This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

Tags were heavily modified to better represent problems.

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Found problems: 1239

2015 Cono Sur Olympiad, 5

Determine if there exists an infinite sequence of not necessarily distinct positive integers $a_1, a_2, a_3,\ldots$ such that for any positive integers $m$ and $n$ where $1 \leq m < n$, the number $a_{m+1} + a_{m+2} + \ldots + a_{n}$ is not divisible by $a_1 + a_2 + \ldots + a_m$.

2005 Korea Junior Math Olympiad, 3

For a positive integer $K$, de fine a sequence, $\{a_n\}$, as following: $a_1 = K$ and $a_{n+1} =a_n -1$ if $a_n$ is even $a_{n+1} =\frac{a_n - 1}{2}$ if $a_n$ is odd , for all $n \ge 1$. Find the smallest value of $K$, which makes $a_{2005}$ the first term equal to $0$.

2024 District Olympiad, P2

Consider the sequence $(a_n)_{n\geqslant 1}$ defined by $a_1=1/2$ and $2n\cdot a_{n+1}=(n+1)a_n.$[list=a] [*]Determine the general formula for $a_n.$ [*]Let $b_n=a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_n.$ Prove that $\{b_n\}-\{b_{n+1}\}\neq \{b_{n+1}\}-\{b_{n+2}\}.$ [/list]

1994 Czech And Slovak Olympiad IIIA, 4

Let $a_1,a_2,...$ be a sequence of natural numbers such that for each $n$, the product $(a_n - 1)(a_n- 2)...(a_n - n^2)$ is a positive integral multiple of $n^{n^2-1}$. Prove that for any finite set $P$ of prime numbers the following inequality holds: $$\sum_{p\in P}\frac{1}{\log_p a_p}< 1$$

1992 Romania Team Selection Test, 2

For a positive integer $a$, define the sequence ($x_n$) by $x_1 = x_2 = 1$ and $x_{n+2 }= (a^4 +4a^2 +2)x_{n+1} -x_n -2a^2$ , for n $\ge 1$. Show that $x_n$ is a perfect square and that for $n > 2$ its square root equals the first entry in the matrix $\begin{pmatrix} a^2+1 & a \\ a & 1 \end{pmatrix}^{n-2}$

1949 Putnam, B5

Tags: sequence
let $(a_{n})$ be an arbitrary sequence of positive numbers. Show that $$\limsup_{n\to \infty} \left(\frac{a_1 +a_{n+1}}{a_{n}}\right)^{n} \geq e.$$

2004 Federal Competition For Advanced Students, P2, 4

Show that there is an infinite sequence $a_1,a_2,...$ of natural numbers such that $a^2_1+a^2_2+ ...+a^2_N$ is a perfect square for all $N$. Give a recurrent formula for one such sequence.

2022 Durer Math Competition Finals, 1

Let $c \ge 2$ be a fixed integer. Let $a_1 = c$ and for all $n \ge 2$ let $a_n = c \cdot \phi (a_{n-1})$. What are the numbers $c$ for which sequence $(a_n)$ will be bounded? $\phi$ denotes Euler’s Phi Function, meaning that $\phi (n)$ gives the number of integers within the set $\{1, 2, . . . , n\}$ that are relative primes to $n$. We call a sequence $(x_n)$ bounded if there exist a constant $D$ such that $|x_n| < D$ for all positive integers $n$.

Albania Round 2, 2

Sides of a triangle form an arithmetic sequence with common difference $2$, and its area is $6 \text{ cm }^2$. Find its sides.

2005 Polish MO Finals, 2

Let $k$ be a fixed integer greater than 1, and let ${m=4k^2-5}$. Show that there exist positive integers $a$ and $b$ such that the sequence $(x_n)$ defined by \[x_0=a,\quad x_1=b,\quad x_{n+2}=x_{n+1}+x_n\quad\text{for}\quad n=0,1,2,\dots,\] has all of its terms relatively prime to $m$. [i]Proposed by Jaroslaw Wroblewski, Poland[/i]

2018 Istmo Centroamericano MO, 3

Determine all sequences of integers $a_1, a_2,. . .,$ such that: (i) $1 \le a_i \le n$ for all $1 \le i \le n$. (ii) $| a_i - a_j| = | i - j |$ for any $1 \le i, j \le n$

2010 Indonesia TST, 2

Let $ a_0$, $ a_1$, $ a_2$, $ \ldots$ be a sequence of positive integers such that the greatest common divisor of any two consecutive terms is greater than the preceding term; in symbols, $ \gcd (a_i, a_{i \plus{} 1}) > a_{i \minus{} 1}$. Prove that $ a_n\ge 2^n$ for all $ n\ge 0$. [i]Proposed by Morteza Saghafian, Iran[/i]

2007 Korea Junior Math Olympiad, 1

A sequence $a_1,a_2,...,a_{2007}$ where $a_i \in\{2,3\}$ for $i = 1,2,...,2007$ and an integer sequence $x_1,x_2,...,x_{2007}$ satis fies the following: $a_ix_i + x_{i+2 }\equiv 0$ ($mod 5$) , where the indices are taken modulo $2007$. Prove that $x_1,x_2,...,x_{2007}$ are all multiples of $5$.

2018 German National Olympiad, 5

We define a sequence of positive integers $a_1,a_2,a_3,\dots$ as follows: Let $a_1=1$ and iteratively, for $k =2,3,\dots$ let $a_k$ be the largest prime factor of $1+a_1a_2\cdots a_{k-1}$. Show that the number $11$ is not an element of this sequence.

2020 Jozsef Wildt International Math Competition, W4

Let $(a_n)_{n\ge1}$ be a positive real sequence such that $$\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{a_n}n=a\in\mathbb R^*_+\enspace\text{and}\enspace\lim_{n\to\infty}\left(\frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n}\right)^n=b\in\mathbb R^*_+$$ Compute $$\lim_{n\to\infty}(a_{n+1}-a_n)$$ [i]Proposed by D.M. Bătinețu-Giurgiu and Neculai Stanciu[/i]

2000 All-Russian Olympiad, 4

Let $a_1, a_2, \cdots, a_n$ be a sequence of nonnegative integers. For $k=1,2,\cdots,n$ denote \[ m_k = \max_{1 \le l \le k} \frac{a_{k-l+1} + a_{k-l+2} + \cdots + a_k}{l}. \] Prove that for every $\alpha > 0$ the number of values of $k$ for which $m_k > \alpha$ is less than $\frac{a_1+a_2+ \cdots +a_n}{\alpha}.$

2021 Thailand TST, 1

Given a positive integer $k$ show that there exists a prime $p$ such that one can choose distinct integers $a_1,a_2\cdots, a_{k+3} \in \{1, 2, \cdots ,p-1\}$ such that p divides $a_ia_{i+1}a_{i+2}a_{i+3}-i$ for all $i= 1, 2, \cdots, k$. [i]South Africa [/i]

2014 IMO Shortlist, N7

Let $c \ge 1$ be an integer. Define a sequence of positive integers by $a_1 = c$ and \[a_{n+1}=a_n^3-4c\cdot a_n^2+5c^2\cdot a_n+c\] for all $n\ge 1$. Prove that for each integer $n \ge 2$ there exists a prime number $p$ dividing $a_n$ but none of the numbers $a_1 , \ldots , a_{n -1}$ . [i]Proposed by Austria[/i]

2016 Saudi Arabia IMO TST, 1

Tags: sequence
Let $ n \geq 3 $ be an integer and let \begin{align*} x_1,x_2, \ldots, x_n \end{align*} be $ n $ distinct integers. Prove that \begin{align*} (x_1 - x_2)^2 + (x_2 - x_3)^2 + \ldots + (x_n - x_1)^2 \geq 4n - 6. \end{align*}

1984 IMO Longlists, 14

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 $f_kf_{k+1}= f_r.$

1980 IMO, 1

Given three infinite arithmetic progressions of natural numbers such that each of the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 belongs to at least one of them, prove that the number 1980 also belongs to at least one of them.

2022 ISI Entrance Examination, 6

Consider a sequence $P_{1}, P_{2}, \ldots$ of points in the plane such that $P_{1}, P_{2}, P_{3}$ are non-collinear and for every $n \geq 4, P_{n}$ is the midpoint of the line segment joining $P_{n-2}$ and $P_{n-3}$. Let $L$ denote the line segment joining $P_{1}$ and $P_{5}$. Prove the following: [list=a] [*] The area of the triangle formed by the points $P_{n}, P_{n-1}, P_{n-2}$ converges to zero as $n$ goes to infinity. [*] The point $P_{9}$ lies on $L$. [/list]

2023 Mongolian Mathematical Olympiad, 3

Let $m$ be a positive integer. We say that a sequence of positive integers written on a circle is [i] good [/i], if the sum of any $m$ consecutive numbers on this circle is a power of $m$. 1. Let $n \geq 2$ be a positive integer. Prove that for any [i] good [/i] sequence with $mn$ numbers, we can remove $m$ numbers such that the remaining $mn-m$ numbers form a [i] good [/i] sequence. 2. Prove that in any [i] good [/i] sequence with $m^2$ numbers, we can always find a number that was repeated at least $m$ times in the sequence.

2022 Brazil Team Selection Test, 3

Let $p$ be an odd prime number and suppose that $2^h \not \equiv 1 \text{ (mod } p\text{)}$ for all integer $1 \leq h \leq p-2$. Let $a$ be an even number such that $\frac{p}{2} < a < p$. Define the sequence $a_0, a_1, a_2, \ldots$ as $$a_0 = a, \qquad a_{n+1} = p -b_n, \qquad n = 0,1,2, \ldots,$$ where $b_n$ is the greatest odd divisor of $a_n$. Show that the sequence is periodic and determine its period.

2025 VJIMC, 3

Let us call a sequence $(b_1, b_2, \ldots)$ of positive integers fast-growing if $b_{n+1} \geq b_n + 2$ for all $n \geq 1$. Also, for a sequence $a = (a(1), a(2), \ldots)$ of real numbers and a sequence $b = (b_1, b_2, \ldots)$ of positive integers, let us denote \[ S(a, b) = \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} \left| a(b_n) + a(b_n + 1) + \cdots + a(b_{n+1} - 1) \right|. \] a) Do there exist two fast-growing sequences $b = (b_1, b_2, \ldots)$, $c = (c_1, c_2, \ldots)$ such that for every sequence $a = (a(1), a(2), \ldots)$, if all the series \[ \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} a(n), \quad S(a, b) \quad \text{and} \quad S(a, c) \] are convergent, then the series $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} |a(n)|$ is also convergent? b) Do there exist three fast-growing sequences $b = (b_1, b_2, \ldots)$, $c = (c_1, c_2, \ldots)$, $d = (d_1, d_2, \ldots)$ such that for every sequence $a = (a(1), a(2), \ldots)$, if all the series \[ S(a, b), \quad S(a, c) \quad \text{and} \quad S(a, d) \] are convergent, then the series $\sum_{n=1}^{\infty} |a(n)|$ is also convergent?