea] roots, one between $ a/3$ and $2a/3$, and one between $-2b/3$ and $-b/3$.
Dividing $x^{1951} - 1$ by $P(x) = x^4 + x^3 + 2x^2 + x + 1$ one gets a quotient and a remainder. Find the coefficient of $x^{14}$ in the quotient.
[b]p1.[/b] If $a \diamond b = ab - a + b$, find $(3 \diamond 4) \diamond 5$
[b]p2.[/b] If $5$ chickens lay $5$ eggs in $5$ days, how many chickens are needed to lay $10$ eggs in $10$ days?
[b]p3.[/b] As Alissa left her house to go to work one hour away, she noticed that her odometer read $16261$ miles. This number is a "special" number for Alissa because it is a palindrome and it contains exactly $1$ prime digit. When she got home that evening, it had changed to the next greatest "special" number. What was Alissa's average speed, in miles per hour, during her two hour trip?
[b]p4.[/b] How many $1$ in by $3$ in by $8$ in blocks can be placed in a $4$ in by $4$ in by $9$ in box?
[b]p5.[/b] Apple loves eating bananas, but she prefers unripe ones. There are $12$ bananas in each bunch sold. Given any bunch, if there is a $\frac13$ probability that there are $4$ ripe bananas, a $\frac16$ probability that there are $6$ ripe bananas, and a $\frac12$ probability that there are $10$ ripe bananas, what is the expected number of unripe bananas in $12$ bunches of bananas?
[b]p6.[/b] The sum of the digits of a $3$-digit number $n$ is equal to the same number without the hundreds digit. What is the tens digit of $n$?
[b]p7.[/b] How many ordered pairs of positive integers $(a, b)$ satisfy $a \le 20$, $b \le 20$, $ab > 15$?
[b]p8.[/b] Let $z(n)$ represent the number of trailing zeroes of $n!$. What is $z(z(6!))?$
(Note: $n! = n\cdot (n-1) \cdot\cdot\cdot 2 \cdot 1$)
[b]p9.[/b] On the Cartesian plane, points $A = (-1, 3)$, $B = (1, 8)$, and $C = (0, 10)$ are marked. $\vartriangle ABC$ is reflected over the line $y = 2x + 3$ to obtain $\vartriangle A'B'C'$. The sum of the $x$-coordinates of the vertices of $\vartriangle A'B'C'$ can be expressed as $\frac{a}{b}$ for relatively prime positive integers $a$, $b$. Compute $a + b$.
[b]p10.[/b] How many ways can Bill pick three distinct points from the figure so that the points form a non-degenerate triangle?
[img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/6/a/8b06f70d474a071b75556823f70a2535317944.png[/img]
[b]p11.[/b] Say piece $A$ is attacking piece $B$ if the piece $B$ is on a square that piece $A$ can move to. How many ways are there to place a king and a rook on an $8\times 8$ chessboard such that the rook isn't attacking the king, and the king isn't attacking the rook? Consider rotations of the board to be indistinguishable. (Note: rooks move horizontally or vertically by any number of squares, while kings move $1$ square adjacent horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).
[b]p12.[/b] Let the remainder when $P(x) = x^{2020} - x^{2017} - 1$ is divided by $S(x) = x^3 - 7$ be the polynomial $R(x) = ax^2 + bx + c$ for integers $a$, $b$, $c$. Find the remainder when $R(1)$ is divided by $1000$.
[b]p13.[/b] Let $S(x) = \left \lfloor \frac{2020}{x} \right\rfloor + \left \lfloor \frac{2020}{x + 1} \right\rfloor$. Find the number of distinct values $S(x)$ achieves for integers $x$ in the interval $[1, 2020]$.
[b]p14.[/b] Triangle $\vartriangle ABC$ is inscribed in a circle with center $O$ and has sides $AB = 24$, $BC = 25$, $CA = 26$. Let $M$ be the midpoint of $\overline{AB}$. Points $K$ and $L$ are chosen on sides $\overline{BC}$ and $\overline{CA}$, respectively such that $BK < KC$ and $CL < LA$. Given that $OM = OL = OK$, the area of triangle $\vartriangle MLK$ can be expressed as $\frac{a\sqrt{b}}{c}$ where $a, b, c$ are positive integers, $gcd(a, c) = 1$ and $b$ is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find $a + b + c$.
[b]p15.[/b] Euler's totient function, $\phi (n)$, is defined as the number of positive integers less than $n$ that are relatively prime to $n$. Let $S(n)$ be the set of composite divisors of $n$. Evaluate $$\sum^{50}_{k=1}\left( k - \sum_{d\in S(k)} \phi (d) \right)$$
PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].
Determine the value of the parameter $m$ such that the equation $(m-2)x^2+(m^2-4m+3)x-(6m^2-2)=0$ has real solutions, and the sum of the third powers of these solutions is equal to zero.
Let $X_0, \xi_{i, j}, \epsilon_k$ (i, j, k ∈ N) be independent, non-negative integer random variables. Suppose that $\xi_{i, j}$ (i, j ∈ N) have the same distribution, $\epsilon_k$ (k ∈ N) also have the same distribution.
$\mathbb{E}(\xi_{1,1})=1$ , $\mathbb{E}(X_0^l)<\infty$ , $\mathbb{E}(\xi_{1,1}^l)<\infty$ , $\mathbb{E}(\epsilon_1^l)<\infty$ for some $l\in\mathbb{N}$
Consider the random variable $X_n := \epsilon_n + \sum_{j=1}^{X_{n-1}} \xi_{n,j}$ (n ∈ N) , where $\sum_{j=1}^0 \xi_{n,j} :=0$
Introduce the sequence $M_n := X_n-X_{n-1}-\mathbb{E}(\epsilon_n)$ (n ∈ N)
Prove that there is a polynomial P of degree $\leq l/2$ such that $\mathbb{E}(M_n^l) = P_l(n)$ (n ∈ N).
Let $p$ be a prime. We arrange the numbers in ${\{1,2,\ldots ,p^2} \}$ as a $p \times p$ matrix $A = ( a_{ij} )$. Next we can select any row or column and add $1$ to every number in it, or subtract $1$ from every number in it. We call the arrangement [i]good[/i] if we can change every number of the matrix to $0$ in a finite number of such moves. How many good arrangements are there?
Prove that the polynomial
$$(a-x)^6 -3a(a-x)^5 +\frac{5}{2} a^2 (a-x)^4 -\frac{1}{2} a^4 (a-x)^2 $$
takes only negative values for $0<x<a$.