MOP Homework 2015

The Graders
June 2015

Introduction

Welcome to MOP! Here are some problems the graders have picked out for you
to think about, and to help you get in gear for the summer. Well discuss these
on the first day. Youre welcome to work on as many of these as you wish,
regardless of your MOP group. A few suggestions:
The FUNDERMENTARS section, geared towards the Red group, contains some basic (well-known) results that are useful to know before you
get started at MOP. Look through these, and if there are any that you
havent seen or dont know how to prove, prioritize working on these over
the rest of the problems. Feel free to skip anything youve seen before.
The main section of problems are divided into four subjects: Algebra,
Combinatorics, Geometry, and Number Theory. If youre limited on time,
try (approximately) the first half of each subsection if youre in Red and
the second half if youre in Blue/Black.
If you think of the camp youre attending as MOSP rather than MOP,
you are invited to try the problems in the MOSP homework section in
addition to the regular problems.

FUNDERMENTARS

2.1

Algebra

1. The image above is a proof of the AM-GM inequality in three variables.

Figure out how it works and extend it to n variables.
2. Prove Vietas formulas.
1

2.2

GG Geometry

In this section, you will prove the existence of the incenter in several ways, and
discover other important results along the way.
0 a) Triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle with center O. Angle chase to
prove that AOC = 2ABC.
b) Prove that a convex quadrilateral ABCD is cyclic if and only if ABD =
ACD.
1. a) Prove the extended law of sines: for a triangle ABC with circumradius R,
BC
CA
AB
=
=
= 2R.
sin A
sin B
sin C
b) Prove the angle bisector theorem: If the internal angle bisector of angle
AB
BAC intersects side BC at X, then XB
XC = AC .
c) Prove Cevas theorem: Given a triangle ABC with points D, E, F on
sides BC, CA, AB respectively, the lines AD, BE, CF concur if and only
if
BD CE AF
= 1.
DC EA F B
d) Conclude that the internal angle bisectors of a triangle ABC concur at
a point I, the incenter.
2. a) Use the law of sines and Ceva to prove trig Ceva: In the configuration
of Cevas theorem, lines AD, BE, CF concur if and only if
sin BAD sin CBE sin ACF
= 1.
sin DAC sin EBA sin F CB
Conclude again that the incenter exists.
3. In triangle ABC, let BC = a, CA = b, AB = c, s = 21 (a + b + c). a) Prove
the following perpendicularity criterion: AB CD AC 2 + BD2 =
AD2 + BC 2
b) Prove Carnots theorem: Given a triangle ABC with points D, E, F on
sides BC, CA, AB respectively, the perpendiculars to sides BC, CA, AB
at D, E, F respectively concur if and only if
(BD2 DC 2 ) + (CE 2 EA2 ) + (AF 2 F B 2 ) = 0.
c) Prove that the tangents to a circle from a point P outside the circle
have equal length.
d) Assuming there is a circle inside the triangle tangent to all three sides at
D, E, F respectively, compute the lengths BD, DC and analogous lengths
for other sides.
e) Constructing D, E, F to satisfy the length conditions above, prove that
the perpendiculars at these points intersect at a point that is indeed the
circumcenter of DEF , and show that this is the incenter of ABC.

4. a) Prove that the internal bisector of angle A meets the perpendicular

bisector of BC at a point Ta on the circumcircle.
b) Prove that the circle wa with center Ta that goes through points B, C,
along with circles wb , wc defined analogously, all share a common point I,
and show that this is the incenter of ABC.
2.2.1

Things that are not the incenter

5. a) State and prove the Power of a Point theorem.

b) Use the perpendicularity criterion to prove that the locus of points with
the same power with respect to two circles w1 , w2 is a line, their radical
axis.
c) Prove that the radical axes of three circles intersect at a point, their
radical center.

2.3

Numbers

In this problem, we will investigate integer linear combinations

1. Given non-zero integers A and B, let D be their gcd. Show that D is the
smallest positive integer which can be written as Ax + By for integers x, y.
2. Conclude that the set of values Ax + By is just the multiples of D.
3. Now, let A = p be a prime number, and use 1) to show that any B not
divisible by p has a multiplicative inverse modulo p, or equivalently that
for some C, p divides BC 1. This means that every non-zero integer
mod p is invertible. The set of residues mod p is an example of a structure
called a field.
In this problem, you will prove Fermats little Theorem (FlT), which states that
ap a (mod p) for all primes p, in several ways.
1. Prove FlT by induction on a.
2. Consider the ways to color a necklace of p beads in a colors. Use shifting
symmetry to prove FlT.
3. Consider the set A of powers of a modulo p, 1, a, a2 , . . .. Call bA =
b, ba, ba2 , . . . a shift of A. Show that all shifts of A are either identical
as (unordered) sets or disjoint, and cover all non-zero elements modulo p.
Conclude FlT.
4. Extend part 3 to prove Eulers totient theorem: let (n) be the number of integers in 1, 2, ...n which are relatively prime to n. Show that if
gcd(a, n) = 1, then a(n) 1 is divisible by n.

2.4

Wombinatorics Combinatorics

1. Find a closed form for

Pn

k=0

n
k

2. Show that any graph with at least as many edges as vertices has a cycle.
3

Problems

3.1

Algebra

1. [South Africa 2014 #2] Given that

ab
=2
cd

and

ac
=3
bd

for certain real numbers a, b, c, d, and b 6= c, determine the value of

ad
.
bc
2. [ISL 2011 A2] Determine all sequences (x1 , x2 , . . . , x2011 ) of positive integers, such that for every positive integer n there exists an integer a with
2011
X

jxnj = an+1 + 1

j=1

3. [ISL 2010 A3] Let x1 , . . . , x100 be nonnegative real numbers such that
xi + xi+1 + xi+2 1 for all i = 1, . . . , 100 (we put x101 = x1 , x102 = x2 ).
P100
Find the maximal possible value of the sum S = i=1 xi xi+2 .
4. [WOOT 2011-2012 Algebra Marathon #3] Solve the following equation
f : R R:
f (x + f (y))[x f (y)] = f (x2 ) yf (y)
for all x, y R, and such that f (x) 6= 0 for all x 6= 0.
5. [Extension of Blue MOP 2011] A finite set A and another set B, both of
integers, have the property that any integer n may be written uniquely as
a sum n = a + b for a in A, b in B.
(a) Prove that A is symmetric, that is, for some integer m, a is in A if
and only if m a is in A.
(b) Classify the possible structures A can have.
6. [ELMO SL 2012 A8] Find all functions f : Q R such that f (x)f (y)f (x+
y) = f (xy)(f (x) + f (y)) for all x, y Q.

3.2

Combinatorics

1. [Classic] Prove that a graph is two-colorable if and only if it has no odd

cycles.
2. [Classic] When given an expression containing only +, , , constants,
variables, and parentheses, such as (x + y)(z 8w(x + y(w + z) + 7) z),
we expand it by repeatedly using the distributive law. Must this process
always finish? Or if we choose which terms to expand badly, might we
have to keep expanding forever?

3. [ISL 1998 C1] Hacker gives Matt, Jackie, and Inez a rectangular array
of numbers. In each row and each column, the sum of all numbers is
an integer. Prove that Inez can change each nonintegral number x in the
array into either dxe or bxc so that the row-sums and column-sums remain
unchanged. (Note that dxe is the least integer greater than or equal to x,
while bxc is the greatest integer less than or equal to x.)
4. [ISL 1988 #4] Let n 2. Bathspounge numbers an n n chessboard with
the numbers 1, 2, . . . , n2 . Every number occurs once. Prove that there
exist two orthogonally adjacent squares such that their numbers differ by
at least n.
5. [Brazil Olympic Revenge 2014] Let n be a positive integer. In a 2n 2n
board, 1 n and n 1 pieces are arranged without overlap. Call an
arrangement maximal if it is impossible to put a new piece in the board
without overlapping the previous ones. Find the least k such that there
is a maximal arrangement that uses k pieces.
6. [SubredditControl] Snake shuffles a deck of playing cards. Salamander
guesses if the top card is red or black, then turns it over. If hes right, he
wins a dollar. If not, he pays a dollar. Repeat for the rest of the deck,
one card at a time. What should be his strategy, and what is his expected
return?
7. [SubredditControl] Inez paints 1, 2, 3, . . . , N in red, blue and white, so that
each color has more than a quarter of the set in its colour. Can she paint
it such that all x + y = z in the set has at least two of the same colour?

3.3

Geometry

1. [ISL 2006 G1] Let ABC be triangle with incenter I. A point P in the
interior of the triangle satisfies
P BA + P CA = P BC + P CB.
Show that AP AI, and that equality holds if and only if P = I.
2. [USA TST 2004 #4] Let ABC be a triangle. Choose a point D in its
interior. Let 1 be a circle passing through B and D and 2 be a circle
passing through C and D so that the other point of intersection of the two
circles lies on AD. Let 1 and 2 intersect side BC at E and F , respectively. Denote by X the intersection of DF , AB and Y the intersection
of DE, AC. Show that XY k BC.
3. [ISL 2007 G3] The diagonals of a trapezoid ABCD intersect at point P .
Point Q lies between the parallel lines BC and AD such that AQD =
CQB, and line CD separates points P and Q. Prove that BQP =
DAQ.
4. [Linus 2015] A polygon of wrapping paper folds to cover a cube completely
with no overlap. Show that it has two equal angles.

5. [Russia 2006] Consider an isosceles triangle ABC with AB = AC, and

a circle which is tangent to the sides AB and AC of this triangle and
intersects the side BC at the points K and L. The segment AK intersects
the circle at a point M (apart from K). Let P and Q be the reflections of the point K in the points B and C, respectively. Show that the
circumcircle of triangle P M Q is tangent to the circle .
6. [Iran 2010] Circles W1 , W2 intersect at P, K. XY is common tangent of
two circles which is nearer to P and X is on W1 and Y is on W2 . XP
intersects W2 for the second time in C and Y P intersects W1 in B. Let
A be intersection point of BX and CY . Prove that if Q is the second
intersection point of circumcircles of ABC and AXY
QXA = QKP
7. [Tuymaada 2012] Quadrilateral ABCD is both cyclic and circumscribed.
Its incircle touches its sides AB and CD at points X and Y , respectively.
The perpendiculars to AB and CD drawn at A and D, respectively, meet
at point U ; those drawn at X and Y meet at point V , and finally, those
drawn at B and C meet at point W . Prove that points U , V and W are
collinear.

3.4

Number Theory

1. [South Africa 2004 #1] Let a = 1111 . . . 1111 and b = 1111 . . . 1111 where
a has forty ones and b has twelve ones. Determine the greatest common
divisor of a and b.
2. [Brazil Olympic Revenge 2010 #1] Fix a prime p and an integer a with
gcd(a, p) = 1. Prove that the number of ordered triples (x, y, z) of positive
integers such that 0 x, y, z < p and (x+y +z)2 axyz (mod p) is equal
to p2 + 1.
3. [ISL 2009 N3] Let f be a non-constant function from the set of positive
integers into the set of positive integer, such that a b divides f (a) f (b)
for all distinct positive integers a, b. Prove that there exist infinitely many
primes p such that p divides f (c) for some positive integer c.
4. [ISL 2001 N4] Let p 5 be a prime number. Prove that there exists an
integer a with 1 a p 2 such that neither ap1 1 nor (a + 1)p1 1
is divisible by p2 .
5. [Linus Homework from UCL: Sarah Zerbes]
(a) Solve x3 = y 2 + 1 in integers.
(b) Solve x3 = y 2 + 5 in integers.
6. [ELMO SL 2011 N3] Let n > 1 be a fixed positive integer, and call
an n-tuple (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) of integers greater than 1 good if and only if

n
1 for i = 1, 2, . . . , n. Prove that there are finitely many
ai  a1 a2aa
i
good n-tuples.

MOSP Homework
1. [Variant of HMIC 2014 #2] 2014 triangles have non-overlapping interiors
contained in a semicircle of radius 1. What is the largest possible value of
the sum of their areas?
2. [IdeaMOP 2013] Find all f : N Z such that f (m)f (n) divides m2 n2
for all distinct m, n.

3. [MIT 18.312] Let k = p1

2 . Show that for arbitrary d1 , , dk Fp there

exists a permutation a1 , b1 , a2 , b2 , ..., ak , bk of Fp such that ai bi = di .

(Here Fp denotes the set of nonzero residues modulo a prime p.)

4. [MIT 18.318] Given finite simple graphs H and G, for each vertex v of H,
we uniformly at random pick a vertex f (v) of G (repeats are allowed).
Define tH (G) to be the probability that for such a choice, for every pair of
vertices v, w in H that are connected, f (v) and f (w) are also connected
(such a choice is a graph homomorphism). Define K2 to be the graph
with 2 vertices and one edge. Sidorenkos conjecture states that for
bipartite H, we have
tH (G) tK2 (G)|E(H)|
where E(H) is the set of edges of H. While the conjecture is unproven,
some special cases are proven. Prove the conjecture when H is a path, and
when H is an even cycle.
5. [MIT 18.318] Given a sequence (a1 , , an ) of non-zero real numbers and
a real number A, call a sequence (e1 , ...en ) good if the dot product of the
sequences is A, and each ei is real with absolute value 1. As a function of
n, find the maximum possible number of good sequences.
6. [Renyi parking problem] Given the closed interval [0, x], repeatedly park
unit length cars at spots uniformly at random inside the interval, subject
to the condition that no two may overlap (cars are solid!). Find the
expected fraction of the interval length covered, for large x.
7. (a) Consider a sequence of n independent flips of a fair coin. Starting from
0, add +1 for each head and 1 for each tails, in order. The probability
distribution for the fraction of time spent in the positive integers converges
to a fixed distribution, in the sense that for each p in [0, 1], the probability
of spending at most p fraction of the time above 0 converges to a fixed
number f (p). Find this distribution function f .
(b) Similarly, we can consider the time when the maximum intermediate
value is achieved (pick the last one if there is a tie). Find the limiting
distribution of this time divided by n (so scaled into [0, 1]).
(c) Similarly to (b), find the limiting distribution for the last time the
number changes sign (positive to negative or vice versa).