JMO 2013 Solution Notes

Evan Chen《陳誼廷》
23 July 2025

This is a compilation of solutions for the 2013 JMO. The ideas of the
solution are a mix of my own work, the solutions provided by the competition
organizers, and solutions found by the community. However, all the writing
is maintained by me.
These notes will tend to be a bit more advanced and terse than the “official”
solutions from the organizers. In particular, if a theorem or technique is not
known to beginners but is still considered “standard”, then I often prefer to
use this theory anyways, rather than try to work around or conceal it. For
example, in geometry problems I typically use directed angles without further
comment, rather than awkwardly work around configuration issues. Similarly,
sentences like “let R denote the set of real numbers” are typically omitted
entirely.
Corrections and comments are welcome!

Contents
0 Problems 2

1 Solutions to Day 1 3
1.1 JMO 2013/1, proposed by Titu Andreescu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 JMO 2013/2, proposed by Sungyoon Kim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 JMO 2013/3, proposed by Zuming Feng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Solutions to Day 2 6
2.1 JMO 2013/4, proposed by Kiran Kedlaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 JMO 2013/5, proposed by Zuming Feng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 JMO 2013/6, proposed by Titu Andreescu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§0 Problems
1. Are there integers a and b such that a5 b + 3 and ab5 + 3 are both perfect cubes of
integers?

2. Each cell of an m × n board is filled with some nonnegative integer. Two numbers
in the filling are said to be adjacent if their cells share a common side. The filling
is called a garden if it satisfies the following two conditions:
(i) The difference between any two adjacent numbers is either 0 or 1.
(ii) If a number is less than or equal to all of its adjacent numbers, then it is equal
to 0.
Determine the number of distinct gardens in terms of m and n.

3. In triangle ABC, points P , Q, R lie on sides BC, CA, AB, respectively. Let ωA ,
ωB , ωC denote the circumcircles of triangles AQR, BRP , CP Q, respectively. Given
the fact that segment AP intersects ωA , ωB , ωC again at X, Y , Z respectively,
prove that Y X/XZ = BP /P C.

4. Let f (n) be the number of ways to write n as a sum of powers of 2, where we

keep track of the order of the summation. For example, f (4) = 6 because 4 can
be written as 4, 2 + 2, 2 + 1 + 1, 1 + 2 + 1, 1 + 1 + 2, and 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. Find the
smallest n greater than 2013 for which f (n) is odd.

5. Quadrilateral XABY is inscribed in the semicircle ω with diameter XY . Segments

AY and BX meet at P . Point Z is the foot of the perpendicular from P to line
XY . Point C lies on ω such that line XC is perpendicular to line AZ. Let Q be
the intersection of segments AY and XC. Prove that
BY CY AY
+ = .
XP XQ AX

6. Find all real numbers x, y, z ≥ 1 satisfying

√ √ √
√ √
min x + xyz, y + xyz, z + xyz = x − 1 + y − 1 + z − 1.
p

2
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§1 Solutions to Day 1
§1.1 JMO 2013/1, proposed by Titu Andreescu
Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

Are there integers a and b such that a5 b + 3 and ab5 + 3 are both perfect cubes of
integers?

No, there do not exist such a and b.

We prove this in two cases.

• Assume 3 | ab. WLOG we have 3 | a, but then a5 b + 3 ≡ 3 (mod 9), contradiction.

• Assume 3 - ab. Then a5 b + 3 is a cube not divisible by 3, so it is ±1 mod 9, and we

conclude
a5 b ∈ {5, 7} (mod 9).
Analogously
ab5 ∈ {5, 7} (mod 9).
We claim however these two equations cannot hold simultaneously. Indeed (ab)6 ≡ 1
(mod 9) by Euler’s theorem, despite 5 · 5 ≡ 7, 5 · 7 ≡ 8, 7 · 7 ≡ 4 mod 9.

3
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§1.2 JMO 2013/2, proposed by Sungyoon Kim

Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

Each cell of an m × n board is filled with some nonnegative integer. Two numbers
in the filling are said to be adjacent if their cells share a common side. The filling is
called a garden if it satisfies the following two conditions:

(i) The difference between any two adjacent numbers is either 0 or 1.

(ii) If a number is less than or equal to all of its adjacent numbers, then it is equal
to 0.

Determine the number of distinct gardens in terms of m and n.

The numerical answer is 2mn − 1. But we claim much more, by giving an explicit
description of all gardens:

Let S be any nonempty subset of the mn cells. Suppose we fill each cell θ
with the minimum (taxicab) distance from θ to some cell in S (in particular,
we write 0 if θ ∈ S). Then
• This gives a garden, and
• All gardens are of this form.

Since there are 2mn − 1 such nonempty subsets S, this would finish the problem. An
example of a garden with |S| = 3 is shown below.

2 1 2 1 0 1
 
 1 0 1 2 1 2
 
 1 1 2 3 2 3
0 1 2 3 3 4

It is actually fairly easy to see that this procedure always gives a garden; so we focus
our attention on showing that every garden is of this form.
Given a garden, note first that it has at least one cell with a zero in it — by considering
the minimum number across the entire garden. Now let S be the (thus nonempty) set of
cells with a zero written in them. We contend that this works, i.e. the following sentence
holds:

Claim — If a cell θ is labeled d, then the minimum distance from that cell to a cell
in S is d.

Proof. The proof is by induction on d, with d = 0 being by definition. Now, consider

any cell θ labeled d ≥ 1. Every neighbor of θ has label at least d − 1, so any path will
necessarily take d − 1 steps after leaving θ. Conversely, there is some d − 1 adjacent to
θ by (ii). Stepping on this cell and using the minimal path (by induction hypothesis)
gives us a path to a cell in S with length exactly d. So the shortest path does indeed
have distance d, as desired.

4
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§1.3 JMO 2013/3, proposed by Zuming Feng

Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

In triangle ABC, points P , Q, R lie on sides BC, CA, AB, respectively. Let ωA ,
ωB , ωC denote the circumcircles of triangles AQR, BRP , CP Q, respectively. Given
the fact that segment AP intersects ωA , ωB , ωC again at X, Y , Z respectively, prove
that Y X/XZ = BP /P C.

Let M be the concurrence point of ωA , ωB , ωC (by Miquel’s theorem).

R Y
Q
M
X
Z

B P C

Then M is the center of a spiral similarity sending Y Z to BC. So it suffices to show

that this spiral similarity also sends X to P , but

]M XY = ]M XA = ]M RA = ]M RB = ]M P B

so this follows.

5
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§2 Solutions to Day 2
§2.1 JMO 2013/4, proposed by Kiran Kedlaya
Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

Let f (n) be the number of ways to write n as a sum of powers of 2, where we keep
track of the order of the summation. For example, f (4) = 6 because 4 can be written
as 4, 2 + 2, 2 + 1 + 1, 1 + 2 + 1, 1 + 1 + 2, and 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. Find the smallest n
greater than 2013 for which f (n) is odd.

The answer is 2047.

For convenience, we agree that f (0) = 1. Then by considering cases on the first number
in the representation, we derive the recurrence
blog2 nc
X
f (n) = f (n − 2k ). (♥)
k=0

We wish to understand the parity of f . The first few values are

f (0) = 1
f (1) = 1
f (2) = 2
f (3) = 3
f (4) = 6
f (5) = 10
f (6) = 18
f (7) = 31.
Inspired by the data we make the key claim that

Claim — f (n) is odd if and only if n + 1 is a power of 2.

Proof. We call a number repetitive if it is zero or its binary representation consists entirely
of 1’s. So we want to prove that f (n) is odd if and only if n is repetitive.
This only takes a few cases:
• If n = 2k , then (♥) has exactly two repetitive terms on the right-hand side, namely
0 and 2k − 1.
• If n = 2k + 2` − 1, then (♥) has exactly two repetitive terms on the right-hand side,
namely 2`+1 − 1 and 2` − 1.
• If n = 2k − 1, then (♥) has exactly one repetitive terms on the right-hand side,
namely 2k−1 − 1.
• For other n, there are no repetitive terms at all on the right-hand side of (♥).
Thus the induction checks out.
So the final answer to the problem is 2047.

6
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§2.2 JMO 2013/5, proposed by Zuming Feng

Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

Quadrilateral XABY is inscribed in the semicircle ω with diameter XY . Segments

AY and BX meet at P . Point Z is the foot of the perpendicular from P to line
XY . Point C lies on ω such that line XC is perpendicular to line AZ. Let Q be
the intersection of segments AY and XC. Prove that
BY CY AY
+ = .
XP XQ AX

Let β = ∠Y XP and α = ∠P Y X and set XY = 1. We do not direct angles in the

following solution.

A
P
C

β
α
X Z Y

Observe that
∠AZX = ∠AP X = α + β
since AP ZX is cyclic. In particular, ∠CXY = 90◦ − (α + β). It is immediate that

BY = sin β, CY = cos (α + β) , AY = cos α, AX = sin α.

sin α
The Law of Sines on 4XP Y gives XP = XY sin(α+β) , and on 4XQY gives XQ =
sin α sin α
XY sin(90+β) = cos β . So, the given is equivalent to

sin β cos(α + β) cos α

sin α
+ sin α
=
sin(α+β) cos β
sin α

which is equivalent to cos α = cos β cos(α + β) + sin β sin(α + β). This is obvious, because
the right-hand side is just cos ((α + β) − β).

7
JMO 2013 Solution Notes [Link], updated 23 July 2025

§2.3 JMO 2013/6, proposed by Titu Andreescu

Available online at [Link]

Problem statement

Find all real numbers x, y, z ≥ 1 satisfying

√ √ √
√ √
min x + xyz, y + xyz, z + xyz = x − 1 + y − 1 + z − 1.
p

Set x = 1 + a, y = 1 + b, z = 1 + c which eliminates the x, y, z ≥ 1 condition. Assume

without loss of generality that a ≤ b ≤ c. Then the given equation rewrites as
p √ √ √
(1 + a) (1 + (1 + b)(1 + c)) = a + b + c.

In fact, we are going to prove the left-hand side always exceeds the right-hand side,
and then determine the equality cases. We have:

(1 + a) (1 + (1 + b)(1 + c)) = (a + 1) (1 + (b + 1)(1 + c))

 √ √ 2

≤ (a + 1) 1 + b+ c
√ √ √ 2
≤ a+ b+ c

by two applications of Cauchy-Schwarz.√

√
Equality holds if bc = 1 and 1/a = b + c. Letting c = t2 for t ≥ 1, we recover
b = t−2 ≤ t2 and a = t+1/t
1
≤ t2 .
Hence the solution set is
 2 !
t 1
(x, y, z) = 1 + 2 , 1 + 2 , 1 + t2
t +1 t

and permutations, for any t > 0.