In a game of rock-paper-scissors with $n$ people, the following rules are used to determine a champion: (a) In a round, each person who has not been eliminated randomly chooses one of rock, paper, or scissors to play. (b) If at least one person plays rock, at least one person plays paper, and at least one person plays scissors, then the round is declared a tie and no one is eliminated. If everyone makes the same move, then the round is also declared a tie. (c) If exactly two moves are represented, then everyone who made the losing move is eliminated from playing in all further rounds (for example, in a game with $8$ people, if $5$ people play rock and $3$ people play scissors, then the $3$ who played scissors are eliminated). (d) The rounds continue until only one person has not been eliminated. That person is declared the champion and the game ends. If a game begins with $4$ people, what is the expected value of the number of rounds required for a champion to be determined? [i]In the game of rock-paper-scissors, two players each choose one of rock, paper, or scissors to play. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. If the players play the same thing, the match is considered a draw.[/i]

In a room there are nine men. Among every three of them there are two mutually acquainted. Prove that some four of them are mutually acquainted.

Function $f : \mathbb{R^+} \rightarrow \mathbb{R^+}$ satisfies the following condition. (Condition) For each positive real number $x$, there exists a positive real number $y$ such that $(x + f(y))(y + f(x)) \leq 4$, and the number of $y$ is finite. Prove $f(x) > f(y)$ for any positive real numbers $x < y$. ($\mathbb{R^+}$ is a set for all positive real numbers.)

A triangle $OAB$ with $\angle A=90^{\circ}$ lies inside another triangle with vertex $O$. The altitude of $OAB$ from $A$ until it meets the side of angle $O$ at $M$. The distances from $M$ and $B$ to the second side of angle $O$ are $2$ and $1$ respectively. Find the length of $OA$.

For every $ 0 \le i \le 17$, $ a_i \equal{} \{ \minus{} 1, 0, 1\}$. How many $ (a_0,a_1, \dots , a_{17})$ $ 18 \minus{}$tuples are there satisfying : $ a_0 \plus{} 2a_1 \plus{} 2^2a_2 \plus{} \cdots \plus{} 2^{17}a_{17} \equal{} 2^{10}$ $\textbf{(A)}\ 9 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 8 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 7 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 1$

Which configurations of five (not necessarily distinct) points $p_1 ,\ldots, p_5$ on the circle $x^2 +y^2 =1$ maximize the sum of the ten distances $$\sum_{i<j} d(p_i, p_j)?$$

A palindrome is a positive integer which reads in the same way in both directions (for example, $1$, $343$ and $2002$ are palindromes, while $2005$ is not). Is it possible to find $2005$ pairs in the form of $(n, n + 110)$ where both numbers are palindromes? [i](3 points)[/i]

Given an integer $n\ge 2$, a function $f:\mathbb{Z}\rightarrow \{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ is called [i]good[/i], if for any integer $k,1\le k\le n-1$ there exists an integer $j(k)$ such that for every integer $m$ we have \[f(m+j(k))\equiv f(m+k)-f(m) \pmod{n+1}. \] Find the number of [i]good[/i] functions.

On the board we write a series of $n$ numbers, where $n \geq 40$, and each one of them is equal to either $1$ or $-1$, such that the following conditions both hold: (i) The sum of every $40$ consecutive numbers is equal to $0$. (ii) The sum of every $42$ consecutive numbers is not equal to $0$. We denote by $S_n$ the sum of the $n$ numbers of the board. Find the maximum possible value of $S_n$ for all possible values of $n$.

Does there exist a function $f:\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}$ such that $f(x+f(y))=f(x)-y$ for all integers $x$ and $y$?

There are $n{}$ passengers in the queue to board a $n{}$-seat plane. The first one in the queue is an absent-minded old lady who, after boarding the plane, sits down at a randomly selected place. Each subsequent passenger sits in his seat if it is free, and in a random seat otherwise. How many passengers will be out of their seats on average? [i]Proposed by A. Zaslavsky[/i]

Let $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n$ be a sequence of real numbers, and let $m$ be a fixed positive integer less than $n$. We say an index $k$ with $1\le k\le n$ is good if there exists some $\ell$ with $1\le \ell \le m$ such that $a_k+a_{k+1}+...+a_{k+\ell-1}\ge0$, where the indices are taken modulo $n$. Let $T$ be the set of all good indices. Prove that $\sum\limits_{k \in T}a_k \ge 0$. [i]Proposed by Mark Sellke[/i]

Find all sequences $0\le a_0\le a_1\le a_2\le \ldots$ of real numbers such that \[a_{m^2+n^2}=a_m^2+a_n^2 \] for all integers $m,n\ge 0$.

Find the greatest value and the least value of $x+y$ where $x,y$ are real numbers, with $x\ge -2$, $y\ge -3$ and $$x-2\sqrt{x+2}=2\sqrt{y+3}-y$$

Let $x$ be a real number such that $0<x<\frac{\pi}{2}$. Prove that \[\cos^2(x)\cot (x)+\sin^2(x)\tan (x)\ge 1\]

Two persons, $X$ and $Y$ , play with a die. $X$ wins a game if the outcome is $1$ or $2$; $Y$ wins in the other cases. A player wins a match if he wins two consecutive games. For each player determine the probability of winning a match within $5$ games. Determine the probabilities of winning in an unlimited number of games. If $X$ bets $1$, how much must $Y$ bet for the game to be fair ?