Found problems: 800
Find the largest real number $\lambda$ with the following property: for any positive real numbers $p,q,r,s$ there exists a complex number $z=a+bi$($a,b\in \mathbb{R})$ such that $$ |b|\ge \lambda |a| \quad \text{and} \quad (pz^3+2qz^2+2rz+s) \cdot (qz^3+2pz^2+2sz+r) =0.$$
A finite list of rational numbers is written on a blackboard. In an [i]operation[/i], we choose any two numbers $a$, $b$, erase them, and write down one of the numbers \[
a + b, \; a - b, \; b - a, \; a \times b, \; a/b \text{ (if $b \neq 0$)}, \; b/a \text{ (if $a \neq 0$)}.
\] Prove that, for every integer $n > 100$, there are only finitely many integers $k \ge 0$, such that, starting from the list \[ k + 1, \; k + 2, \; \dots, \; k + n, \] it is possible to obtain, after $n - 1$ operations, the value $n!$.
For each integer $k\geq 2$, determine all infinite sequences of positive integers $a_1$, $a_2$, $\ldots$ for which there exists a polynomial $P$ of the form \[ P(x)=x^k+c_{k-1}x^{k-1}+\dots + c_1 x+c_0, \] where $c_0$, $c_1$, \dots, $c_{k-1}$ are non-negative integers, such that \[ P(a_n)=a_{n+1}a_{n+2}\cdots a_{n+k} \] for every integer $n\geq 1$.
Let $P$ be a given point inside quadrilateral $ABCD$. Points $Q_1$ and $Q_2$ are located within $ABCD$ such that
\[\angle Q_1BC=\angle ABP,\quad\angle Q_1CB=\angle DCP,\quad\angle Q_2AD=\angle BAP,\quad\angle Q_2DA=\angle CDP.\] Prove that $\overline{Q_1Q_2}\parallel\overline{AB}$ if and only if $\overline{Q_1Q_2}\parallel\overline{CD}$.
Determine whether there exists an infinite sequence of nonzero digits $a_1 , a_2 , a_3 , \cdots $ and a positive integer $N$ such that for every integer $k > N$, the number $\overline{a_k a_{k-1}\cdots a_1 }$ is a perfect square.
Let $n$ be a positive integer. A frog starts on the number line at $0$. Suppose it makes a finite sequence of hops, subject to two conditions: [list] [*]The frog visits only points in $\{1, 2, \dots, 2^n-1\}$, each at most once. [*]The length of each hop is in $\{2^0, 2^1, 2^2, \dots\}$. (The hops may be either direction, left or right.) [/list] Let $S$ be the sum of the (positive) lengths of all hops in the sequence. What is the maximum possible value of $S$?
[i]Ashwin Sah[/i]
For integer $n\geq2$, let $x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n$ be real numbers satisfying \[x_1+x_2+\ldots+x_n=0, \qquad \text{and}\qquad x_1^2+x_2^2+\ldots+x_n^2=1.\]For each subset $A\subseteq\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$, define\[S_A=\sum_{i\in A}x_i.\](If $A$ is the empty set, then $S_A=0$.)
Prove that for any positive number $\lambda$, the number of sets $A$ satisfying $S_A\geq\lambda$ is at most $2^{n-3}/\lambda^2$. For which choices of $x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n, \lambda$ does equality hold?
Let $a_1<a_2<a_3<a_4<\cdots$ be an infinite sequence of real numbers in the interval $(0,1)$. Show that there exists a number that occurs exactly once in the sequence
\[ \frac{a_1}{1},\frac{a_2}{2},\frac{a_3}{3},\frac{a_4}{4},\ldots.\]
[i]Merlijn Staps[/i]
Anna and Ben decided to visit Archipelago with $2009$ islands. Some pairs of islands are connected by boats which run both ways. Anna and Ben are playing during the trip:
Anna chooses the first island on which they arrive by plane. Then Ben chooses the next island which they could visit. Thereafter, the two take turns choosing an island which they have not yet visited. When they arrive at an island which is connected only to islands they had already visited, whoever's turn to choose next would be the loser. Prove that Anna could always win, regardless of the way Ben played and regardless of the way the islands were connected.
[i](12 points for Juniors and 10 points for Seniors)[/i]
Determine all integers $ n\geq 2$ having the following property: for any integers $a_1,a_2,\ldots, a_n$ whose sum is not divisible by $n$, there exists an index $1 \leq i \leq n$ such that none of the numbers $$a_i,a_i+a_{i+1},\ldots,a_i+a_{i+1}+\ldots+a_{i+n-1}$$ is divisible by $n$. Here, we let $a_i=a_{i-n}$ when $i >n$.
[i]Proposed by Warut Suksompong, Thailand[/i]
Let $f(x)$ be a polynomial in $x$ with integer coefficients and suppose that for five distinct integers $a_1, \ldots, a_5$ one has $f(a_1) = f(a_2) = \ldots = f(a_5) = 2$. Show that there does not exist an integer $b$ such that $f(b) = 9$.
Find all functions $f: \mathbb R^+ \rightarrow \mathbb R^+$ satisfying the following condition: for any three distinct real numbers $a,b,c$, a triangle can be formed with side lengths $a,b,c$, if and only if a triangle can be formed with side lengths $f(a),f(b),f(c)$.
At a mathematical competition $n$ students work on $6$ problems each one with three possible answers. After the competition, the Jury found that for every two students the number of the problems, for which these students have the same answers, is $0$ or $2$. Find the maximum possible value of $n$.
Given a positive integer $k$ and other two integers $b > w > 1.$ There are two strings of pearls, a string of $b$ black pearls and a string of $w$ white pearls. The length of a string is the number of pearls on it. One cuts these strings in some steps by the following rules. In each step:
[b](i)[/b] The strings are ordered by their lengths in a non-increasing order. If there are some strings of equal lengths, then the white ones precede the black ones. Then $k$ first ones (if they consist of more than one pearl) are chosen; if there are less than $k$ strings longer than 1, then one chooses all of them.
[b](ii)[/b] Next, one cuts each chosen string into two parts differing in length by at most one. (For instance, if there are strings of $5, 4, 4, 2$ black pearls, strings of $8, 4, 3$ white pearls and $k = 4,$ then the strings of 8 white, 5 black, 4 white and 4 black pearls are cut into the parts $(4,4), (3,2), (2,2)$ and $(2,2)$ respectively.) The process stops immediately after the step when a first isolated white pearl appears.
Prove that at this stage, there will still exist a string of at least two black pearls.
[i]Proposed by Bill Sands, Thao Do, Canada[/i]
Suppose that $ABCD$ is a convex quadrilateral with no parallel sides. Make a parallelogram on each two consecutive sides. Show that among these $4$ new points, there is only one point inside the quadrilateral $ABCD$.
by Morteza Saghafian
Ana and Banana are playing a game. First Ana picks a word, which is defined to be a nonempty sequence of capital English letters. (The word does not need to be a valid English word.) Then Banana picks a nonnegative integer $k$ and challenges Ana to supply a word with exactly $k$ subsequences which are equal to Ana's word. Ana wins if she is able to supply such a word, otherwise she loses.
For example, if Ana picks the word "TST", and Banana chooses $k=4$, then Ana can supply the word "TSTST" which has 4 subsequences which are equal to Ana's word.
Which words can Ana pick so that she wins no matter what value of $k$ Banana chooses?
(The subsequences of a string of length $n$ are the $2^n$ strings which are formed by deleting some of its characters, possibly all or none, while preserving the order of the remaining characters.)
[i]Proposed by Kevin Sun
Let $n\geq 3$ be a fixed integer. Each side and each diagonal of a regular $n$-gon is labelled with a number from the set $\left\{1;\;2;\;...;\;r\right\}$ in a way such that the following two conditions are fulfilled:
[b]1.[/b] Each number from the set $\left\{1;\;2;\;...;\;r\right\}$ occurs at least once as a label.
[b]2.[/b] In each triangle formed by three vertices of the $n$-gon, two of the sides are labelled with the same number, and this number is greater than the label of the third side.
[b](a)[/b] Find the maximal $r$ for which such a labelling is possible.
[b](b)[/b] [i]Harder version (IMO Shortlist 2005):[/i] For this maximal value of $r$, how many such labellings are there?
[hide="Easier version (5th German TST 2006) - contains answer to the harder version"]
[i]Easier version (5th German TST 2006):[/i] Show that, for this maximal value of $r$, there are exactly $\frac{n!\left(n-1\right)!}{2^{n-1}}$ possible labellings.[/hide]
[i]Proposed by Federico Ardila, Colombia[/i]
Let $n>1$ be a positive integer. Each cell of an $n\times n$ table contains an integer. Suppose that the following conditions are satisfied:
[list=1]
[*] Each number in the table is congruent to $1$ modulo $n$.
[*] The sum of numbers in any row, as well as the sum of numbers in any column, is congruent to $n$ modulo $n^2$.
[/list]
Let $R_i$ be the product of the numbers in the $i^{\text{th}}$ row, and $C_j$ be the product of the number in the $j^{\text{th}}$ column. Prove that the sums $R_1+\hdots R_n$ and $C_1+\hdots C_n$ are congruent modulo $n^4$.
Suppose that $1000$ students are standing in a circle. Prove that there exists an integer $k$ with $100 \leq k \leq 300$ such that in this circle there exists a contiguous group of $2k$ students, for which the first half contains the same number of girls as the second half.
[i]Proposed by Gerhard Wöginger, Austria[/i]
In the triangle $\vartriangle ABC$ we have $| AB |^3 = | AC |^3 + | BC |^3$. Prove that $\angle C> 60^o$ .
Let $f : \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ be a continuous function such that for any reals $x, y,$ $$f(x + y)f(x - y) = (f(x))^2 - (f(y))^2$$. Additionally, suppose that $f(x + 2 \pi) = f(x)$ and that there does not exist a positive real $a < 2 \pi$ such that $f(x + a) = f(x)$ for all reals $x$. Show that for all reals $x$, $$|f(\frac{\pi}{2})| \geq f(x)$$.
Let $ n$ be a positive integer. Consider
\[ S \equal{} \left\{ (x,y,z) \mid x,y,z \in \{ 0, 1, \ldots, n\}, x \plus{} y \plus{} z > 0 \right \}
\]
as a set of $ (n \plus{} 1)^{3} \minus{} 1$ points in the three-dimensional space. Determine the smallest possible number of planes, the union of which contains $ S$ but does not include $ (0,0,0)$.
[i]Author: Gerhard Wöginger, Netherlands [/i]
For any odd prime $p$ and any integer $n,$ let $d_p (n) \in \{ 0,1, \dots, p-1 \}$ denote the remainder when $n$ is divided by $p.$ We say that $(a_0, a_1, a_2, \dots)$ is a [i]p-sequence[/i], if $a_0$ is a positive integer coprime to $p,$ and $a_{n+1} =a_n + d_p (a_n)$ for $n \geqslant 0.$
(a) Do there exist infinitely many primes $p$ for which there exist $p$-sequences $(a_0, a_1, a_2, \dots)$ and $(b_0, b_1, b_2, \dots)$ such that $a_n >b_n$ for infinitely many $n,$ and $b_n > a_n$ for infinitely many $n?$
(b) Do there exist infinitely many primes $p$ for which there exist $p$-sequences $(a_0, a_1, a_2, \dots)$ and $(b_0, b_1, b_2, \dots)$ such that $a_0 <b_0,$ but $a_n >b_n$ for all $n \geqslant 1?$
[I]United Kingdom[/i]
Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that $P(0)=1$, and let $c > 1$ be an integer. Define $x_0=0$ and $x_{i+1} = P(x_i)$ for all integers $i \ge 0$. Show that there are infinitely many positive integers $n$ such that $\gcd (x_n, n+c)=1$.
[i]Proposed by Milan Haiman and Carl Schildkraut[/i]
Triangle $ABC$ and a function $f:\mathbb{R}^+\to\mathbb{R}$ have the following property: for every line segment $DE$ from the interior of the triangle with midpoint $M$, the inequality $f(d(D))+f(d(E))\le 2f(d(M))$, where $d(X)$ is the distance from point $X$ to the nearest side of the triangle ($X$ is in the interior of $\triangle ABC$). Prove that for each line segment $PQ$ and each point interior point $N$ the inequality $|QN|f(d(P))+|PN|f(d(Q))\le |PQ|f(d(N))$ holds.