Let $a_1, a_2, ..., a_n, a_{n+1}$ be a finite sequence of real numbers satisfying $a_0 = a_{n+1} = 0$ and $|a_{k-1} - 2a_{k} + a_{k+1}| \leq 1$ for $k = 1, 2, ..., n$ Prove that for $k=0, 1, ..., n+1,$ $|a_k| \leq \frac{k(n+1-k)}{2}$

Consider rows of the form: $[x], [2x], [3x], ...$ Proof that, if $N \in N$ does not occur in the sequence $([n x])$, then there is an $n \in N$ with $n - 1 < \frac{N}{x}< n -\frac{1}{x}$ Prove that, for $x, y \notin Q$: $\frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y} = 1$, then each $N \in N$ term is either of $([nx])$ or of $([ny])$.

Let the sequence $\left \{ a_n \right \}_{n = -2}^\infty$ satisfy $a_{-1} = a_{-2} = 0, a_0 = 1$, and for all non-negative integers $n$, $$n^2 = \sum_{k = 0}^n a_{n - k}a_{k - 1} + \sum_{k = 0}^n a_{n - k}a_{k - 2}$$ Given $a_{2018}$ is rational, find the maximum integer $m$ such that $2^m$ divides the denominator of the reduced form of $a_{2018}$.

Let $\{x_n\}$ be a sequence of natural numbers such that \[(a) 1 = x_1 < x_2 < x_3 < \ldots; \quad (b) x_{2n+1} \leq 2n \quad \forall n.\] Prove that, for every natural number $k$, there exist terms $x_r$ and $x_s$ such that $x_r - x_s = k.$

For a natural number $d$, $M_d$ denotes the set of natural numbers which are not representable as the sum of at least two consecutive terms of an arithmetic progression with the common difference d whose terms are integers. Prove that each $c\in M_3$ can be written in the form $c=ab$, where $a\in M_1$ and $b\in M_2\setminus\{2\}$.

Let be a sequence $ \left( b_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ of integers, having the following properties: $ \text{(i)} $ the sequence $ \left( \frac{b_n}{n} \right)_{n\ge 1} $ is convergent. $ \text{(ii)} m-n|b_m-b_n, $ for any natural numbers $ m>n. $ Prove that there exists an index from which the sequence $ \left( b_n \right)_{n\ge 1} $ is an arithmetic one. [i]Cristinel Mortici[/i]

[u]Round 1[/u] [b]p1.[/b] Nineteen witches, all of different heights, stand in a circle around a campfire. Each witch says whether she is taller than both of her neighbors, shorter than both, or in-between. Exactly three said “I am taller.” How many said “I am in-between”? [b]p2.[/b] Alex is writing a sequence of $A$’s and $B$’s on a chalkboard. Any $20$ consecutive letters must have an equal number of $A$’s and $B$’s, but any 22 consecutive letters must have a different number of $A$’s and $B$’s. What is the length of the longest sequence Alex can write?. [b]p3.[/b] A police officer patrols a town whose map is shown. The officer must walk down every street segment at least once and return to the starting point, only changing direction at intersections and corners. It takes the officer one minute to walk each segment. What is the fastest the officer can complete a patrol? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/a/3/78814b37318adb116466ede7066b0d99d6c64d.png[/img] [b]p4.[/b] A zebra is a new chess piece that jumps in the shape of an “L” to a location three squares away in one direction and two squares away in a perpendicular direction. The picture shows all the moves a zebra can make from its given position. Is it possible for a zebra to make a sequence of $64$ moves on an $8\times 8$ chessboard so that it visits each square exactly once and returns to its starting position? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/2/d/01a8af0214a2400b279816fc5f6c039320e816.png[/img] [b]p5.[/b] Ann places the integers $1, 2,..., 100$ in a $10 \times 10$ grid, however she wants. In each round, Bob picks a row or column, and Ann sorts it from lowest to highest (left-to-right for rows; top-to-bottom for columns). However, Bob never sees the grid and gets no information from Ann. After eleven rounds, Bob must name a single cell that is guaranteed to contain a number that is at least $30$ and no more than $71$. Can he find a strategy to do this, no matter how Ann originally arranged the numbers? [u]Round 2[/u] [b]p6.[/b] Evelyn and Odette are playing a game with a deck of $101$ cards numbered $1$ through $101$. At the start of the game the deck is split, with Evelyn taking all the even cards and Odette taking all the odd cards. Each shuffles her cards. On every move, each player takes the top card from her deck and places it on a table. The player whose number is higher takes both cards from the table and adds them to the bottom of her deck, first the opponent’s card, then her own. The first player to run out of cards loses. Card $101$ was played against card $2$ on the $10$th move. Prove that this game will never end. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/8/1/aa16fe1fb4a30d5b9e89ac53bdae0d1bdf20b0.png[/img] [b]p7.[/b] The Vogon spaceship Tempest is descending on planet Earth. It will land on five adjacent buildings within a $10 \times 10$ grid, crushing any teacups on roofs of buildings within a $5 \times 1$ length of blocks (vertically or horizontally). As Commander of the Space Force, you can place any number of teacups on rooftops in advance. When the ship lands, you will hear how many teacups the spaceship breaks, but not where they were. (In the figure, you would hear $4$ cups break.) What is the smallest number of teacups you need to place to ensure you can identify at least one building the spaceship landed on? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/8/7/2a48592b371bba282303e60b4ff38f42de3551.png[/img] PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

For a given value $t$, we consider number sequences $a_1, a_2, a_3,...$ such that $a_{n+1} =\frac{a_n + t}{a_n + 1}$ for all $n \ge 1$. (a) Suppose that $t = 2$. Determine all starting values $a_1 > 0$ such that $\frac43 \le a_n \le \frac32$ holds for all $n \ge 2$. (b) Suppose that $t = -3$. Investigate whether $a_{2020} = a_1$ for all starting values $a_1$ different from $-1$ and $1$.

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 $n\geq N$.

For positive real numbers $b_1,b_2,\ldots,b_n$ define $$a_1=\frac{b_1}{b_1+b_2+\ldots+b_n}\enspace\text{ and }\enspace a_k=\frac{b_1+\ldots+b_k}{b_1+\ldots+b_{k-1}}\text{ for }k>1.$$Prove that $a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n\le\frac1{a_1}+\frac1{a_2}+\ldots+\frac1{a_n}$

How many sequences of words (not necessarily grammatically correct) have the property that the first word has one letter, each word can be obtained by inserting a letter somewhere in the previous word, and the final word is CCAMT? Here are examples of possible sequences: [center] C,CA,CAM,CCAM,CCAMT. [/center] [center] A,AT,CAT,CAMT,CCAMT. [/center] [i]2021 CCA Math Bonanza Team Round #1[/i]

A sequence of real numbers $a_1,a_2,\ldots$ satisfies the relation $$a_n=-\max_{i+j=n}(a_i+a_j)\qquad\text{for all}\quad n>2017.$$ Prove that the sequence is bounded, i.e., there is a constant $M$ such that $|a_n|\leq M$ for all positive integers $n$.

[b]p1[/b]. Evaluate $1! + 2! + 3! + 4! + 5! $ (where $n!$ is the product of all integers from $1$ to $n$, inclusive). [b]p2.[/b] Harold opens a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans that contains $10$ blueberry, $10$ watermelon, $3$ spinach and $2$ earwax-flavored jelly beans. If he picks a jelly bean at random, then what is the probability that it is not spinach-flavored? [b]p3.[/b] Find the sum of the positive factors of $32$ (including $32$ itself). [b]p4.[/b] Carol stands at a flag pole that is $21$ feet tall. She begins to walk in the direction of the flag's shadow to say hi to her friends. When she has walked $10$ feet, her shadow passes the flag's shadow. Given that Carol is exactly $5$ feet tall, how long in feet is her shadow? [b]p5.[/b] A solid metal sphere of radius $7$ cm is melted and reshaped into four solid metal spheres with radii $1$, $5$, $6$, and $x$ cm. What is the value of $x$? [b]p6.[/b] Let $A = (2,-2)$ and $B = (-3, 3)$. If $(a,0)$ and $(0, b)$ are both equidistant from $A$ and $B$, then what is the value of $a + b$? [b]p7.[/b] For every flip, there is an $x^2$ percent chance of flipping heads, where $x$ is the number of flips that have already been made. What is the probability that my first three flips will all come up tails? [b]p8.[/b] Consider the sequence of letters $Z\,\,W\,\,Y\,\,X\,\,V$. There are two ways to modify the sequence: we can either swap two adjacent letters or reverse the entire sequence. What is the least number of these changes we need to make in order to put the letters in alphabetical order? [b]p9.[/b] A square and a rectangle overlap each other such that the area inside the square but outside the rectangle is equal to the area inside the rectangle but outside the square. If the area of the rectangle is $169$, then find the side length of the square. [b]p10.[/b] If $A = 50\sqrt3$, $B = 60\sqrt2$, and $C = 85$, then order $A$, $B$, and $C$ from least to greatest. [b]p11.[/b] How many ways are there to arrange the letters of the word $RACECAR$? (Identical letters are assumed to be indistinguishable.) [b]p12.[/b] A cube and a regular tetrahedron (which has four faces composed of equilateral triangles) have the same surface area. Let $r$ be the ratio of the edge length of the cube to the edge length of the tetrahedron. Find $r^2$. [b]p13.[/b] Given that $x^2 + x + \frac{1}{x} +\frac{1}{x^2} = 10$, find all possible values of $x +\frac{1}{x}$ . [b]p14.[/b] Astronaut Bob has a rope one unit long. He must attach one end to his spacesuit and one end to his stationary spacecraft, which assumes the shape of a box with dimensions $3\times 2\times 2$. If he can attach and re-attach the rope onto any point on the surface of his spacecraft, then what is the total volume of space outside of the spacecraft that Bob can reach? Assume that Bob's size is negligible. [b]p15.[/b] Triangle $ABC$ has $AB = 4$, $BC = 3$, and $AC = 5$. Point $B$ is reflected across $\overline{AC}$ to point $B'$. The lines that contain $AB'$ and $BC$ are then drawn to intersect at point $D$. Find $AD$. [b]p16.[/b] Consider a rectangle $ABCD$ with side lengths $5$ and $12$. If a circle tangent to all sides of $\vartriangle ABD$ and a circle tangent to all sides of $\vartriangle BCD$ are drawn, then how far apart are the centers of the circles? [b]p17.[/b] An increasing geometric sequence $a_0, a_1, a_2,...$ has a positive common ratio. Also, the value of $a_3 + a_2 - a_1 - a_0$ is equal to half the value of $a_4 - a_0$. What is the value of the common ratio? [b]p18.[/b] In triangle $ABC$, $AB = 9$, $BC = 11$, and $AC = 16$. Points $E$ and $F$ are on $\overline{AB}$ and $\overline{BC}$, respectively, such that $BE = BF = 4$. What is the area of triangle $CEF$? [b]p19.[/b] Xavier, Yuna, and Zach are running around a circular track. The three start at one point and run clockwise, each at a constant speed. After $8$ minutes, Zach passes Xavier for the first time. Xavier first passes Yuna for the first time in $12$ minutes. After how many seconds since the three began running did Zach first pass Yuna? [b]p20.[/b] How many unit fractions are there such that their decimal equivalent has a cycle of $6$ repeating integers? Exclude fractions that repeat in cycles of $1$, $2$, or $3$. PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

For a positive integer $n$ let $a_n$ denote the last digit of $n^{(n^n)}$. Prove that the sequence $(a_n)$ is periodic and determine the length of the minimal period.

Let $(a_n)^\infty_{n=1}$ be a non-decreasing sequence of natural numbers with $a_{20}=100$. A sequence $(b_n)$ is defined by $b_m=\min\{n|an\ge m\}$. Find the maximum value of $a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_{20}+b_1+b_2+\ldots+b_{100}$ over all such sequences $(a_n)$.