Problems

Intermediate level
(Last year of middle school and first year of high school)

First Day

Problem 1 [7 points] Let ABCD be a trapezoid with AB parallel to CD and AB ≥ CD. Prove that

AB + AD ≥ BC + CD

and determine all the equality cases.

Problem 2 [7 points] Let x, y be positive real numbers such that x + y = 1. Prove that
x y 1 4
+ + ≥
1+x 1+y 2 3 + 2xy

Problem 3 [7 points] A n-stair is an arrangement of unitary squares placed in n rows, where the bottom
row is formed by n squares, and for every row, the row above it begins in the same column
and has one square less. The following figure shows an example of an n-stair:

.. ..
. .
...

How many different rectangles with vertexes over the vertexes of the squares and a side parallel
to the basis of the n-stair are there? Note: Two rectangles are considered to be different if
they have a different vertex

Second day

Problem 4 [7 points] Find all the integers d such that d2 + 1 divides d + 7

1
Problem 5 [7 points] Prove that if n > 3 is an integer that is not a multiple of 2 nor a multiple of 3,
then it is possible to place n2 chess queens in a n × n board and color them with n colors, in
such a way that there are exactly n queens of each color and any queen does not attack any
other queen having the same color.

Problem 6 [7 points] Let ABC be an acute triangle, Γ it’s circumcircle, O it’s circumcentre and let
a, b, c be the lengths of BC, CA and AB respectively. Let AP and QB be diameters of Γ and
let Z be the intersection of AQ and P C. Prove that
bc
OZ ≥
a

2
 Higher level

(Last two years of high school)

Problem 1 [7 points] Let ABCD be a trapezoid with AB parallel to CD and AB ≥ CD. Prove that

AD + BC > AB − CD ≥ BC − AD

and determine all the equality cases.

Problem 2 [7 points] Let N be a natural number. How many non congruent triangles are there, whose
vertexes lie on the vertexes of a regular 6N -gon?

Problem 3 [7 points] Find all triples (a, b, n) of positive integers such that

ab = 1 + b · · · + bn

Second day

Problem 4 [7 points] Find all functions f from the integers to the integers satisfying

i. f (n)f (−n) = f (n2 )

ii. f (m + n) = f (m) + f (n) + 2mn

Problem 5 [7 points] In the triangle ABC, let P be a point on the segment BC, I1 and I2 be the incenters
of the triangles AP B and AP C, respectively, Γ1 and Γ2 be the circles passing through P and
centered at I1 and I2 respectively. Let Q be the point of intersection Γ1 and Γ2 different from
P . Let X1 , Y1 be the intersection points of Γ1 with AB and BC respectively that are closest
to B and let X2 , Y2 be the intersection points of Γ2 with AC and BC respectively that are
closest to C. Prove that X1 Y1 , X2 Y2 and P Q are concurrent.

set of indexes. For each i ∈ I let

Problem 6 [7 points] Let n be a positive integer and let I be a finiteP
ai be a positive integer such that 1 ≤ ai ≤ n. Assume that i∈I ai ≥ 2(n!). Prove that there
exists J ⊆ I such that X
aj = n!
j∈J

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 Solutions
Intermediate Level

First Day

Problem 1

Let ABCD be a trapezoid with AB parallel to CD and AB ≥ CD. Prove that

AB + AD ≥ BC + CD

and determine all the equality cases.

Solution

Let E be the intersection of AB with the parallel to BC passing through D. BCDE is a

parallelogram so DE = BC and BE = CD. The triangular inequality applied on 4ADE yields
that
BC = DE ≤ AD + AE = AD + (AB − BE) = AD + AB − CD
and the result follows after adding CD on both sides of the equation. The equality holds if and
only if E lies on the segment AD so that ABCD is a parallelogram.

4
 Problem 2

Let x, y be positive real numbers such that x + y = 1. Prove that

x y 1 4
+ + >
1+x 1+y 2 3 + 2xy

Solution 1

Cauchy Schwartz’ inequality implies that

 
x y 1
+ + ((x(1 + y)) + (y(1 + x)) + 2) ≥ (x + y + 1)2
1+x 1+y 2
and so
(x + y + 1)2
 
x y 1 4
+ + ≥ =
1+x 1+y 2 ((x(1 + y)) + (y(1 + x)) + 2) 3 + 2xy
x y 1
as desired. Equality holds if and only if x(y+1)2
= y(x+1)2
= 4 and this is equivalent to x = y = 1
which is imposible since x + y = 1.

Solution 2:

Adding 1 on both sides of the equation the inequality is transformed to

1+x+y 1+x+y 4 3
+ > +
1+y 1+x 3 + 2xy 2
or equivalently
2+x+y 6 17 + 6xy
(1 + x + y) = >
1 + x + y + xy 2 + xy 6 + 4xy

The last inequality does only depend on xy, so let t = xy. The fact that x + y = 1 yields

2 1
0 ≤ t ≤ a+b
2 = 4 and the desired inequality is
6 17 + 6t
>
2+t 6 + 4t
clearing denominators the inequality becomes
0 > 6t2 + 5t − 2
The function 6t2 + 5t − 2 is an increasing function for t ≥ 0, so it suffices to show the inequality
for t = 41 , and in that case the inequality is true.

5
 Problem 3

A n-stair is an arrangement of unitary squares placed in n rows, where the bottom row is formed
by n squares, and for every row, the row above it begins in the same column and has one square
less. The following figure shows an example of an n-stair:

.. ..
. .
...

How many different rectangles with vertexes over the vertexes of the squares and a side parallel
to the basis of the n-stair are there? Note: Two rectangles are considered to be different if they
have a different vertex

Solution

Note that the number of rectangles having a vertex as it’s left bottom corner is the number of
points that are above and to the right of the corner. Let A0 , . . . , An be the vertexes of the left side
column numbered from the upper one to the lower one as shown in the figure below. The number
of rectangles having Ak as the
lower left corner is the number of vertexes that lie above him and
to the right of it, that is k+1 2 , because the vertexes in the required positions form a the upper
right corners of a k-stair. It
follows that
the number
of rectangles that have the leftmost side on
the first column is 22 + 32 + · · · + n+1 n+2


2 = 3 . Anlogously, the number of rectangles having
n+3−k


the leftmost side on the k-th column of vertices is 3 , numbering the columns from the left
to the right and begining at 1. Finally, the total number of rectangles that lie inside the n-stair is
n+2 n+1 3 n+1





3 + 3 + ··· + 3 = 4 .

A1
A2
A3
.. ..
. .
An−1
...
An

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 Second Day

Problem 4

Find all the integers d such that d2 + 1 divides d + 7.

Solution

First of all note that if d + 7 = 0 then d2 + 1 divides d + 7, that is d = −7 is an integer that

works. Assume now that d + 7 6= 0. Since d2 + 1|d + 7 it is true that d2 + 1 ≤ |d + 7| ≤ |d| + 7. It
follows that (|d| − 3)(|d| + 2) ≤ 0 so that |d| ≤ 3. So it remains to try the cases d = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3.
Checking by hand, the solutions obtained are d = 0, d = 1, d = −1, d = −2, d = 3 and d = −7.

7
 Problem 5

Prove that if n > 3 is an integer that is not a multiple of 2 nor a multiple of 3, then it is possible
to place n2 chess queens in an n × n board and color them with n colors, in such a way that there
are exactly n queens of each color and any queen does not attack any other queen having the same
color.

Solution

Let c1 , . . . , cn be the n colors. The indices will be viewed modulo n. Color the i-th row of
the first column on the left with the color ci . Now color the rest of the board using the following
rule. If the color of a square is ci , then the color of the square to the right is ci+2 . After doing so,
it is clear that the queens on every coloumn have distinct colors, and the colors of the queens on
every row are distinct because i, i + 2, . . . , i + 2(n − 2) are all diferent modulo n, since n is odd.
It remains to show that no diagonal has two queens of the same color. The upper right square of
a square that has color ci is colored with ci+1 , thus the colors on a diagonal going up to the right
increase by 1, and since the longest diagonal has length n. The color of a queen lying on a squeare
that lies down to the left of a square that has a queen colored with ci is ci+3 . Since (n, 3) = 1,
i, i + 3, . . . , i + 3(n − 1) are all the residues modulo n, and since the longes diagonal has length n,
the queens on the diagonals going downwards to the right are all distinct. Hence there are not two
queens of the same color attacking each other after such a coloring.

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 Problem 6

Let ABC be an acute triangle, Γ it’s circumcircle, O it’s circumcentre and let a, b, c be the
lengths of BC, CA and AB respectively. Let AP and QB be diameters of Γ and let Z be the
intersection of AQ and P C. Prove that
bc
OZ ≥
a

Solution

The length of the arc P Q is equal to the lenght of the arc AB, so that 6 P AQ = 6 ACB = 6 C.
It is also true that 6 CP A = 6 CBA = 6 B so that the triangles 4ABC and 4ZP A are similar.

The next step is to show that the heigth h of the triangle AP Z from Z is bc
a , and this finishes
the problem because O lies on AP and the distance from Z to O is larger than the distance from Z
to AP that is bc AP h
a . Note that the area of the triangle 4AP Z is 2 and is also equal to the area of
4ABC multiplied by the square of the proportion between the sides of 4ABC and 4ZP A, that

2
is, 2R
a , where R is the circumradius of 4ABC. The area of 4ABC is abc 4R , so the height h is
equal to
2 abc 2R 2 bc
 
=
AP 4R a a

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 Higher Level

First Day

Problem 1

Let ABCD be a trapezoid with AB parallel to CD and AB ≥ CD. Prove that

AD + BC > AB − CD ≥ BC − AD

and determine all the equality cases.

Solution

The inequality AB − CD ≥ BC − AD is the same inequality from the first problem of the
intermediate level test. The notation used below is the same as in that problem. The triangular
inequality applied to 4ADE yields that

AB − CD = AB − BE = AE ≤ AD + DE = AD + BC

with equality if and only if E lies on the segment AE, but this means that A, B, C, D are colinear,
so that the equality does not hold and the left hand side inequality is strict.

Note: A trapezoid is considered to consist of four points, that do not lie on a line.

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 Problem 2

Let N be a natural number. How many non congruent triangles are there, whose vertexes lie
on the vertexes of a regular 6N -gon?

Solution

Enumerate the vertexes of the 6N -gon clockwise form 1 to 6N . Define the distance between
the vertices i, j to be the minimum among |i − j| and 6N − |i − j|. It is clear that the sum of
the distances between the vertexes of a triangle is 6N and the smallest distance between to pairs
of vertexes is at most 2N . If distance between the closest vertexes of the triangle is 2k the other
two distances second smallest distances varies between 2k and 3N − k, thus there are 3N − 3k + 1
non congruent triangles whose shortest side is 2k. If the shortest side of the rectangle is 2k − 1,
then the second shortest distance varies between 2k − 1 and 3N − k, so there are 3N − 3k + 2 non
congruent triangles whose shortest side is 2k − 1. Since the distance between the vertexes of the
smallest side of the triangle varies from 1 to 2N , the total number of noncongruent triangles is
N N
X X N (N + 1)
(3N − 3k + 1 + 3N − 3k2 ) = 6N − 6k + 3 = 6N 2 − 6 + 3N = 3N 2
2
k=1 k=1

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 Problem 3

Find all triples (a, b, n) of positive integers that satisfy the equation

ab = 1 + b · · · + bn

Solution

Suppose that b > 1. The initial equation implies that

ab − 1 = b(1 + b2 + · · · + bn−1 )

so b is a divisor of ab − 1. Let p be the smallest prime divisor of b. Then p|ab − 1 so that

ordp (a)|b. Since ordp (a) ≤ p − 1 < p it must be the case that ordp (a) = 1, because of the
minimality of p. Assume that p is odd, pα ||a − 1 and pβ ||b, the lifting the exponet lemma shows
that pα+β ||ab − 1 = b(1 + · · · + bn−1 ). Now b 6 |(1 + · · · + bn−1 ) so pβ ||b(1 + · · · + bn−1 ) so that
β = α + β and implying that α = 0 and contradicting the fact that p|a − 1, so p can’t be odd.
2
Now assume that p = 2, 2α || a 2−1 and 2β ||b. Since b is even, then a is odd, and so α > 0. The
special case of lifting the exponent for p = 2 shows that 2α+β ||an − 1 = b(1 + . . . bn−1 ), and since
1 + . . . bn−1 is odd, then 2β ||b(1 + · · · + bn−1 ) so that α + β = β, so that α = 0, contradicting the
fact that a is odd.

It follows that b has no prime divisors, so that b = 1 and all the solutions are of the form
(a, 1, a − 1) with a > 1.

Note: It is easy to show by induction on β that pα+β |ab − 1 so the lifting the exponent lemma
is not really needed.

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 Problem 4

Find all functions f from the integers to the integers satisfying

i. f (n)f (−n) = f (n2 )

ii. f (m + n) = f (m) + f (n) + 2mn

Solution 1

Setting m = n = 0 in the second equation it is obtained that 2f (0) = f (0) so f (0) = 0.

Replacing 1 in the first equation it is obtained that f (−1)f (1) = f (1) so f (1) = 0 or f (−1) = 1.

Case 1: f (−1) = 1. Setting m = −1 and n = 1 in the second equation yields that 0 = f (0) =
f (−1) + f (1) − 2 = f (1) − 1 so that f (1) = 1. The goal is to show by induction that f (n) = n2 for
n ≥ 1. The base case is proven. Now assume that f (k) = k 2 , then

f (k + 1) = f (k) + f (1) + 2k = k 2 + 1 + 2k = (k + 1)2

conlcluding the induction. Now replacing n > 0 in the second equation yields n2 f (−n) = f (−n)f (n) =
f (n2 ) = n4 so that f (−n) = n2 = (−n)2 . This means that the only possible solution in this case is
the function f (n) = n2 for all n, which is in fact a solution.

Case 2: f (1) = 0. It will be shown that f (n) = n2 − n for every positive integer. The base
case is already given. Now assume that f (k) = k 2 − k, then

f (k + 1) = f (k) + f (1) + 2k = k 2 − k + 2k = (k + 1)2 − (k + 1)

concluding the induction. Now plugging n > 1 in the first condition yields f (−n)(n2 − n) =
f (−n)f (n) = f (n2 ) = n4 − n2 so that f (−n) = n2 + n = (−n)2 − (−n). It is also true that
f (0) = f (1) + f (−1) − 2 so f (−1) = 2 = (−1)2 − (−1). This shows that the only possible function
in this case is f (n) = n2 − n, which is in fact a solution.

It follows that that the only solutions are f (n) = n2 and f (n) = n2 − n.

Solution 2(by Fransisco Barreras)

Let g(n) = f (n) − n2 . The second condition is transformed to g(m + n) = g(m) + g(n), which
is a well known Cauchy equation whose solutions are of the form g(x) = kx, where k is a constant.

13
The second equation transforms then to

n4 − k 2 n2 = (n2 + kn)(n2 − kn) = (n2 + g(n))((−n)2 + g(−n)) = (n2 )2 + g(n2 ) = n4 + kn2

for every integer n so that k 2 + k must be equal to 0. It follows that k = −1 or k = 0 and the
solutions are either f (n) = n2 or f (n) = n2 − n.

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 Problem 5

In the triangle ABC, let P be a point on the segment BC, I1 and I2 be the incenters of the
triangles AP B and AP C, respectively, Γ1 and Γ2 be the circles passing through P and centered at
I1 and I2 respectively. Let Q be the point of intersection Γ1 and Γ2 different from P . Let X1 , Y1
be the intersection points of Γ1 with AB and BC respectively that are closest to B and let X2 , Y2
be the intersection points of Γ2 with AC and BC respectively that are closest to C. Prove that
X1 Y1 , X2 Y2 and P Q are concurrent.

Solution

Let Z1 be the other point of intersection of Γ1 wih AB and let α, β, γ be the measures of the
angles 6 CAB, 6 ABC and 6 BCA respectively. Γ1 is a dilatation of the incircle of 4ABP ,so X1 Z1 ,
BZ1 = BP and the points M, N where the incircle of 4ABP touch AB and P B respectively are
the midpoints of X1 Z1 and P Y1 respectively. It follows that

1
AX1 = AM + X1 Z1
2
1 1
= (AP + P B − AB) + X1 Z1
2 2
1 1
= (AP + P B − AB) + P Y1
2 2
1 1
= (AP + P B − AB) + (AP + AB − P B)
2 2
= AP

Analogously AX2 = AP so the triangle 4AX1 X2 is isoceles. Furthermore,

α γ β
6 Y2 X2 X1 = 180 − (90 − ) − (90 − ) = 90 −
2 2 2
and
β
6 Y2 Y1 X1 = 90 +
2

Thus the cuadrilateral X1 Y1 Y2 X2 is cyclic. Let R be the intersection of X1 Y1 and X2 Y2 , the

power of the point R with respect to the circumcircle of X1 Y1 Y2 X2 is equal to RX1 ·RY2 = RX2 ·RY2
so that R is on the radical axis of Γ1 and Γ2 . This radical axis is the line joining the intersection
points of the circles, that is, the radical axis is P Q. It follows that X1 Y1 , X2 Y2 and P Q are
concurrent.

15
 Problem 6

P set of indexes. For each i ∈ I let ai be a positive

Let n be a positive integer and let I be a finite
integer such that 1 ≤ ai ≤ n. Assume that i∈I ai ≥ 2(n!). Prove that there exists J ⊆ I such
that X
aj = n!
j∈J

Solution

The proof goes by induction on n. For n = 1, 2 the result is obvious. For n = 3, having more
that one 3, two 2’s or five 1’s, makes it possible to find some numbers that add up to 6 = 3!. Note
that if there is a 1, a 2 and a 3 among the xi ’s (with i ∈ I), then it is also possible to add up to 6.
Now if the numbers idexed by I add up to something bigger than 11 there are a 1, a 2 and a 3 or
two 3’s or three 2’s or six 1’s, since 3 + 2 · 2 + 5 · 1 = 12.

Now split the set I = An ∪ Bn where An = {i ∈ I : xi ≤ n − 1} and Bn = {i ∈ I : xi = n}.

The induction splits in three cases.

P
Case 1: n = 4. Take a finite I and let xi ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4} so that i∈I xi ≥ 48 = 2(4!). If B4 has
six or more elements, one can take six 4’s to add up 24 = 4!. If B4 has three or more elements and
no more than five elemnts, then the elemnts of A4 add up to at least 24, so there are some elements
indexed by A4 that add up to 12 applying the inductive hypothesis twice. So taking those elements
that add up to 12 and three 4’s, the sum 24 is attained. Finally if B4 has two or less elementos,
then the sum of the elements idexed by A4 is at least 40, so there are four disjoint subsets of A4 ,
each indexing some numbers that add up to six. This follows from the fact that 40 > 12 so there
are some elements that add up to 6 and the remaining elements, add up to at least 34 > 12. Thus
it is possible to select other numbers that add up to 6, and the sum of the remaining elements is
at leas 28 > 12. And finally we can choose some others that add up to 6. The elements idexed by
those disjoint subsets add up to 24, so this case is finished.

Case 2: The statement is true for n = k and k + 1 is a composite number. Suppose that
the elements indexed by I add up to something greater than or equal to 2(k + 1)!. In this case,
k + 1 divides k!. If Bk+1 has more than k! elements, then adding up k! of the elements indexed
P Bk+1 gives (k + 1)! as desired. If Bk+1 has less that 2k! − k!(k + 2)/k + 1 elements, then
by
i∈Ak+1 ≥ (n + 2) and it isP possible to apply the inductive hypothesis k + 1 to find disjoint sets
P
C1 , C2 , . . . , Ck+1 such that i∈Cj xi = k!. And so i∈Sk Cj xi = (k + 1)k! = (k + 1)!. Finally, if
P j=1
2k! − k!(k + 2)/k + 1 ≤ |Bk+1 | < k! then i∈Ak+1 ≥ (k + 1)! = (k + 1)k! and |Bk+1 | ≥ k!/(k + 1)

16
(because k ≥ 4). Applying the inductive P hypothesis k timesP to the elements indexed by Ak+1 ,
gives disjoint sets C1 , . . . , Ck so that i∈Cj xi = k!, hence i∈Sk Cj xi = k(k!). So the sum of
j=1

the elements idexed by kj=1 Cj and k!/(k + 1) elements idexed by Bk+1 is k(k!) + k! = (k + 1)!,
S
completing this case of the induction.

Case 3: The statement is true for n = k and k + 1 is a prime number greater than 3. If
|Bk+1 | ≤ 2k! − k!(k + 2)/k + 1 or |Bk+1 | ≥ k!, apply the same method used in the last case. Now
let S be the smallest sum attained by elements indexed by Ak+1 that is greater than or equal to
(k + 1)!. Clearly S < (k + 1)! + k. If S = (k + 1)!, the result follows. If not, then there is some
j ∈ 1, . . . , k that appears at least k + 1 times added in S. Since k + 1 is prime, (j, k + 1) = 1 so
that j, 2j, . . . (k + 1)j are all the residues modulo k + 1. Thus there exist a positive m ≤ k + 1 such
that S − mj is divisible by k + 1. Clearly S − mj = (k + 1)! − t(k + 1) > (k + 1)! − (k + 1)k, .
|Bk+1 | ≥ 2k! − k!(k + 2)/k + 1 ≥ (k + 1)k so it is possible to choose t indexes in Bk+1 and add the
elements indexed by them to S − mj to obtain the desired result.

17