Let be an increasing, infinite sequence of natural numbers $ \left( a_n \right)_{n\ge 1} . $ [b]a)[/b] Prove that if $ a_n=n, $ for any natural numbers $ n, $ then $$ -2+2\sqrt{1+n} <\frac{1}{\sqrt{a_1}} +\frac{1}{\sqrt{a_2}} +\cdots +\frac{1}{\sqrt{a_n}} <2\sqrt n , $$ for any natural numbers $ n. $ [b]b)[/b] Disprove the converse of [b]a).[/b] [i]Vasile Radu[/i]

Construct a triangle, by straight edge and compass, if the three points where the extensions of the medians intersect the circumcircle of the triangle are given.

Some number of regular polygons meet at a point on the plane such that the polygons' interiors do not overlap, but the polygons fully surround the point (i.e. a sufficiently small circle centered at the point would be contained in the union of the polygons). What is the largest possible number of sides in any of the polygons?

Consider the set $M=\{1,2,...,n\},n\in\mathbb N$. Find the smallest positive integer $k$ with the following property: In every $k$-element subset $S$ of $M$ there exist two elements, one of which divides the other one.

At summer camp, there are $20$ campers in each of the swimming class, the archery class, and the rock climbing class. Each camper is in at least one of these classes. If $4$ campers are in all three classes, and $24$ campers are in exactly one of the classes, how many campers are in exactly two classes? $\text{(A) }10\qquad\text{(B) }11\qquad\text{(C) }12\qquad\text{(D) }13\qquad\text{(E) }14$

Find the Jordan normal form of the operator $e^{d/dt}$ in the space of quasi-polynomials $\{e^{\lambda t}p(t)\}$ where the degree of the polynomial $p$ is less than $5$, and of the operator $\text{ad}_A$, $B\mapsto [A, B]$, in the space of $n\times n$ matrices $B$, where $A$ is a diagonal matrix.

Let $ABC$ be a triangle contained in one of the halfplanes determined by a line $r$. Points $A',B',C'$ are the reflections of $A,B,C$ in $r,$ respectively. Consider the line through $A'$ parallel to $BC$, the line through $B'$ parallel to $AC$ and the line through $C'$ parallel to $AB$. Show that these three lines have a common point.

In a circle with center $ O$, $ AD$ is a diameter, $ ABC$ is a chord, $ BO \equal{} 5$, and $ \angle ABO = \stackrel{\frown}{CD} = 60^{\circ}$. Then the length of $ BC$ is: [asy]size(200); defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); pair O=origin, A=dir(35), C=dir(155), D=dir(215), B=intersectionpoint(dir(125)--O, A--C); draw(C--A--D^^B--O^^Circle(O,1)); pair point=O; label("$A$", A, dir(point--A)); label("$B$", B, dir(point--B)); label("$C$", C, dir(point--C)); label("$D$", D, dir(point--D)); label("$O$", O, dir(305)); label("$5$", B--O, dir(O--B)*dir(90)); label("$60^\circ$", dir(185), dir(185)); label("$60^\circ$", B+0.05*dir(-25), dir(-25));[/asy] $ \textbf{(A)}\ 3 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 3 \plus{} \sqrt3 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 5 \minus{} \frac{\sqrt3}{2} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 5 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \text{none of the above}$

At a math contest there were $ 50 $ participants, where they were given $ 3 $ problems each to solve. The results have shown that every candidate has solved correctly at least one problem, and that a total of $ 100 $ problems have been evaluated by the jury as correct. Show that there were, at most, $ 25 $ winners who got the maximum score.

Let $ABCD$ be a convex quadrilateral for which \[ AB+CD=\sqrt{2}\cdot AC\qquad\text{and}\qquad BC+DA=\sqrt{2}\cdot BD.\] Prove that $ABCD$ is a parallelogram.

Find $ \inf_{z\in\mathbb{C}} \left( |z^2+z+1|+|z^2-z+1| \right) . $ [i]Gheorghe Andrei[/i] and [i]Doru Constantin Caragea[/i]

Some marbles are distributed over $2n + 1$ bags. Suppose that, whichever bag is removed, it is possible to divide the remaining bags into two groups of $n$ bags such that the number of marbles in each group is the same. Prove that all the bags contain the same number of marbles.

Let the $ABCA'B'C'$ be a regular prism. The points $M$ and $N$ are the midpoints of the sides $BB'$, respectively $BC$, and the angle between the lines $AB'$ and $BC'$ is of $60^\circ$. Let $O$ and $P$ be the intersection of the lines $A'C$ and $AC'$, with respectively $B'C$ and $C'N$. a) Prove that $AC' \perp (OPM)$; b) Find the measure of the angle between the line $AP$ and the plane $(OPM)$. [i]Mircea Fianu[/i]

Rays $l$ and $m$ forming an angle of $a$ are drawn from the same point. Let $P$ be a fixed point on $l$. For each circle $C$ tangent to $l$ at $P$ and intersecting $m$ at $Q$ and $R$, let $T$ be the intersection point of the bisector of angle $QPR$ with $C$. Describe the locus of $T$ and justify your answer.

Let $n$ and $m$ be positive integers in the range $[1, 10^{10}]$. Let $R$ be the rectangle with corners at $(0, 0), (n, 0), (n, m), (0, m)$ in the coordinate plane. A simple non-self-intersecting quadrilateral with vertices at integer coordinates is called [i]far-reaching[/i] if each of its vertices lie on or inside $R$, but each side of $R$ contains at least one vertex of the quadrilateral. Show that there is a far-reaching quadrilateral with area at most $10^6$.

In the below picture, $T$ is an equilateral triangle with a side length of $5$ and $\omega$ is a circle with a radius of $2$. The triangle and the circle have the same center. Let $X$ be the area of the shaded region, and let $Y$ be the area of the starred region. What is $X - Y$?

Let $P$ be an interior point of an equilateral triangle $ABC$, and let $Q,R,S$ be the feet of perpendiculars from $P$ to $AB,BC,CA$, respectively. Show that the sum $PQ+PR+PS$ is independent of the choice of $P$.

Find all $3$-digit numbers $\overline {abc}$ such that $\overline {abc} = a! + b! + c! $.

Let $k$ be a positive integer. A natural number $m$ is called [i]$k$-typical[/i] if each divisor of $m$ leaves the remainder $1$ when being divided by $k$. Prove: [b]a)[/b] If the number of all divisors of a positive integer $n$ (including the divisors $1$ and $n$) is $k$-typical, then $n$ is the $k$-th power of an integer. [b]b)[/b] If $k > 2$, then the converse of the assertion [b]a)[/b] is not true.

[b]p1.[/b] Find the smallest whole number $n \ge 2$ such that the product $(2^2 - 1)(3^2 - 1) ... (n^2 - 1)$ is the square of a whole number. [b]p2.[/b] The figure below shows a $ 10 \times 10$ square with small $2 \times 2$ squares removed from the corners. What is the area of the shaded region? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/7/5/a829487cc5d937060e8965f6da3f4744ba5588.png[/img] [b]p3.[/b] Three cars are racing: a Ford $[F]$, a Toyota $[T]$, and a Honda $[H]$. They began the race with $F$ first, then $T$, and $H$ last. During the race, $F$ was passed a total of $3$ times, $T$ was passed $5$ times, and $H$ was passed $8$ times. In what order did the cars finish? [b]p4.[/b] There are $11$ big boxes. Each one is either empty or contains $8$ medium-sized boxes inside. Each medium box is either empty or contains $8$ small boxes inside. All small boxes are empty. Among all the boxes, there are a total of $102$ empty boxes. How many boxes are there altogether? [b]p5.[/b] Ann, Mary, Pete, and finally Vlad eat ice cream from a tub, in order, one after another. Each eats at a constant rate, each at his or her own rate. Each eats for exactly the period of time that it would take the three remaining people, eating together, to consume half of the tub. After Vlad eats his portion there is no more ice cream in the tube. How many times faster would it take them to consume the tub if they all ate together? PS. You should use hide for answers. Collected [url=https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2760506p24143309]here[/url].

Two circles are externally tangent at the point $A$. A common tangent of the circles meets one circle at the point $B$ and another at the point $C$ ($B \ne C)$. Line segments $BD$ and $CE$ are diameters of the circles. Prove that the points $D, A$ and $C$ are collinear.

Let $ n\ge 3$ be a natural number. Find all nonconstant polynomials with real coeficcietns $ f_{1}\left(x\right),f_{2}\left(x\right),\ldots,f_{n}\left(x\right)$, for which \[ f_{k}\left(x\right)f_{k+ 1}\left(x\right) = f_{k +1}\left(f_{k + 2}\left(x\right)\right), \quad 1\le k\le n,\] for every real $ x$ (with $ f_{n +1}\left(x\right)\equiv f_{1}\left(x\right)$ and $ f_{n + 2}\left(x\right)\equiv f_{2}\left(x\right)$).

Find all pairs $ (x; y) $ of positive integers such that $$xy | x^2 + 2y -1.$$

Let $M$ be a set of real $n \times n$ matrices such that i) $I_{n} \in M$, where $I_n$ is the identity matrix. ii) If $A\in M$ and $B\in M$, then either $AB\in M$ or $-AB\in M$, but not both iii) If $A\in M$ and $B \in M$, then either $AB=BA$ or $AB=-BA$. iv) If $A\in M$ and $A \ne I_n$, there is at least one $B\in M$ such that $AB=-BA$. Prove that $M$ contains at most $n^2 $ matrices.

When counting from $3$ to $201$, $53$ is the $51^{\text{st}}$ number counted. When counting backwards from $201$ to $3$, $53$ is the $n^{\text{th}}$ number counted. What is $n$? $\textbf{(A) }146\qquad \textbf{(B) } 147\qquad\textbf{(C) } 148\qquad\textbf{(D) }149\qquad\textbf{(E) }150$