Let $\{u_n \}$ be the sequence defined by its first two terms $u_0, u_1$ and the recursion formula \[u_{n+2 }= u_n - u_{n+1}.\] [b](a)[/b] Show that $u_n$ can be written in the form $u_n = \alpha a^n + \beta b^n$, where $a, b, \alpha, \beta$ are constants independent of $n$ that have to be determined. [b](b)[/b] If $S_n = u_0 + u_1 + \cdots + u_n$, prove that $S_n + u_{n-1}$ is a constant independent of $n.$ Determine this constant.

The sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 1}$ of real numbers is defined as follows: $$a_1=1, \quad \text{and}\quad a_{n+1}=\frac{1}{2\lfloor a_n \rfloor -a_n+1} \quad \text{for all} \quad n\ge 1$$ Find $a_{2024}$.

Given a sequence $a_1,a_2,a_3,\ldots $ of positive integers in which every positive integer occurs exactly once. Prove that there exist integers $\ell $ and $m,\ 1<\ell <m$, such that $a_1+a_m=2a_{\ell}$.

Let $n\ge2$ be a positive integer. Given a sequence $\left(s_i\right)$ of $n$ distinct real numbers, define the "class" of the sequence to be the sequence $\left(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_{n-1}\right)$, where $a_i$ is $1$ if $s_{i+1} > s_i$ and $-1$ otherwise. Find the smallest integer $m$ such that there exists a sequence $\left(w_i\right)$ of length $m$ such that for every possible class of a sequence of length $n$, there is a subsequence of $\left(w_i\right)$ that has that class. [i]David Yang.[/i]

Does there exist an infinite sequence of real numbers ${a}_{1},{a}_{2},{a}_{3},\ldots$ such that ${a}_{1} = 1$ and for all positive integers $k$ we have the equality $$ {a}_{k} = {a}_{2k} + {a}_{3k} + {a}_{4k} + \ldots ? $$ Ilya Lobatsky

The diagram below shows the first three figures of a sequence of figures. The first figure shows an equilateral triangle $ABC$ with side length $1$. The leading edge of the triangle going in a clockwise direction around $A$ is labeled $\overline{AB}$ and is darkened in on the figure. The second figure shows the same equilateral triangle with a square with side length $1$ attached to the leading clockwise edge of the triangle. The third figure shows the same triangle and square with a regular pentagon with side length $1$ attached to the leading clockwise edge of the square. The fourth figure in the sequence will be formed by attaching a regular hexagon with side length $1$ to the leading clockwise edge of the pentagon. The hexagon will overlap the triangle. Continue this sequence through the eighth figure. After attaching the last regular figure (a regular decagon), its leading clockwise edge will form an angle of less than $180^\circ$ with the side $\overline{AC}$ of the equilateral triangle. The degree measure of that angle can be written in the form $\tfrac{m}{n}$ where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m + n$. [asy] size(250); defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); pair x[],y[],z[]; x[0]=origin; x[1]=(5,0); x[2]=rotate(60,x[0])*x[1]; draw(x[0]--x[1]--x[2]--cycle); for(int i=0;i<=2;i=i+1) { y[i]=x[i]+(15,0); } y[3]=rotate(90,y[0])*y[2]; y[4]=rotate(-90,y[2])*y[0]; draw(y[0]--y[1]--y[2]--y[0]--y[3]--y[4]--y[2]); for(int i=0;i<=4;i=i+1) { z[i]=y[i]+(15,0); } z[5]=rotate(108,z[4])*z[2]; z[6]=rotate(108,z[5])*z[4]; z[7]=rotate(108,z[6])*z[5]; draw(z[0]--z[1]--z[2]--z[0]--z[3]--z[4]--z[2]--z[7]--z[6]--z[5]--z[4]); dot(x[2]^^y[2]^^z[2],linewidth(3)); draw(x[2]--x[0]^^y[2]--y[4]^^z[2]--z[7],linewidth(1)); label("A",(x[2].x,x[2].y-.3),S); label("B",origin,S); label("C",x[1],S);[/asy]

[b]p1.[/b] Evaluate $6^4 +5^4 +3^4 +2^4$. [b]p2.[/b] What digit is most frequent between $1$ and $1000$ inclusive? [b]p3.[/b] Let $n = gcd \, (2^2 \cdot 3^3 \cdot 4^4,2^4 \cdot 3^3 \cdot 4^2)$. Find the number of positive integer factors of $n$. [b]p4.[/b] Suppose $p$ and $q$ are prime numbers such that $13p +5q = 91$. Find $p +q$. [b]p5.[/b] Let $x = (5^3 -5)(4^3 -4)(3^3 -3)(2^3 -2)(1^3 -1)$. Evaluate $2018^x$ . [b]p6.[/b] Liszt the lister lists all $24$ four-digit integers that contain each of the digits $1,2,3,4$ exactly once in increasing order. What is the sum of the $20$th and $18$th numbers on Liszt’s list? [b]p7.[/b] Square $ABCD$ has center $O$. Suppose $M$ is the midpoint of $AB$ and $OM +1 =OA$. Find the area of square $ABCD$. [b]p8.[/b] How many positive $4$-digit integers have at most $3$ distinct digits? [b]p9.[/b] Find the sumof all distinct integers obtained by placing $+$ and $-$ signs in the following spaces $$2\_3\_4\_5$$ [b]p10.[/b] In triangle $ABC$, $\angle A = 2\angle B$. Let $I$ be the intersection of the angle bisectors of $B$ and $C$. Given that $AB = 12$, $BC = 14$,and $C A = 9$, find $AI$ . [b]p11.[/b] You have a $3\times 3\times 3$ cube in front of you. You are given a knife to cut the cube and you are allowed to move the pieces after each cut before cutting it again. What is the minimumnumber of cuts you need tomake in order to cut the cube into $27$ $1\times 1\times 1$ cubes? p12. How many ways can you choose $3$ distinct numbers fromthe set $\{1,2,3,...,20\}$ to create a geometric sequence? [b]p13.[/b] Find the sum of all multiples of $12$ that are less than $10^4$ and contain only $0$ and $4$ as digits. [b]p14.[/b] What is the smallest positive integer that has a different number of digits in each base from $2$ to $5$? [b]p15.[/b] Given $3$ real numbers $(a,b,c)$ such that $$\frac{a}{b +c}=\frac{b}{3a+3c}=\frac{c}{a+3b},$$ find all possible values of $\frac{a +b}{c}$. [b]p16.[/b] Let S be the set of lattice points $(x, y, z)$ in $R^3$ satisfying $0 \le x, y, z \le 2$. How many distinct triangles exist with all three vertices in $S$? [b]p17.[/b] Let $\oplus$ be an operator such that for any $2$ real numbers $a$ and $b$, $a \oplus b = 20ab -4a -4b +1$. Evaluate $$\frac{1}{10} \oplus \frac19 \oplus \frac18 \oplus \frac17 \oplus \frac16 \oplus \frac15 \oplus \frac14 \oplus \frac13 \oplus \frac12 \oplus 1.$$ [b]p18.[/b] A function $f :N \to N$ satisfies $f ( f (x)) = x$ and $f (2f (2x +16)) = f \left(\frac{1}{x+8} \right)$ for all positive integers $x$. Find $f (2018)$. [b]p19.[/b] There exists an integer divisor $d$ of $240100490001$ such that $490000 < d < 491000$. Find $d$. [b]p20.[/b] Let $a$ and $b$ be not necessarily distinct positive integers chosen independently and uniformly at random from the set $\{1,2, 3, ... ,511,512\}$. Let $x = \frac{a}{b}$ . Find the probability that $(-1)^x$ is a real number. [b]p21[/b]. In $\vartriangle ABC$ we have $AB = 4$, $BC = 6$, and $\angle ABC = 135^o$. $\angle ABC$ is trisected by rays $B_1$ and $B_2$. Ray $B_1$ intersects side $C A$ at point $F$, and ray $B_2$ intersects side $C A$ at point $G$. What is the area of $\vartriangle BFG$? [b]p22.[/b] A level number is a number which can be expressed as $x \cdot \lfloor x \rfloor \cdot \lceil x \rceil$ where $x$ is a real number. Find the number of positive integers less than or equal to $1000$ which are also level numbers. [b]p23.[/b] Triangle $\vartriangle ABC$ has sidelengths $AB = 13$, $BC = 14$, $C A = 15$ and circumcenter $O$. Let $D$ be the intersection of $AO$ and $BC$. Compute $BD/DC$. [b]p24.[/b] Let $f (x) = x^4 -3x^3 +2x^2 +5x -4$ be a quartic polynomial with roots $a,b,c,d$. Compute $$\left(a+1 +\frac{1}{a} \right)\left(b+1 +\frac{1}{b} \right)\left(c+1 +\frac{1}{c} \right)\left(d+1 +\frac{1}{d} \right).$$ [b]p25.[/b] Triangle $\vartriangle ABC$ has centroid $G$ and circumcenter $O$. Let $D$ be the foot of the altitude from $A$ to $BC$. If $AD = 2018$, $BD =20$, and $CD = 18$, find the area of triangle $\vartriangle DOG$. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Let $ f(0) \equal{} f(1) \equal{} 0$ and \[ f(n\plus{}2) \equal{} 4^{n\plus{}2} \cdot f(n\plus{}1) \minus{} 16^{n\plus{}1} \cdot f(n) \plus{} n \cdot 2^{n^2}, \quad n \equal{} 0, 1, 2, \ldots\] Show that the numbers $ f(1989), f(1990), f(1991)$ are divisible by $ 13.$

Let $ n$ be a positive integer, and let $ \left( a_{1},\ a_{2} ,\ ...,\ a_{n}\right)$, $ \left( b_{1},\ b_{2},\ ...,\ b_{n}\right)$ and $ \left( c_{1},\ c_{2},\ ...,\ c_{n}\right)$ be three sequences of integers such that for any two distinct numbers $ i$ and $ j$ from the set $ \left\{ 1,2,...,n\right\}$, none of the seven integers $ a_{i}\minus{}a_{j}$; $ \left( b_{i}\plus{}c_{i}\right) \minus{}\left( b_{j}\plus{}c_{j}\right)$; $ b_{i}\minus{}b_{j}$; $ \left( c_{i}\plus{}a_{i}\right) \minus{}\left( c_{j}\plus{}a_{j}\right)$; $ c_{i}\minus{}c_{j}$; $ \left( a_{i}\plus{}b_{i}\right) \minus{}\left( a_{j}\plus{}b_{j}\right)$; $ \left( a_{i}\plus{}b_{i}\plus{}c_{i}\right) \minus{}\left( a_{j}\plus{}b_{j}\plus{}c_{j}\right)$ is divisible by $ n$. Prove that: [b]a)[/b] The number $ n$ is odd. [b]b)[/b] The number $ n$ is not divisible by $ 3$. [hide="Source of the problem"][i]Source of the problem:[/i] This question is a generalization of one direction of Theorem 2.1 in: Dean Alvis, Michael Kinyon, [i]Birkhoff's Theorem for Panstochastic Matrices[/i], American Mathematical Monthly, 1/2001 (Vol. 108), pp. 28-37. The original Theorem 2.1 is obtained if you require $ b_{i}\equal{}i$ and $ c_{i}\equal{}\minus{}i$ for all $ i$, and add in a converse stating that such sequences $ \left( a_{1},\ a_{2},\ ...,\ a_{n}\right)$, $ \left( b_{1},\ b_{2},\ ...,\ b_{n}\right)$ and $ \left( c_{1} ,\ c_{2},\ ...,\ c_{n}\right)$ indeed exist if $ n$ is odd and not divisible by $ 3$.[/hide]

$ n > 2 $ points are chosen on a circle and each of them is connected to every other by a segment. Is it possible to draw all of these segments in one sequence, i.e. so that the end of the first segment is the beginning of the second, the end of the second - the beginning of the third, etc., and so that the end of the last segment is the beginning of the first?

There are $ n$ markers, each with one side white and the other side black. In the beginning, these $ n$ markers are aligned in a row so that their white sides are all up. In each step, if possible, we choose a marker whose white side is up (but not one of the outermost markers), remove it, and reverse the closest marker to the left of it and also reverse the closest marker to the right of it. Prove that, by a finite sequence of such steps, one can achieve a state with only two markers remaining if and only if $ n \minus{} 1$ is not divisible by $ 3$. [i]Proposed by Dusan Dukic, Serbia[/i]

For a positive number such as 3.27, 3 is referred to as the integral part of the number and .27 as the decimal part. Find a positive number such that its decimal part, its integral part, and the number itself form a geometric progression.

There are only two letters in the Mumu tribe alphabet: M and $U$. The word in the Mumu language is any sequence of letters $M$ and $U$, in which next to each letter $M$ there is a letter $U$ (for example, $UUU$ and $UMMUM$ are words and $MMU$ is not). Let $f(m,u)$ denote the number of words in the Mumu language which have $m$ times the letter $M$ and $u$ times the letter $U$. Prove that $f (m, u) - f (2u - m + 1, u) = f (m, u - 1) - f (2u - m + 1, u - 1)$ for any $u \ge 2,3 \le m \le 2u$.

Let $ u_1$, $ u_2$, $ \ldots$, $ u_{1987}$ be an arithmetic progression with $ u_1 \equal{} \frac {\pi}{1987}$ and the common difference $ \frac {\pi}{3974}$. Evaluate \[ S \equal{} \sum_{\epsilon_i\in\left\{ \minus{} 1, 1\right\}}\cos\left(\epsilon_1 u_1 \plus{} \epsilon_2 u_2 \plus{} \cdots \plus{} \epsilon_{1987} u_{1987}\right) \]

Define the sequence $ a_1, a_2, a_3, ...$ as follows. $ a_1$ and $ a_2$ are coprime positive integers and $ a_{n \plus{} 2} \equal{} a_{n \plus{} 1}a_n \plus{} 1$. Show that for every $ m > 1$ there is an $ n > m$ such that $ a_m^m$ divides $ a_n^n$. Is it true that $ a_1$ must divide $ a_n^n$ for some $ n > 1$?