Find the necessary and sufficient conditions for two conics that every tangent to one of them contains a real point of the other.

Laura is putting together the following list: $a_0, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4, ..., a_n$, where $a_0 = 3$ and $a_1 = 4$. She knows that the following equality holds for any value of $n$ integer greater than or equal to $1$: $$a_n^2-2a_{n-1}a_{n+1} =(-2)^n.$$Laura calculates the value of $a_4$. What value does it get?

The bisector of angle $B$ and the bisector of external angle $D$ of rectangle $ABCD$ intersect side $AD$ and line $AB$ at points $M$ and $K$, respectively. Prove that the segment $MK$ is equal and perpendicular to the diagonal of the rectangle.

When Troy writes his digits, his $0$, $1$, and $8$ look the same right-side-up and upside-down as seen in the figure below. His $6$ and $9$ look like upside-down images of each other. None of his other digits look like digits when they are inverted. How many different five-digit numbers (which do not begin with the digit zero) can Troy write which read the same right-side-up and upside-down? [asy] frame l; label(l,"\textsf{0}\qquad \textsf{l}\qquad\textsf{2}\qquad\textsf{3}\qquad\textsf{4}\qquad\textsf{5}\qquad\textsf{6}\qquad\textsf{7}\qquad\textsf{8}\qquad\textsf{9}"); add(rotate(180)*l); label("\textsf{0}\qquad\textsf{l}\qquad\textsf{2}\qquad\textsf{3}\qquad\textsf{4}\qquad\textsf{5}\qquad\textsf{6}\qquad\textsf{7}\qquad\textsf{8}\qquad\textsf{9}",(0,20)); [/asy]

(a) The vertices of a regular $10$-gon are painted in turn black and white. Two people play the following game . Each in turn draws a diagonal connecting two vertices of the same colour . These diagonals must not intersect . The winner is the player who is able to make the last move. Who will win if both players adopt the best strategy? (b) Answer the same question for the regular $12$-gon . (V.G. Ivanov)

A loader has two carts. One of them can carry up to 8 kg, and another can carry up to 9 kg. A finite number of sacks with sand lie in a storehouse. It is known that their total weight is more than 17 kg, while each sack weighs not more than 1 kg. What maximum weight of sand can the loader carry on his two carts, regardless of particular weights of sacks? [i]Author: M.Ivanov, D.Rostovsky, V.Frank[/i]

For a positive integer $n$ not divisible by $211$, let $f(n)$ denote the smallest positive integer $k$ such that $n^k - 1$ is divisible by $211$. Find the remainder when $$\sum_{n=1}^{210} nf(n)$$ is divided by $211$. [i]Proposed by ApraTrip[/i]

Let $a$ be a real number. Determine all functions $f: R \to R$ with $f (f (x) + y) = f (x^2 - y) + af (x) y$ for all $x, y \in R$. (Walther Janous)

Polynomial $P(x)$ with degree $n \geq 3$ has $n$ real roots $x_1 < x_2 < x_3 <...< x_n$, such that $x_2-x_1<x_3-x_2<....<x_n-x_{n-1}$. Prove that the maximum of the function $y=|P(x)|$ where $x$ is on the interval $[ x_1, x_n ]$, is in the interval $[x_n-1, x_n]$.

Let $*$ denote a binary operation on a set $S$ with the property that $$(w*x)*(y*z) = w * z$$ for all $w,x,y,z\in S.$ Show (a) If $a*b=c,$ then $c*c = c.$ (b) If $a*b=c,$ then $a*x=c*x$ for all $x\in S.$

Several players try out for the USAMTS basketball team, and they all have integer heights and weights when measured in centimeters and pounds, respectively. In addition, they all weigh less in pounds than they are tall in centimeters. All of the players weigh at least $190$ pounds and are at most $197$ centimeters tall, and there is exactly one player with every possible height-weight combination. The USAMTS wants to field a competitive team, so there are some strict requirements. [list] [*] If person $P$ is on the team, then anyone who is at least as tall and at most as heavy as $P$ must also be on the team. [*] If person $P$ is on the team, then no one whose weight is the same as $P$’s height can also be on the team. [/list] Assuming the USAMTS team can have any number of members (including zero), how many different basketball teams can be constructed?

Let $ABC$ be a triangle, $I$ its incenter and $I_a$ its $A$-excenter. Let $\omega$ be its circuncircle and $D$ be the intersection of $AI$ and $\omega$. Let some line $r$ through $D$ cut $BC$ in $E$ and $\omega$ in $F$. The lines $IE$ and $I_aE$ intersect $I_aF$ and $IF$ in $P$ and $Q$, respectively. Furthermore, the circles $PII_a$ and $QII_a$ intersect $I_aE$ and $IE$ in $R$ and $S$, respectively. Prove that there is a circle passing through $F,E,R$ and $S$.

A number of robots are placed on the squares of a finite, rectangular grid of squares. A square can hold any number of robots. Every edge of each square of the grid is classified as either passable or impassable. All edges on the boundary of the grid are impassable. You can give any of the commands up, down, left, or right. All of the robots then simultaneously try to move in the specified direction. If the edge adjacent to a robot in that direction is passable, the robot moves across the edge and into the next square. Otherwise, the robot remains on its current square. You can then give another command of up, down, left, or right, then another, for as long as you want. Suppose that for any individual robot, and any square on the grid, there is a finite sequence of commands that will move that robot to that square. Prove that you can also give a finite sequence of commands such that all of the robots end up on the same square at the same time.

show there exist positive constants $c_1$ and $c_2$ such that for any $n\geq 3$, whenever $T_1$ and $T_2$ are two trees on the set of vertices $X = \{1, 2, ..., n\}$, there exists a function $f : X \to \{-1, +1\}$ for which $$\bigg | \sum_ {x \in P} f (x) \bigg | <c_1 \log n$$ for any path P that is a subgraph of $T_1$ or $T_2$ , but with an upper bound $c_2 \log n / \log \log n$ the statement is no longer true.

[b](a)[/b] Does there exist a positive integer $n$ such that the decimal representation of $n!$ ends with the string $2004$, followed by a number of digits from the set $\left\{0;\;4\right\}$ ? [b](b)[/b] Does there exist a positive integer $n$ such that the decimal representation of $n!$ starts with the string $2004$ ?

Find all positive integers $a,b$ such that $\frac{a^2+b}{b^2-a}$ and $\frac{b^2+a}{a^2-b}$ are also integers.

If $k$ and $n$ are positive integers, prove the inequality $$\frac{1}{kn} +\frac{1}{kn+1} +...+\frac{1}{(k+1)n-1} \ge n \left(\sqrt[n]{\frac{k+1}{k}}-1\right)$$

Consider a $ n\times n $ square grid which is divided into $ n^2 $ unit squares(think of a chess-board). The set of all unit squares intersecting the main diagonal of the square or lying under it is called an $n$-staircase. Find the number of ways in which an $n$-stair case can be partitioned into several rectangles, with sides along the grid lines, having mutually distinct areas.

Let \( n \geq 4 \) be an integer. Show that at a party of \( n \) people, it is possible for each person to have greeted exactly three other people if and only if \( n \) is even.

Find the sum of all positive integers $n$ for which $\mid 2^n + 5^n - 65 \mid$ is a perfect square.

A [i]stick[/i] is defined as a $1 \times k$ or $k\times 1$ rectangle for any integer $k \ge 1$. We wish to partition the cells of a $2022 \times 2022$ chessboard into $m$ non-overlapping sticks, such that any two of these $m$ sticks share at most one unit of perimeter. Determine the smallest $m$ for which this is possible. [i]Holden Mui[/i]

Let $S = \{1,2,\dots,2014\}$. For each non-empty subset $T \subseteq S$, one of its members is chosen as its representative. Find the number of ways to assign representatives to all non-empty subsets of $S$ so that if a subset $D \subseteq S$ is a disjoint union of non-empty subsets $A, B, C \subseteq S$, then the representative of $D$ is also the representative of one of $A$, $B$, $C$. [i]Warut Suksompong, Thailand[/i]

There are 20 towns on the bay of a circular island. Each town has 20 teams for a mathematical duel. No two of these teams are of equal strength. When two teams meet in a duel, the stronger one wins. For a given number $n\in \mathbb{N}$ one town $A$ can be called [i]“n-stronger”[/i] than $B$, if there exist $n$ different duels between a team from $A$ and team from $B$, for which the team from $A$ wins. Find the maximum value of $n$, for which it is possible for each town to be [i]n-stronger[/i] by its neighboring one clockwise.

Two points $K$ and $L$ are chosen inside triangle $ABC$ and a point $D$ is chosen on the side $AB$. Suppose that $B$, $K$, $L$, $C$ are concyclic, $\angle AKD = \angle BCK$ and $\angle ALD = \angle BCL$. Prove that $AK = AL$.

Determine the smallest positive real number $r$ such that there exist differentiable functions $f: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ and $g: \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ satisfying (a) $f(0)>0$, (b) $g(0)=0$, (c) $\left|f^{\prime}(x)\right| \leq|g(x)|$ for all $x$, (d) $\left|g^{\prime}(x)\right| \leq|f(x)|$ for all $x$, and (e) $f(r)=0$.