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

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Found problems: 5923

An infinite sequence is given by $x_1=2, x_2=7, x_{n+1} = 4x_n - x_{n-1}$ for all $n \geq 2$. Does there exist a perfect square in this sequence? [hide="Remark"]During the test the initial value of $x_1$ was given as $1$, thus the problem was not graded[/hide]
Let $n$ be a positive integer. A [i]Nordic[/i] square is an $n \times n$ board containing all the integers from $1$ to $n^2$ so that each cell contains exactly one number. Two different cells are considered adjacent if they share a common side. Every cell that is adjacent only to cells containing larger numbers is called a [i]valley[/i]. An [i]uphill path[/i] is a sequence of one or more cells such that: (i) the first cell in the sequence is a valley, (ii) each subsequent cell in the sequence is adjacent to the previous cell, and (iii) the numbers written in the cells in the sequence are in increasing order. Find, as a function of $n$, the smallest possible total number of uphill paths in a Nordic square. Author: Nikola Petrović
Let $S$ be the set of all positive integers from 1 through 1000 that are not perfect squares. What is the length of the longest, non-constant, arithmetic sequence that consists of elements of $S$?
We examine the following two sequences: The Fibonacci sequence: $F_{0}= 0, F_{1}= 1, F_{n}= F_{n-1}+F_{n-2 }$ for $n \geq 2$; The Lucas sequence: $L_{0}= 2, L_{1}= 1, L_{n}= L_{n-1}+L_{n-2}$ for $n \geq 2$. It is known that for all $n \geq 0$ \[F_{n}=\frac{\alpha^{n}-\beta^{n}}{\sqrt{5}},L_{n}=\alpha^{n}+\beta^{n}, \] where $\alpha=\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2},\beta=\frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2}$. These formulae can be used without proof. The coordinates of all vertices of a given rectangle are Fibonacci numbers. Suppose that the rectangle is not such that one of its vertices is on the $x$-axis and another on the $y$-axis. Prove that either the sides of the rectangle are parallel to the axes, or make an angle of $45^{\circ}$ with the axes.
Let $c_1, \ldots, c_n \in \mathbb{R}$ with $n \geq 2$ such that \[ 0 \leq \sum^n_{i=1} c_i \leq n. \] Show that we can find integers $k_1, \ldots, k_n$ such that \[ \sum^n_{i=1} k_i = 0 \] and \[ 1-n \leq c_i + n \cdot k_i \leq n \] for every $i = 1, \ldots, n.$ [hide="Another formulation:"] Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n,$ with $n \geq 2$ be real numbers such that \[ |x_1 + \ldots + x_n| \leq n. \] Show that there exist integers $k_1, \ldots, k_n$ such that \[ |k_1 + \ldots + k_n| = 0. \] and \[ |x_i + 2 \cdot n \cdot k_i| \leq 2 \cdot n -1 \] for every $i = 1, \ldots, n.$ In order to prove this, denote $c_i = \frac{1+x_i}{2}$ for $i = 1, \ldots, n,$ etc. [/hide]
Assume that $a_1, a_2, a_3$ are three given positive integers consider the following sequence: $a_{n+1}=\text{lcm}[a_n, a_{n-1}]-\text{lcm}[a_{n-1}, a_{n-2}]$ for $n\ge 3$ Prove that there exist a positive integer $k$ such that $k\le a_3+4$ and $a_k\le 0$. ($[a, b]$ means the least positive integer such that$ a\mid[a,b], b\mid[a, b]$ also because $\text{lcm}[a, b]$ takes only nonzero integers this sequence is defined until we find a zero number in the sequence)
Given positive integer $n$ and positive number $M$. For all arithmetic squence $a_1,a_2,\cdots,$ that $a_1^2+a_{n+1}^2\leq M$, find the maximum value of $S=a_{n+1}+a_{n+2}+\cdots,a_{2n+1}$.
A weird calculator has a numerical display and only two buttons, $\boxed{D\sharp}$ and $\boxed{D\flat}$. The first button doubles the displayed number and then adds $1$. The second button doubles the displayed number and then subtracts $1$. For example, if the display is showing $5$, then pressing the $\boxed{D\sharp}$ produces $11$. If the display shows $5$ and we press $\boxed{D\flat}$, we get $9$. If the display shows $5$ and we press the sequence $\boxed{D\sharp}$, $\boxed{D\flat}$, $\boxed{D\sharp}$, $\boxed{D\sharp}$, we get a display of $87$. [list=i] [*] Suppose the initial displayed number is $1$. Give a sequence of exactly eight button presses that will result in a display of $313$. [*] Suppose the initial displayed number is $1$, and we then perform exactly eight button presses. Describe all the numbers that can possibly result? Prove your answer by explaining how all these numbers can be produced and that no other numbers can be produced. [/list]
In a rectangular plot of land, a man walks in a very peculiar fashion. Labeling the corners $ABCD$, he starts at $A$ and walks to $C$. Then, he walks to the midpoint of side $AD$, say $A_1$. Then, he walks to the midpoint of side $CD$ say $C_1$, and then the midpoint of $A_1D$ which is $A_2$. He continues in this fashion, indefinitely. The total length of his path if $AB=5$ and $BC=12$ is of the form $a + b\sqrt{c}$. Find $\displaystyle\frac{abc}{4}$.
I start with a sequence of letters $A_1 A_2 \cdots A_{2021} A_1 A_2 \cdots A_{2021} A_1 A_2 \cdots A_{2021}$. I go through $i = 1, 2, 3, \cdots, 6062$ in order, and for each $i$, I can choose to swap letters $i$ and $i+1$. Let $N$ be the number of distinct strings I can end up with. What is the remainder when $N$ is divided by $2017$?
Let $ \left( c_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ be a sequence of real numbers. Prove that the sequences $ \left( c_n\sin n \right)_{n\ge 1} ,\left( c_n\cos n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ are both convergent if and only if $ \left( c_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ converges to $ 0. $ [i]Mihai Piticari[/i] and [i]Vladimir Cerbu[/i]
Prove that the sequence defined by: $$ y_ {n + 1} = \frac {1} {2} (3y_ {n} + \sqrt {5y_ {n} ^ {2} -4}) , \,\, \forall n \ge 0$$ with $ y_ {0} = 1$ consists only of integers.
Let $ \{a_n\}_{n\geq 1}$ be a sequence of real numbers such that $ |a_{n\plus{}1}\minus{}a_n|\leq 1$, for all positive integers $ n$. Let $ \{b_n\}_{n\geq 1}$ be the sequence defined by \[ b_n \equal{} \frac { a_1\plus{} a_2 \plus{} \cdots \plus{}a_n} {n}.\] Prove that $ |b_{n\plus{}1}\minus{}b_n | \leq \frac 12$, for all positive integers $ n$.
Consider a sequence of equilateral triangles $T_{n}$ as represented below: [asy] defaultpen(linewidth(0.8));size(350); real r=sqrt(3); path p=origin--(2,0)--(1,sqrt(3))--cycle; int i,j,k; for(i=1; i<5; i=i+1) { for(j=0; j<i; j=j+1) { for(k=0; k<j; k=k+1) { draw(shift(5*i-5+(i-2)*(i-1)*1,0)*shift(2(j-k)+k, k*r)*p); }}}[/asy] The length of the side of the smallest triangles is $1$. A triangle is called a delta if its vertex is at the top; for example, there are $10$ deltas in $T_{3}$. A delta is said to be perfect if the length of its side is even. How many perfect deltas are there in $T_{20}$?
Triangle $ABC$ is inscribed in a unit circle $\omega$. Let $H$ be its orthocenter and $D$ be the foot of the perpendicular from $A$ to $BC$. Let $\triangle XY Z$ be the triangle formed by drawing the tangents to $\omega$ at $A, B, C$. If $\overline{AH} = \overline{HD}$ and the side lengths of $\triangle XY Z$ form an arithmetic sequence, the area of $\triangle ABC$ can be expressed in the form $\tfrac{p}{q}$ for relatively prime positive integers $p, q$. What is $p + q$?
On the "battleship" field (a square of $10\times 10$ cells), $10$ "ships" are placed in the following sequence: first one "ship" of size $1\times 4$, then two - of size $1\times 3$, three - of size $1\times 2$, and, finally, four - $1\times 1$. The rules do not allow "ships" to touch each other even with their tops. Can it happen that when part of the "ships" have already been displayed, there is nowhere to place the next one?
A [b][u]word[/u][/b] is formed by a number of letters of the alphabet. We show words with capital letters. A [b][u]sentence[/u][/b] is formed by a number of words. For example if $A=aa$ and $B=ab$ then the sentence $AB$ is equivalent to $aaab$. In this language, $A^n$ indicates $\underbrace{AA \cdots A}_{n}$. We have an equation when two sentences are equal. For example $XYX=YZ^2$ and it means that if we write the alphabetic letters forming the words of each sentence, we get two equivalent sequences of alphabetic letters. An equation is [b][u]simplified[/u][/b], if the words of the left and the right side of the sentences of the both sides of the equation are different. Note that every word contains one alphabetic letter at least. $\text{a})$We have a simplified equation in terms of $X$ and $Y$. Prove that both $X$ and $Y$ can be written in form of a power of a word like $Z$.($Z$ can contain only one alphabetic letter). $\text{b})$ Words $W_1,W_2,\cdots , W_n$ are the answers of a simplified equation. Prove that we can produce these $n$ words with fewer words. $\text{c})$ $n$ words $W_1,W_2,\cdots , W_n$ are the answers of a simplified system of equations. Define graph $G$ with vertices ${1,2 \cdots ,n}$ such that $i$ and $j$ are connected if in one of the equations, $W_i$ and $W_j$ be the two words appearing in the right side of each side of the equation.($\cdots W_i = \cdots W_j$). If we denote by $c$ the number of connected components of $G$, prove that these $n$ words can be produced with at most $c$ words. [i]Proposed by Mostafa Einollah Zadeh Samadi[/i]
[b]6.[/b] Consider a sequence $\{ a_n \}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ such that, for any convergent subsequence $\{ a_{n_k} \}$ of $\{a_n\}$, the sequence $\{ a_{n_k +1} \}$ also is convergent and has the same limit as $\{ a_{n_k}\}$. Prove that the sequence $\{ a_n \}$ is either convergent of has infinitely many accumulation points the set of which is dense in itself. Give an example for the second case. (A sequence $ x_n \to \infty $ or $-\infty$ is considered to be convergente, too) [b](S. 13)[/b]
Sequences $(x_n)_{n\ge1}$, $(y_n)_{n\ge1}$ satisfy the relations $x_n=4x_{n-1}+3y_{n-1}$ and $y_n=2x_{n-1}+3y_{n-1}$ for $n\ge1$. If $x_1=y_1=5$ find $x_n$ and $y_n$. Calculate $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\frac{x_n}{y_n}$.
For a given natural $n$, we consider the set $A\subset \{1,2, ..., n\}$, which consists of at least $\left[\frac{n+1}{2}\right]$ items. Prove that for $n \ge 2015$ the set $A$ contains a three-element arithmetic sequence.
The sequence $ (a_n)$ is defined by $ a_1\equal{}a_2\equal{}a_3\equal{}1$ and $ a_{n\plus{}1}a_{n\minus{}2}\minus{}a_n a_{n\minus{}1}\equal{}2$ for all $ n \ge 3.$ Prove that $ a_n$ is a positive integer for all $ n \ge 1$.
Let $Q=\{0,1\}^n$, and let $A$ be a subset of $Q$ with $2^{n-1}$ elements. Prove that there are at least $2^{n-1}$ pairs $(a,b)\in A\times (Q\setminus A)$ for which sequences $a$ and $b$ differ in only one term.
Let $a$ be a real number. Let $(f_n(x))_{n\ge 0}$ be a sequence of polynomials such that $f_0(x)=1$ and $f_{n+1}(x)=xf_n(x)+f_n(ax)$ for all non-negative integers $n$. a) Prove that $f_n(x)=x^nf_n\left(x^{-1}\right)$ for all non-negative integers $n$. b) Find an explicit expression for $f_n(x)$.
In a sequence of numbers, a term is called [i]golden [/i] if it is divisible by the term immediately before it. What is the maximum possible number of golden terms in a permutation of $1, 2, 3, . . . , 2021$?
Let $a_1,a_2,...,a_n$ be an arithmetic progression of positive real numbers. Prove that $\tfrac {1}{\sqrt a_1+\sqrt a_2}+\tfrac {1}{\sqrt a_2+\sqrt a_3}+...+\tfrac {1}{\sqrt a_{n-1}+\sqrt a_n}=\tfrac{n-1}{\sqrt {a_1}+\sqrt{a_n}}$.