Things to Remember for IOQM and some Problems - TRIP

interloop#0691
April 6, 2023

This document is somewhat of a handout, somewhat of a last-moment revision sheet with problems from AMC,
AIME, HMMT, SMT and a few others to do in your free time. This is not meant as a complete preparation
guide to prepare for IOQM, AIME or any such examination. It is merely a trip, and not a settlement program,
if I may say so, through the beautiful lands of Olympia.

Author’s Note: It is not our fault if you thought this was a tour of Olympus, the land of the gods. You
will not be allowed to refund gained knowledge, if any. Sorry.

Also, you may wonder why Number Theory, of all the 4 topics has not been included. I’ll tell you why.
Number Theory doesn’t really have many theorems (if there are, I guess they’re just ingrained into me) at
this level, and I couldn’t think of sensible partitions apart from just modular arithmetic and divisibility, so
yeah. Just go solve some problems. I may add NT in the future, so here is the declaration:
DRAFT 1 (draft 2 will maybe have the problem statements, but I’m lazy)
Even if you are completely new to some topics, and you decide to do all of the problems, if you work dedicat-
edly, you can complete this entire document within about 15 days. Also, the problems I have chosen may
or may not be too hard (I mean, they are for me), so yeah, please tell me if you think so. Any feedback is
appreciated!

To add:

1. Hyperlinks to problems, or problem text

2. Number Theory - especially Diophantine Equations
3. Maybe PuMaC
Contests and Abbreviations:

• AMC - American Mathematics Competition

• AIME - American Invitational Mathematics Examination
• BMT - Berkeley Math Tournament

• SMT - Stanford Math Tournament

• HMMT - Harvard-MIT Math Tournament
• HMNT - Harvard-MIT Math November Tournament
• RMO - Regional Mathematics Olympiad (India)

• INMO - Indian National Mathematics Olympiad

• IOQM - Indian Olympiad Qualifier in Mathematics

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§ Algebra

The Basics:
Let P (x) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + ... + a1 x + a0 . Then:
• The number of roots of the polynomial is n, although some may be identical.
• If there are n + 1 roots, the polynomial is identically 0.
• P (x) = an (x − r1 )(x − r2 )...(x − rn ), where ri is the ith root of this polynomial.
• When P (x) is divided by x − k, the remainder is P (k).
• If P (x) has a rational root ± pq , then p is a divisor of a0 , and q is a divisor of an .
• Complex roots of this polynomial come in conjugates, hence the number of complex
roots is even.

Problems:
• AMC 12A 2017/23
• AIME 1984/15
• AIME 1988/13
• AIME I 2004/7
• AIME I 2007/8
• AIME I 2010/6
• AIME I 2011/9
• AIME I 2013/5
• AIME I 2016/11
• AIME II 2018/6
• BMT Algebra 2020/3
• BMT Algebra 2021/9

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Viete’s Theorem:
Let P (x) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + ... + a1 x + a0 . Then:
an−k
σk = (−1)k
an
where σk is the kth elementary symmetric sum of the roots of P (x).

Problems:
• AIME 1993/5
• AIME 1996/5
• AIME I 2005/8
• AIME II 2008/7
• AIME II 2010/10
• AIME I 2011/15
• AIME I 2014/5
• AIME I 2014/9
• AIME I 2015/10
• AIME I 2020/14
• SMT Algebra 2010/10
• SMT Algebra 2011/3
• SMT Algebra 2019/8
• SMT Algebra 2022/10
• SMT General 2018/25

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Algebraic Manipulation Expressions and/or Newton’s expressions:

• a2 + b2 + c2 = u2 − 2v
• a3 + b3 + c3 = u(u2 − 3v) + 3w
• a2 b2 + b2 c2 + c2 a2 = v 2 − 2vw
• a4 + b4 + c4 = (u2 − 2v)2 − 2(v 2 − 2vw) = u4 − 4u2 v + 2v 2 + 4uw
• (a + b)(b + c)(c + a) = a2 b + a2 c + b2 a + b2 c + c2 a + c2 b + 2abc = uv − w
∑
• cyc ab(a + b) = uv − 3w
• (1 + a)(1 + b)(1 + c) = 1 + u + v + w
∑
• cyc (1 + a)(1 + b) = 3 + 2u + v
• (1 + a2 )(1 + b2 )(1 + c2 ) = u2 + v 2 + w2 − 2uw − 2v + 1

Problems:
• AIME II 2003/9
• AIME II 2015/6
• AIME II 2015/14
• AIME I 2019/8
• RMO 2013/2
• INMO 1991/2
• BMT Algebra 2019/7

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Binomial Theorem:
( ) ( )
n n n n−1 n
(x + y) = x + x y + ... + xy n−1 + y n
1 n−1

Problems:
• AIME 1986/11
• AIME I 2001/3
• AIME I 2018/11
• SMT Team 2013/4
• HMMT Guts 2014/28
• HMMT November Guts 2011/28
• BMT Algebra 2018/8

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The Discriminant:
The discriminant of a quadratic ax2 + bx + c is b2 − 4ac, and of a cubic is 18abcd −
4b3 d + b2 c2 − 4ac3 − 27a2 d2 .
• If the discriminant is 0, then the roots are equal.
• If the discriminant is greater than 0, two distinct real roots exist, else no real roots
exist.
• If and only if the discriminant is a perfect square, the roots of this equation are
rational.

Problems:
• AIME II 2000/13
• SMT General 2012/25
• HMMT Algebra 2008/9
• HMNT Team 2011/2
• HMNT Guts 2012/28
• HMMT Guts 2015/9

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Sums of Squares:
If ai ∈ R, and ni ∈ R+ , then:
n1 a21 + n2 a22 + . . . + nk a2k ≥ 0

AM-GM-HM Inequality:
For ai ∈ R+ , we have:
a1 + a2 + . . . + an √ n
≥ n a1 a2 . . . an ≥ 1 1 1
n a1
+ a2
+ ... + an

with equality holding when a1 = a2 = . . . = an .

Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality:
For any ai ∈ R and bi ∈ R ̸= 0, we have:
a21 a22 a2n
(b1 + b2 + . . . bn )( + + . . . + ) ≥ (a1 + a2 + . . . + an )2
b1 b2 bn

Problems:
• PRMO 2018/23
• AIME II 2011/9
• AIME II 2016/15
• SMT General 2011/25
• SMT Algebra 2012/9
• SMT Algebra 2014/6
• SMT Algebra 2021/9
• SMT Guts 2021/30
• HMMT Algebra 2005/7
• HMNT Guts 2008/21
• HMMT Guts 2010/27
• HMMT Guts 2014/16
• HMNT Guts 2018/32

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Systems of Equations:
Methods to solve systems are somewhat like this:
• Substitution of variables for other variables, and weird sub
• Elimination
• Notice factorizations, and add or subtract to factor
• Use operations on the equations in general to get nice terms
• Try to find other ways to express the system, and use your imagination (example:
geometric)

Problems:
• AIME 1984/15
• AIME 1990/15
• AIME I 2008/14
• AIME I 2010/9
• AIME I 2022/15
• SMT Team 2001/4
• SMT Algebra 2018/9
• SMT General 2022/11
• HMMT Guts 2006/20
• HMMT Guts 2010/26
• HMMT Guts 2011/17
• HMMT Guts 2020/16
• HMMT Algebra 2015/10

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Progressions:
An arithmetic progression is one in which the successive terms differ by a common
difference. It usually helps to write the terms down as a, a + d, a + 2d, and so on. Also
note that the sum of the first and third terms is 2 times the second term.

Similarly, a geometric progression is one in which the successive terms have a

common ratio between them. It usually helps to write the terms down as a, ar, ar2 ,
and so on. Also note that the product of the first and third term is the square of the
second term. The sum of n terms of a GP is given by:
1 − rn
Sn = a ·
1−r

Telescoping Series:
Reduce a fractional term of a sum to partial fractions, such that the middle terms
cancel, leaving the first and last terms (telescoping can also, in general refer to cancelling
summations or products):
∑
n
1
n ∑1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
= − = − + − ... − + − =1−
i=1
i(i + 1) i=1
i i+1 1 2 2 n n n+1 n+1

Problems:
• AIME II 2016/9
• AMT Advanced 2011/2
• SMT Algebra 2018/2
• SMT Algebra 2018/5
• SMT General 2018/25
• SMT Algebra Tiebreaker 2022/3
• HMMT Guts 2002/36
• HMMT Team B 2010/5
• HMNT Team 2013/10
• HMMT Algebra 2016/5
• HMMT Algebra-NT 2019/5
• BMT Algebra 2020/6
• BMT Algebra 2022/3

I didn’t get to use the classic and neat telescoping only problems :( But oh well, I hope you
have done telescoping before. I should add those neat ones in draft 2.

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§ Geometry

Ideas in Geometry:
• Extending the median
• Congruence and Rotations
• Similarity
• Areas Ratios and Area Theorems - Let s be half of the perimeter of a polygon:
√
[△ABC] = s(s − a)(s − b)(s − c)
√ ( )
∠B + ∠D
[P QRS] = (s − a)(s − b)(s − c)(s − d) − abcd cos 2
2

• Mass Points

Problems:
• AIME 1986/9
• AIME 1988/12
• AIME II 2002/13
• AIME I 2003/15
• HMMT Geo 2001/9
• HMMT Geo 2006/5
• HMMT Guts 2013/23
• HMNT Guts 2018/11
• HMNT Guts 2019/16
• SMT Geo 2006/10
• SMT Geo 2013/9
• BMT Geo 2018/9
• BMT Geo 2020/7
• BMT Geo 2020/8

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Thales Theorem:
Suppose that line EF , with E on AB and F on AC in △ABC is parallel to BC. Then:
AE AF EF
= =
AB AC BC
The converse of this theorem also holds.

Midpoint Theorem:
The line connecting two midpoints of a triangle is parallel to the base of the triangle,
and it is equal to one half of that base.

I’m going to be very honest, I have no explicit problems about these theorems in particular.
You just have to know when to use them, and it is pretty obvious too. I have one from Thales
though.

Problems:
• SMT Geo 2022/6

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The Cosine Rule:

In △ABC:
a2 = b2 + c2 − 2bc cos A

The Sine Rule:

In △ABC:
a b c
= = = 2R
sin A sin B sin C
where R is the circumradius of triangle ABC.

Problems:
• AIME II 2003/14
• AIME II 2004/13
• AIME I 2005/15
• AIME II 2006/12
• AIME I 2007/15
• AIME II 2011/10
• SMT Team 2001/15
• SMT Geo 2021/8
• SMT Geo 2021/10
• HMMT Guts February 2006/30
• HMNT Guts 2012/25
• HMMT Guts 2018/26
• HMNT Team 2018/6
• HMMT Geo 2017/5
• BMT Geo 2021/9

Basically all AIME geometry problems are trig-bashable, especially ones before 2010-ish. I’ve
only included the harder problems, and more on the Sine Rule. There are tons of this type of
problems out there, and trigbash is the second coolest bash (the first being complex ofc :P).

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Ratio Lemma / Angle Bisector Theorem:

In △ABC, let D be a point on BC. Then:
BD AB sin ∠BAD
= ·
CD AC sin ∠CAD
or without specifications for D:
sin ∠BAD sin ∠ABD BD sin ∠ABD sin ∠BCD
= · = ·
sin ∠CAD sin ∠ACD CD sin ∠ACD sin ∠CBD

Problems:
• AIME I 2002/10
• AIME II 2010/15
• SMT Geo 2018/6
• SMT Geo 2018/8
• SMT General 2021/12
• HMMT Geo 2020/8
• HMMT Guts 2018/26
• HMNT Guts 2018/33
• BMT Geo 2022/6

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Ceva and Menelaus:

In △ABC let D, E, F be points. Then AD, BE, and CF concur iff:
AF BD CE sin ∠BAD sin ∠CBE sin ∠ACF
· · = 1 or · · =1
F B DC EA sin ∠CAD sin ∠ABE sin ∠BCF
Similarly D − E − F are collinear iff:
AF BD CE
· · = −1
F B DC EA

Problems:
• AIME 1989/15
• SMT Geo 2011/4
• SMT Geo 2018/9
• SMT Geo 2020/7
• HMMT Geo 2009/10
• HMMT Guts 2004/31
• HMMT Guts 2006/41
• HMMT Guts 2008/24
• HMMT Guts 2013/23

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Stewart’s Theorem:
Let a, b, c denote the lengths of the sides of a triangle. Let there be a cevian intersecting
a such that the lengths formed are m and n to the sides of c and b. Let d be the length
of the cevian. Then:
man + dad = bmb + cnc

Problems:
• AMC 10A 2013/23
• AMC 12B 2021/24
• AIME II 2013/13
• SMT Geo 2007/9
• SMT Geo 2020/10
• HMMT Guts 2012/22
• HMMT Guts 2018/20
• HMNT Guts 2019/29
• HMMT Geo 2016/9

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Inscribed Angle Theorem:

The angle at the center of the circle is twice the angle formed by the same two points
on the circumference.

Cyclicity:
A quadrilateral ABCD is cyclic if and only if:
• ∠A + ∠C = 180◦
• ∠ABD = ∠ACD

Tangents:
Suppose triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle with center O, and let P A be a tangent
to the circle at A, and P D be the second tangent from P . Then:
• OA ⊥ P A
• PA = PD
• ∠BAP = ∠ACB

Problems:
• AIME II 2018/14
• SMT Geo 2021/6
• SMT Geo 2022/7
• HMNT General 2019/9
• HMMT Geo 2013/10

To be fair, how do you get general problems on this kind of stuff? Like- just no. Go do more
problems. It’s 4 am and I’m not doing more work for you.

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Power of a Point:
Let P be a point outside a circle and let two chords intersect given circle at A, B and
C, D respectively. Let the tangent from P be at X. Let O be the center and r the
radius of this circle. Then:
P A · P B = P C · P D = P X 2 = OP 2 − r2

If P is inside the circle, then let AB and CD be two chords that pass through it. Then:
PA · PB = PC · PD

Problems:
• AIME II 2003/7
• AIME I 2005/15
• AIME II 2016/10
• AIME I 2021/13
• SMT Geo 2010/10
• SMT Geo 2018/8
• SMT Geo 2018/10
• SMT Geo 2019/10
• SMT Team 2022/15
• HMNT Guts 2013/31
• HMNT Guts 2017/24
• HMMT Guts 2020/24
• HMMT Geo 2016/9
• HMMT Geo 2014/8
• BMT Geo 2021/8

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Ptolemy’s Theorem:
In quadrilateral ABCD:
AB · CD + AD · BC ≥ AC · BD
with equality holding when ABCD is cyclic.

Problems:
• AMC 10B 2004/24
• AIME 1994/14
• AIME 2001/13
• AIME I 2023/5
• SMT Geo 2010/10
• SMT Geo 2014/9
• HMMT Geo 2009/9
• HMNT General 2018/8
• HMMT Guts 2020/24

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§ Combinatorics

Techniques:
• Addition and Multiplication Principle
• Systematic Casework
• Complementation Principle
• Bijection Principle
• Distributions, Stars-and-Bars
• Working backwards (especially in grids)

Problems:
• AMC 10A 2017/25
• AIME I 2005/13
• AIME I 2009/10
• AIME I 2010/12
• AIME II 2012/14
• AIME II 2013/11
• AIME I 2014/12
• AIME I 2018/14
• AIME II 2018/8
• AIME II 2018/10
• AIME I 2020/9
• AIME II 2022/9
• AIME I 2023/14
• AIME II 2023/10

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Inclusion-Exclusion Principle:
If (Ai )1≤i≤n are finite sets:
∑
n ∑ ∑
|∪ni=1 Ai | = |Ai | − |Ai ∩ Aj | + |Ai ∩ Aj ∩ Ak | − . . . + (−1)n−1 |A1 ∩ . . . ∩ An |
i=1 i<j i<j<k

Derangements:
A derangement is a permutation with no fixed points. The number of derangements for
n objects is given by the recursion:
Dn = n · Dn−1 + (−1)n

and the formula:

∑
n
(−1)k
Dn = n!
k=0
k!

Problems:
• AMC 10A 2021/20
• AIME I 2017/12
• AIME II 2020/9
• AIME II 2021/6
• SMT Geo TB 2012/2
• SMT Advanced 2013/6
• SMT Team 2014/5
• SMT Discrete 2019/9
• HMNT Team 2011/7
• HMMT Combi 2018/9
• HMMT Guts 2010/32
• HMNT Guts 2013/21

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Pigeonhole Principle:
If there are exactly nk + 1 objects, to be distributed into k holes, then one of the holes
must have at least n + 1 objects.

Problems:
• AIME 1986/12
• HMMT Combi 2010/10
• HMMT Guts 2011/19
• HMMT Geo-Combi 2011/19
• HMMT Combi 2020/3
• IOQM A 2022/12

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Recursion:
When you’ve got something for n, and you can get that easily from n − 1, this is what
you call it. Solve that relation and get the general term for n.

Problems:
• AMC 12A 2007/25
• AIME I 2001/14
• AIME I 2006/11
• AIME II 2015/12
• AIME II 2016/12
• AIME I 2018/14
• AIME II 2018/11
• AIME II 2022/9
• SMT Team 2009/4
• SMT General 2019/25
• SMT Combi 2021/9
• SMT Guts 2021/20
• HMMT Guts 2016/31
• HMMT Guts 2018/28
• HMNT Team 2015/6
• HMMT Team 2016/6

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