A positive integer $k$ is given. Initially, $N$ cells are marked on an infinite checkered plane. We say that the cross of a cell $A$ is the set of all cells lying in the same row or in the same column as $A$. By a turn, it is allowed to mark an unmarked cell $A$ if the cross of $A$ contains at least $k$ marked cells. It appears that every cell can be marked in a sequence of such turns. Determine the smallest possible value of $N$.

Let $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_{2023}$ be positive integers such that [list=disc] [*] $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_{2023}$ is a permutation of $1,2,\dots,2023$, and [*] $|a_1-a_2|,|a_2-a_3|,\dots,|a_{2022}-a_{2023}|$ is a permutation of $1,2,\dots,2022$. [/list] Prove that $\max(a_1,a_{2023})\ge 507$.

Let $p > 2$ be a fixed prime number. Find all functions $f: \mathbb Z \to \mathbb Z_p$, where the $\mathbb Z_p$ denotes the set $\{0, 1, \ldots , p-1\}$, such that $p$ divides $f(f(n))- f(n+1) + 1$ and $f(n+p) = f(n)$ for all integers $n$. [i]Proposed by Grant Yu[/i]

Let $f : \{ 1, 2, 3, \dots \} \to \{ 2, 3, \dots \}$ be a function such that $f(m + n) | f(m) + f(n) $ for all pairs $m,n$ of positive integers. Prove that there exists a positive integer $c > 1$ which divides all values of $f$.

Find the smallest positive integer $k$ for which there exists a colouring of the positive integers $\mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ with $k$ colours and a function $f:\mathbb{Z}_{>0}\to \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ with the following two properties: $(i)$ For all positive integers $m,n$ of the same colour, $f(m+n)=f(m)+f(n).$ $(ii)$ There are positive integers $m,n$ such that $f(m+n)\ne f(m)+f(n).$ [i]In a colouring of $\mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ with $k$ colours, every integer is coloured in exactly one of the $k$ colours. In both $(i)$ and $(ii)$ the positive integers $m,n$ are not necessarily distinct.[/i]

Let $ x$, $ y$, $ z$ be real numbers such that $ 0 < x,y,z < 1$ and $ xyz \equal{} (1 \minus{} x)(1 \minus{} y)(1 \minus{} z)$. Show that at least one of the numbers $ (1 \minus{} x)y,(1 \minus{} y)z,(1 \minus{} z)x$ is greater than or equal to $ \frac {1}{4}$

The kingdom of Anisotropy consists of $n$ cities. For every two cities there exists exactly one direct one-way road between them. We say that a [i]path from $X$ to $Y$[/i] is a sequence of roads such that one can move from $X$ to $Y$ along this sequence without returning to an already visited city. A collection of paths is called [i]diverse[/i] if no road belongs to two or more paths in the collection. Let $A$ and $B$ be two distinct cities in Anisotropy. Let $N_{AB}$ denote the maximal number of paths in a diverse collection of paths from $A$ to $B$. Similarly, let $N_{BA}$ denote the maximal number of paths in a diverse collection of paths from $B$ to $A$. Prove that the equality $N_{AB} = N_{BA}$ holds if and only if the number of roads going out from $A$ is the same as the number of roads going out from $B$. [i]Proposed by Warut Suksompong, Thailand[/i]

Let $ p$ be an odd prime. Determine positive integers $ x$ and $ y$ for which $ x \leq y$ and $ \sqrt{2p} \minus{} \sqrt{x} \minus{} \sqrt{y}$ is non-negative and as small as possible.

Consider any rectangular table having finitely many rows and columns, with a real number $a(r, c)$ in the cell in row $r$ and column $c$. A pair $(R, C)$, where $R$ is a set of rows and $C$ a set of columns, is called a [i]saddle pair[/i] if the following two conditions are satisfied: [list] [*] $(i)$ For each row $r^{\prime}$, there is $r \in R$ such that $a(r, c) \geqslant a\left(r^{\prime}, c\right)$ for all $c \in C$; [*] $(ii)$ For each column $c^{\prime}$, there is $c \in C$ such that $a(r, c) \leqslant a\left(r, c^{\prime}\right)$ for all $r \in R$. [/list] A saddle pair $(R, C)$ is called a [i]minimal pair[/i] if for each saddle pair $\left(R^{\prime}, C^{\prime}\right)$ with $R^{\prime} \subseteq R$ and $C^{\prime} \subseteq C$, we have $R^{\prime}=R$ and $C^{\prime}=C$. Prove that any two minimal pairs contain the same number of rows.

The sequences $(a_n),(b_n)$ are defined by $a_0=1,b_0=4$ and for $n\ge 0$ \[a_{n+1}=a_n^{2001}+b_n,\ \ b_{n+1}=b_n^{2001}+a_n\] Show that $2003$ is not divisor of any of the terms in these two sequences.

Let $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ denote the set of integers considered modulo $n$ (hence $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ has $n$ elements). Find all positive integers $n$ for which there exists a bijective function $g: \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$, such that the 101 functions \[g(x), \quad g(x) + x, \quad g(x) + 2x, \quad \dots, \quad g(x) + 100x\] are all bijections on $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$. [i]Ashwin Sah and Yang Liu[/i]

Let $ \left( x_n\right)_{n\ge 1} $ be a sequence of real numbers of the interval $ [1,\infty) . $ Suppose that the sequence $ \left( \left[ x_n^k\right]\right)_{n\ge 1} $ is convergent for all natural numbers $ k. $ Prove that $ \left( x_n\right)_{n\ge 1} $ is convergent. Here, $ [\beta ] $ means the greatest integer smaller than $ \beta . $

A set of positive integers is called [i]fragrant[/i] if it contains at least two elements and each of its elements has a prime factor in common with at least one of the other elements. Let $P(n)=n^2+n+1$. What is the least possible positive integer value of $b$ such that there exists a non-negative integer $a$ for which the set $$\{P(a+1),P(a+2),\ldots,P(a+b)\}$$ is fragrant?

Let $A = (a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_{2001})$ be a sequence of positive integers. Let $m$ be the number of 3-element subsequences $(a_i,a_j,a_k)$ with $1 \leq i < j < k \leq 2001$, such that $a_j = a_i + 1$ and $a_k = a_j + 1$. Considering all such sequences $A$, find the greatest value of $m$.