ASL

ft.n’t geo

Aayam Mathur
September 2022

§1 Algebra
Problem 1.1 (Singapore 2014/3). Let 0 < a1 < a2 < · · · < an be real numbers. Prove
that
 2
1 1 1 1 1 1
+ + ··· + ≤ + + ··· + .
1 + a1 1 + a2 1 + an a1 a2 − a1 an − an−1
Problem 1.2 (China TST 2017/4). Find out all the integer pairs (m, n) such that there
exist two monic polynomials P (x) and Q(x) ,with deg P = m and deg Q = n,satisfy that

P (Q(t)) ̸= Q(P (t))

holds for any real number t.

Problem 1.3. Are there two distinct non-constant polynomials p and q such that

p(1), p(2), p(3), = q(1), q(2), q(3), .

Problem 1.4 (China southeastern 2015/8). Find all prime number p such that there
exists an integer-coefficient polynomial f (x) = xp−1 + ap−2 xp−2 + . . . + a1 x + a0 that has
p − 1 consecutive positive integer roots and p2 | f (i)f (−i), where i is the imaginary unit.
Problem 1.5 (China western 2017/8). Let a1 , a2 , · · · , an > 0 (n ≥ 2). Prove that
n n
X n X
max{a1 , a2 , · · · , ai } · min{ai , ai+1 , · · · , an } ≤ √ a2i
i=1
2 n − 1 i=1

Problem 1.6 (IMO 2010/6). Let a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . be a sequence of positive real numbers,

and s be a positive integer, such that

an = max{ak + an−k | 1 ≤ k ≤ n − 1} for all n > s.

Prove there exist positive integers ℓ ≤ s and N , such that

an = aℓ + an−ℓ for all n ≥ N.

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Problem 1.7 (Shortlist 2007 A6). Let a1 , a2 , . . . , a100 be nonnegative real numbers such
that a21 + a22 + . . . + a2100 = 1. Prove that
12
a21 · a2 + a22 · a3 + . . . + a2100 · a1 <
.
25
Problem 1.8 (K oz episkolai Matematikai es Fizikai Lapok, March 2011,). Prove that
there exist a real number c > 0 such that whenever each of the numbers a0 , a1 , , an are 1
or 1 and the polynomial (x1)k divides the polynomial a0 + + an xn then k < c(ln(n + 1))2 .
.

§2 NT
Problem 2.1 (Turkey EGMO TST 2016/6). Prove that for every square-free integer
n > 1, there exists a prime number p and an integer m satisfying
p|n and n | p2 + p · mp .
Problem 2.2 (Turkey Second Round 2010/5). For integers a and b with 0 ≤ a, b < 201018
let S be the set of all polynomials in the form of P (x) = ax2 + bx. For a polynomial P
in S, if for all integers n with 0 ≤ n < 201018 there exists a polynomial Q in S satisfying
Q(P (n)) ≡ n (mod 201018 ), then we call P as a good polynomial. Find the number of
good polynomials.
Problem 2.3 (EGMO 2022/3). An infinite sequence of positive integers a1 , a2 , . . . is
called good if (1) a1 is a perfect square, and (2) for any integer n ≥ 2, an is the smallest
positive integer such that
na1 + (n − 1)a2 + · · · + 2an−1 + an
is a perfect square. Prove that for any good sequence a1 , a2 , . . . , there exists a positive
integer k such that an = ak for all integers n ≥ k.
Problem 2.4 (Singapore 2022/5). Let n ≥ 2 be a positive integer. For any integer a, let
Pa (x) denote the polynomial xn + ax. Let p be a prime number and define the set Sa as
the set of residues mod p that Pa (x) attains. That is,
Sa = {b | 0 ≤ b ≤ p − 1, and there is c such that Pa (c) ≡ b (mod p)}.
p−1
1 P
Show that the expression p−1 |Sa | is an integer.
a=1
Problem 2.5 (Balkan SL 2007 N5). Let p ≥ 5 be a prime and let
n
qiβi
Y
p
(p − 1) + 1 =
i=1

where qi are primes. Prove,

n
X
qi βi > p2
i=1

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Aayam Mathur (September 2022) ASL

Problem 2.6 (Romania TST 2018/4). Given an non-negative integer k, show that there
are infinitely many positive integers n such that the product of any n consecutive integers
is divisible by (n + k)2 + 1.
Problem 2.7 (Romania TST 2017/8). Given a positive odd integer n, show that the
2n
arithmetic mean of fractional parts { kp }, k = 1, ..., p−1
2 is the same for infinitely many
primes p .

§3 Combo
Problem 3.1 (Turkey JBMO TST 2013/3). Two players A and B play a game with a
ball and n boxes placed onto the vertices of a regular n-gon where n is a positive integer.
Initially, the ball is hidden in a box by player A. At each step, B chooses a box, then
player A says the distance of the ball to the selected box to player B and moves the ball
to an adjacent box. If B finds the ball, then B wins. Find the least number of steps for
which B can guarantee to win.
Problem 3.2 (239 2013/8.4). We are given a graph G with n edges. For each edge, we
write down the lesser degree of two vertices at the end of that edge. Prove that the sum
√
of the resulting n numbers is at most 100n n.
Problem 3.3 (Turkey Second round 2019/5). Let f : {1, 2, . . . , 2019} → {−1, 1} be a
function, such that for every k ∈ {1, 2, . . . , 2019}, there exists an ℓ ∈ {1, 2, . . . , 2019}
such that X
f (i) ⩽ 0.
i∈Z:(ℓ−i)(i−k)⩾0

Determine the maximum possible value of

X
f (i).
i∈Z:1⩽i⩽2019

Problem 3.4 (239 2012/10.7). Vasya conceived a two-digit number a, and Petya is
trying to guess it. To do this, he tells Vasya a natural number k, and Vasya tells Petya
the sum of the digits of the number ka. What is the smallest number of questions that
Petya has to ask so that he can certainly be able to determine Vasya’s number?
Problem 3.5 (239 2015/8.5). Edges of a complete graph with 2m vertices are properly
colored with 2m − 1 colors. It turned out that for any two colors all the edges colored in
one of these two colors can be described as union of several 4-cycles. Prove that m is a
power of 2.
Problem 3.6 (Singapore 2019/3). A robot is placed at point P on the x-axis but
different from (0, 0) and (1, 0) and can only move along the axis either to the left or to
the right. Two players play the following game. Player A gives a distance and B gives a
direction and the robot will move the indicated distance along the indicated direction.
Player A aims to move the robot to either (0, 0) or (1, 0). Player B’s aim is to stop A
from achieving his aim. For which P can A win?

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Aayam Mathur (September 2022) ASL

Problem 3.7 (239 2016/9.8). There are n triangles inscribed in a circle and all 3n of
their vertices are different. Prove that it is possible to put a boy in one of the vertices in
each triangle, and a girl in the other, so that boys and girls alternate on a circle.

Problem 3.8. Consider an n × n grid consisting of n2 until cells, where n ≥ 3 is a given

odd positive integer. First, Dionysus colours each cell either red or blue. It is known that
a frog can hop from one cell to another if and only if these cells have the same colour and
share at least one vertex. Then, Xanthias views the colouring and next places k frogs on
the cells so that each of the n2 cells can be reached by a frog in a finite number (possible
zero) of hops. Find the least value of k for which this is always possible regardless of the
colouring chosen by Dionysus.

Problem 3.9 (239 2017/10.8). Assume that the connected graph G has n vertices all
with degree at least three. Prove that there exists a spanning tree of G with more than
2
9 n leaves.

Problem 3.10 (239 2019/10.8). Given a natural number k > 1. Prove that if through
any edge of the graph G passes less than [e(k − 1)! − 1] simple cycles, then the vertices
of this graph can be colored with k colors in the correct way.

Problem 3.11 (Petersburg 2022/10.7). Given is a graph G of n + 1 vertices, which is

constructed as follows: initially there is only one vertex v, and one a move we can add
a vertex and connect it to exactly one among the previous vertices. The vertices have
non-negative real weights such that v has weight 0 and each other vertex has a weight
not exceeding the avarage weight of its neighbors, increased by 1. Prove that no weight
can exceed n2 .

Problem 3.12 (Singapore 2019/5). In a m × n chessboard (m, n ≥ 2), some dominoes

are placed (without overlap) with each domino covering exactly two adjacent cells. Show
that if no more dominoes can be added to the grid, then at least 2/3 of the chessboard is
covered by dominoes.

Problem 3.13 (China TST 2022/6). Let m be a positive integer, and A1 , A2 , . . . , Am

(not necessarily different) be m subsets of a finite set A. It is known that for any nonempty
subset I of {1, 2 . . . , m}, [ 
Ai  ≥ |I| + 1.
 

i∈I

Show that the elements of A can be colored black and white, so that each of A1 , A2 , . . . , Am
contains both black and white elements.