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

Define the numbers $a_0, a_1, \ldots, a_n$ in the following way: \[ a_0 = \frac{1}{2}, \quad a_{k+1} = a_k + \frac{a^2_k}{n} \quad (n > 1, k = 0,1, \ldots, n-1). \] Prove that \[ 1 - \frac{1}{n} < a_n < 1.\]

Let ${k}$ be a fixed positive integer. A finite sequence of integers ${x_1,x_2, ..., x_n}$ is written on a blackboard. Pepa and Geoff are playing a game that proceeds in rounds as follows. - In each round, Pepa first partitions the sequence that is currently on the blackboard into two or more contiguous subsequences (that is, consisting of numbers appearing consecutively). However, if the number of these subsequences is larger than ${2}$, then the sum of numbers in each of them has to be divisible by ${k}$. - Then Geoff selects one of the subsequences that Pepa has formed and wipes all the other subsequences from the blackboard. The game finishes once there is only one number left on the board. Prove that Pepa may choose his moves so that independently of the moves of Geoff, the game finishes after at most ${3k}$ rounds. (Poland)

Let $(a_n )_{n \ge o}$ and $(b_n )_{n \ge o}$ be sequences defined by $a_{n+2} = a_{n+1}+ a_n$ , $n = 0 , 1 , . .. $, $a_0 = 1$, $a_1 = 2$, and $b_{n+2} = b_{n+1} + b_n$ , $n = 0 , 1 , . . .$, $b_0 = 2$, $b_1 = 1$. How many integers do the sequences have in common?

Let $a_1, a_2, ..., a_n$ be real numbers such that $a_1 = a_n = a$ and $a_{k+1} \le \frac{a_k + a_{k+2}}{2} $, for all $k = 1, 2, ..., n - 2$. Prove that $a_k \le a,$ for all $k = 1, 2, ..., n.$

The finite sequence $a_1, a_2, ... , a_n$ of ones and zeroes should satisfy a condition: [i]for every $k$ from $0$ to $(n-1)$ the sum a_1a_{k+1} + a_2a_{k+2} + ... + a_{n-k}a_n should be odd.[/i] a) Construct such a sequence for $n=25$. b) Prove that there exists such a sequence for some $n > 1000$.

Let $a_{1}, \ldots, a_{n}$ be an infinite sequence of strictly positive integers, so that $a_{k} < a_{k+1}$ for any $k.$ Prove that there exists an infinity of terms $ a_{m},$ which can be written like $a_m = x \cdot a_p + y \cdot a_q$ with $x,y$ strictly positive integers and $p \neq q.$

Let $a_0$, $a_1$, $a_2$, ... be an infinite sequence of real numbers satisfying the equation $a_n=\left|a_{n+1}-a_{n+2}\right|$ for all $n\geq 0$, where $a_0$ and $a_1$ are two different positive reals. Can this sequence $a_0$, $a_1$, $a_2$, ... be bounded? [i]Proposed by Mihai Bălună, Romania[/i]

Find all real values of $K$ which satisfies the following. Let there be a sequence of real numbers $\{a_n\}$ which satisfies the following for all positive integers $n$. (i). $0 < a_n < n^K$. (ii). $a_1 + a_2 + \cdots + a_n < \sqrt{n}$. Then, there exists a positive integer $N$ such that for all integers $n>N$, $$a^{2018}_1 + a^{2018}_2 + \cdots +a^{2018}_n < \frac{n}{2018}$$

Let bet a sequence $\left( a_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ with $ a_1=1 $ and defined as $ a_n=\sqrt[n]{1+na_{n-1}} . $ Show that $ \left( a_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ is convergent and determine its limit. [i]Florian Dumitrel[/i]

Let $m$ be a fixed integer greater than $1$. The sequence $x_0$, $x_1$, $x_2$, $\ldots$ is defined as follows: \[x_i = \begin{cases}2^i&\text{if }0\leq i \leq m - 1;\\\sum_{j=1}^mx_{i-j}&\text{if }i\geq m.\end{cases}\] Find the greatest $k$ for which the sequence contains $k$ consecutive terms divisible by $m$ . [i]Proposed by Marcin Kuczma, Poland[/i]

Let $\mathcal{S}$ be a set consisting of $n \ge 3$ positive integers, none of which is a sum of two other distinct members of $\mathcal{S}$. Prove that the elements of $\mathcal{S}$ may be ordered as $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n$ so that $a_i$ does not divide $a_{i - 1} + a_{i + 1}$ for all $i = 2, 3, \dots, n - 1$.

For positive integer $n$ we define $f(n)$ as sum of all of its positive integer divisors (including $1$ and $n$). Find all positive integers $c$ such that there exists strictly increasing infinite sequence of positive integers $n_1, n_2,n_3,...$ such that for all $i \in \mathbb{N}$ holds $f(n_i)-n_i=c$

Let $P_n$ denote the $n$-th Pell number defined by $P_{n+1}=2P_n+P_{n-1}$, $P_0=0$, $P_1=1$. Furthermore, let $T_n$ denote the $n$-th triangular number, that is $T_n=\binom{n+1}2$. Show that $$\sum_{n=0}^\infty4T_n\cdot\frac{P_n}{3^{n+2}}=P_3+P_4$$ [i]Proposed by Ángel Plaza[/i]

Let $(a_n)_{n\in\mathbb N}$ be a sequence, given by the recurrence: $$ma_{n+1}+(m-2)a_n-a_{n-1}=0$$ where $m\in\mathbb R$ is a parameter and the first two terms of $a_n$ are fixed known real numbers. Find $m\in\mathbb R$, so that $$\lim_{n\to\infty}a_n=0$$ [i]Proposed by Laurențiu Modan[/i]

Let $f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ be a non-decreasing function such that $f(y) - f(x) < y - x$ for all real numbers $x$ and $y > x$. The sequence $u_1,u_2,\ldots$ of real numbers is such that $u_{n+2} = f(u_{n+1}) - f(u_n)$ for all $n\geq 1$. Prove that for any $\varepsilon > 0$ there exists a positive integer $N$ such that $|u_n| < \varepsilon$ for all $n\geq N$.

Let $a_1, \ldots, a_n$ be $n$ positive numbers and $0 < q < 1.$ Determine $n$ positive numbers $b_1, \ldots, b_n$ so that: [i]a.)[/i] $ a_{k} < b_{k}$ for all $k = 1, \ldots, n,$ [i]b.)[/i] $q < \frac{b_{k+1}}{b_{k}} < \frac{1}{q}$ for all $k = 1, \ldots, n-1,$ [i]c.)[/i] $\sum \limits^n_{k=1} b_k < \frac{1+q}{1-q} \cdot \sum \limits^n_{k=1} a_k.$

Given is the sequence $(a_n)_{n\geq 0}$ which is defined as follows:$a_0=3$ and $a_{n+1}-a_n=n(a_n-1) \ , \ \forall n\geq 0$. Determine all positive integers $m$ such that $\gcd (m,a_n)=1 \ , \ \forall n\geq 0$.

Sequence $(G_n)$ is defined by $G_0 = 0, G_1 = 1$ and $G_n = G_{n-1} + G_{n-2} + 1$ for every $n \ge2$. Prove that for every positive integer $m$ there exist two consecutive terms in the sequence that are both divisible by $m$.

Let $a_0$ be a fixed positive integer. We define an infinite sequence of positive integers $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ in an inductive way as follows: if we are given the terms $a_0,a_1,...a_{n-1}$ , then $a_n$ is the smallest positive integer such that $\sqrt[n]{a_0\cdot a_1\cdot ...\cdot a_n}$ is a positive integer. Show that the sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ is eventually constant. [b]Note:[/b] The sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ is eventually constant if there exists a positive integer $k$ such that $a_n=c$, for every $n\ge k$.

A nonempty set $ A$ of real numbers is called a $ B_3$-set if the conditions $ a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4, a_5, a_6 \in A$ and $ a_1 \plus{} a_2 \plus{} a_3 \equal{} a_4 \plus{} a_5 \plus{} a_6$ imply that the sequences $ (a_1, a_2, a_3)$ and $ (a_4, a_5, a_6)$ are identical up to a permutation. Let $A = \{a_0 = 0 < a_1 < a_2 < \cdots \}$, $B = \{b_0 = 0 < b_1 < b_2 < \cdots \}$ be infinite sequences of real numbers with $ D(A) \equal{} D(B),$ where, for a set $ X$ of real numbers, $ D(X)$ denotes the difference set $ \{|x\minus{}y|\mid x, y \in X \}.$ Prove that if $ A$ is a $ B_3$-set, then $ A \equal{} B.$

Given an increasing sequence of different natural numbers $a_1 < a_2 < a_3 < ... < a_n$ such that for any two distinct numbers in this sequence their sum is not divisible by $10$. It is known that $a_n = 2023$. a) Can $n$ be greater than $800$? b) What is the largest possible value of $n$? c) For the value $n$ found in question b), find the number of such sequences with $a_n = 2023$.

Let $c$ be a positive integer. The sequence $\{f_n\}$ is defined as follows: \[f_1 = 1, f_2 = c, f_{n+1} = 2f_n - f_{n-1} + 2 \quad (n \geq 2).\] Show that for each $k \in \mathbb N$ there exists $r \in \mathbb N$ such that $f_kf_{k+1}= f_r.$

In a sequence $a_1, a_2, ..$ of real numbers the product $a_1a_2$ is negative, and to define $a_n$ for $n > 2$ one pair $(i, j)$ is chosen among all the pairs $(i, j), 1 \le i < j < n$, not chosen before, so that $a_i +a_j$ has minimum absolute value, and then $a_n$ is set equal to $a_i + a_j$ . Prove that $|a_i| < 1$ for some $i$.

$\boxed{A6}$The sequence $a_0,a_1,...$ is defined by the initial conditions $a_0=1,a_1=6$ and the recursion $a_{n+1}=4a_n-a_{n-1}+2$ for $n>1.$Prove that $a_{2^k-1}$ has at least three prime factors for every positive integer $k>3.$