Phu Quoc - Hong Phuong - Duc Nhat - Ngoc Lien Discrete Extremal Principle

Elementary Algebra
DISCRETE EXTREMAL PRICIPLE

Exercise 1. n students are standing in a field such that the distance between each pair is distinct.
Each student is holding a ball, when the teacher says: “Throw!”, each student throws their ball to
the nearest student. Prove that there is a pair of students that throw their balls to each other.

Exercise 2. n students are standing in a field such that the distance between each pair is distinct.
Each student is holding a ball, when the teacher says: “Throw!”, each student throws their ball to
the nearest student. Prove that any student can not receive more than 5 balls from other students.

Exercise 3. Consider an infinite chessboard, the squares of which have been filled with positive
integers. Each of these integers is the average of four of its neighbors (above, below, left, right).
Show that all the integers are equal.

Exercise 4. There are finitely many red and blue points on a plane with the property: every line
segment that joins two points of the same color contains a point of another color. Prove that all
the points lie on a single straight line.

Exercise 5. Given 2n distinct points on a circle including n red points and n blue points (n ≥ 2).
Prove that there exists:

a) A way to join all the red points to all the blue points by n line segments such that no 2 line
segments cross.

b) A way to join all the red points to all the blue points by n line segments such that every 2
line segments cross.

Exercise 6. Given n(n ≥ 3) points on the plane such that the line joining any two of them passes
through a third point of the set. Prove that they all lie on a line.

Exercise 7. Given n(n ≥ 3) lines on the plane such that every 2 lines cross and each intersection
point has no less than 3 lines passing through it. Prove that all the lines pass through 1 point.

Exercise 8. Prove that for all integer n > 1, 2n − 1 is not divisible by n.

Exercise 9. Given n(n ≥ 3) points on the plane such that each 3 points are not collinear. Prove
that there exists a circle passing through 3 points and has no point inside it.

Exercise 10. Prove there are infinitely many primes of the form 6n + 5.

Exercise 11. There are 20 countries on a planet. Among any three of these countries there are
always two without diplomatic relations. Prove that there are at most 200 embassies on the planet.

Exercise 12. There are n identical cars on a circular track. Together they have just enough gas
for one car to complete a lap. Show that there is a car which can complete a lap by collecting gas
from the other cars on its way around.

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Phu Quoc - Hong Phuong - Duc Nhat - Ngoc Lien Discrete Extremal Principle

Exercise 13. 2n + 1 persons are placed in the plane such that their mutual distances are distinct.
Then everybody shoots their nearest neighbour. Prove the following statements:

(a) At least one person survives.

(b) Nobody is hit by more than five bullets.

(c) The paths of the bullets do not cross.

Exercise 14. Given that n positive numbers x1 , x2 , . . . , xn such that x1 + . . . + xn = 1. Find the
maximum value of
A = x1 x2 + x2 x3 + . . . + xn−1 xn

Exercise 15. Let a, b, c ∈ [0; 1]. Find the maximum value of

a b c
F = + + + (1 − a)(1 − b)(1 − c).
b+c+1 a+c+1 a+b+1
Exercise 16. Let a, b, c be positive integers such that a + b + c = 7. Find the minimum value of
B(a, b, c) = a2 + 2b2 + 3c2 .

Exercise 17. Let m, d be integers and m ≥ d ≥ 2. Given that x1 , x2 , ..., xd are integer variables
such that x1 + x2 + . . . + xd = m. Find the minimum value of

S = x21 + x22 + . . . + x2d

Exercise 18. Let m, d be integers and m > 3. Given that x1 , x2 , ..., xd are integer variables such
that x1 x2 . . . xd = m. Find the maximum value of

S = x31 + x32 + . . . + x3d

Exercise 19. Let m, d be integers and m ≥ d ≥ 2. Given that x1 , x2 , ..., xd are integer variables
such that x1 + x2 + . . . + xd = m. Find the minimum value of
d
X
S= kxk
k=1

Exercise 20. Given that x1 ,x2 , . . . , xd are integer variables such that x1 x2 . . . xd = d!. Find the
maximum value of
S = x51 + x52 + . . . + x5d

Exercise 21. Let m, d be integers and m ≥ d ≥ 2. Given that x1 , x2 , ..., xd are integer variables
such that x1 + x2 + . . . + xd = m. Find the maximum value of
X
S= xi xj
1≤i<j≤d

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Phu Quoc - Hong Phuong - Duc Nhat - Ngoc Lien Discrete Extremal Principle

Exercise 22. Let k ∈ N, k ≥ 3, x, y, z ∈ N ∗ such that x + y + z = k. Find the maximum value of

S = xyz

Exercise 23. Let a, b, c be positive integers such that a + b + c = 2009. Find the minimum value
of
a b c
A (a, b, c) = + +
b+c c+a a+b
Exercise 24. Let a1 , a2 , ..., ad , a, b1 , b2 , ..., bd be positive constant and x1 , x2 , ..., xd be non-negative
d
X
variables such that ak xk = a. Find the minimum and maximum values of
k=1

d
X
S= bk x k
k=1
.

Exercise 25. Let a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 satisfy the following conditions:

(i) 2ai is a positive integer for i = 1,¯5.

(ii) a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + a5 = 99.

Find the maximum value of P = a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 .

Exercise 26. Find all positive integers x, y such that y | (3x + 1) and x | (3y + 1).

Exercise 27. Find the prime numbers a, b, c such that abc < ab + ac + bc.

Exercise 28. Given 7 segments with length be an integer li (1 < li < 13). Prove that we can
choose 3 segments to form a triangle.

Exercise 29. Let a, b, c, d be pairwise distinct real number. Solve the following system of equation:


 |a − b|y + |a − c|z + |a − d|t = 1
|b − a|x + |b − c|z + |b − d|t = 1

(1)

 |c − a|x + |c − b|y + |c − d|t = 1
|d − a|x + |d − b|y + |d − c|z = 1


Exercise 30. Let a1 , a2 , ..., ad , b1 , b2 , ..., bd be positive constants and x1 , x2 , ..., xd be non-negative
d
X xk
variables such that = 1. Find the minimum of
k=1
a k

d
X
A= bk x k
k=1

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Phu Quoc - Hong Phuong - Duc Nhat - Ngoc Lien Discrete Extremal Principle

Exercise 31. Let a, b, c be the length of 3 sides of a triangle. Prove that:

a2 b(a − b) + b2 c(b − c) + c2 a(c − a) ≥ 0

Exercise 32. Find 12 integers such that their sum equals their product.

Exercise 33. Find positive integers x, y, z, t such that 5(x + y + z + t) + 10 = 2xyzt.

Exercise 34. Let ABC be a triangle. Let A1 , B1 , C1 be points on sides BC, AC, AB where the
length of each side AA1 , BB1 , CC1 is not greater than 1. Show that
1
S4ABC ≤ √
3
Exercise 35. Find positive integer x, y, z such thatxyz = 9 + x + y + z.

Exercise 36. Le a, b be two positive integers such that b ≤ a. Noticing that, there exist a pair of
positive integer (u, v) such that u2 + v 2 − auv = b. Prove that p is a perfect square.

Exercise 37 (Schur’s Inequality). Let a, b, c be positive integers and r be a real number, r ≥ 1.

Prove that:
r r
a (a − b)(a − c) + b (b − c)(b − a) + cr (c − a)(c − b) ≥ 0

Exercise 38. a) Let a1, a2, ..., an > 0. Show that:

a1 +a2 +...+an
aa11 aa22 . . . aann ≥ (a1 a2 . . . an ) n

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b) Let x, y, z ≥ 0 and x + y + z = 1. Show that 0 ≤ xy + yz + zx − 3xyz ≤ 4