1 AND.

Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Enrique Valeriano Cuba1

Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima, Peru

Summary
Many of the mathematical Olympiad problems are characterized by not having a single solution path. For that reason it is
a bit difficult to make a selection. However, I am convinced that, above all to accustom the mind, it is advisable to venture
into making this classification for better personal learning and also oriented towards working with students. In this work,
fifty problems of number theory and algebra are presented, distributing them under the headings of Maximum and
Minimum , Divisibility , Strategies , Equations and Inequalities. It has also been intended to include a reference on the
level of the problem, for which each topic is divided into three levels: A, B, and C, from least to greatest difficulty.

1. Maximum and minimum

Level A

Problem No. 1
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
Find the smallest positive integer n such that the 73 fractions

are all irreducible.

Problem No. 2
(V May Olympiad, 1999)
Ana, Beatriz, Carlos, Diego and Emilia play a chess tournament.
Each player faces each of the other four only once.
Each player scores 2 points if they win the match, 1 point if they tie and 0 points if they lose.
At the end of the tournament, it turns out that the scores of the 5 players are all different.
1
Email address: [email protected]
2 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Find the maximum number of ties that could have occurred in the tournament and justify why there
could not have been a greater number of ties.

Problem No. 3
(IV May Olympiad, 1998)
There are four boats on one of the banks of the river; Their names are Eight, Four, Two and One,
because that is the number of hours it takes each of them to cross the river. You can tie one boat to
another, but not more than one, and then the time it takes them to cross is equal to that of the slower
of the two boats. A single sailor must take all the boats to the other shore. What is the shortest
amount of time you need to complete the move?

Problem No. 4
(XVI Argentine Mathematical Olympiad, Intercollegiate Competition, 1999)
Let a, b, c, d, e be consecutive natural numbers such that a + b + c + d + e is a perfect cube and b +
c + d is a perfect square. Find the minimum possible value of c.

Problem No. 5
(XV Argentine Mathematical Olympiad, National Competition, 1998)
Leandro chooses a natural number n and does the following:
calculate a = n 2 + 5 ;
calculate b = (n+1) 2 + 5 ;
Find the greatest common factor between a and b and write this greatest common factor on the
board.
What is the largest number you can write down?

Level B
Problem No. 6
(Variant of a problem proposed in the XXXIII Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, 1997)
A square of side 5 is divided into 25 unit squares by lines parallel to the sides. Let A be the set of 16
interior points, which are vertices of the unit squares but are not on the sides of the initial square.
What is the greatest number of points of A that it is possible to choose such that any three of them
are not vertices of a right triangle?

Problem No. 7
3 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

(Dutch Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)

Assume that V = {1, 2, 3, ..., 24, 25}. Prove that any subset of V with 17 or more elements contains
at least two distinct numbers whose product is the square of an integer.

Problem No. 8
Write 1999 as the sum of positive integers, in such a way that the product of said numbers is the
greatest possible.

Problem No. 9
(Weekly problems, Argentina, 1995)
With 40 matches the following figure is formed:

The figure has 16 1x1 squares, 9 2x2 squares, 4 3x3 squares, and one 4x4 square.
Determine the minimum number of matches that must be removed so that the resulting figure does
not have any squares of any size.

Problem No. 10
(XLIII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1999)
On a board of dimension 1999x1999 some of the 1x1 squares are colored in such a way that each
row and each column has exactly one colored square. Prove that each square of 1000 x 1000
squares on the board contains at least one colored square.

Level C
Problem No. 11
(Czechoslovakian Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)
A 19 x 19 board contains integers such that any two numbers in neighboring squares differ by at
most 2. Find the greatest number of different numbers that can be placed on the board (two squares
are considered neighbors if they have a side in common).

Problem No. 12
4 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

(Irish National Olympiad, 1996)

On a 5 x 9 chess board, the following game is played. Initially, a number of disks are randomly
placed in some of the squares, no more than one disk per square. On each turn all disks move
according to the following rules:
(i) Each disc can be moved one square up, down, left or right;
(ii) If a disc moves up or down on one turn, that disc must move left or right on the next turn,
and vice versa;
(iii) At the end of each turn, no square must contain 2 or more discs.
The game ends if it is impossible to complete another turn. Prove that if 33 discs are initially placed
on the board, the game will end after a certain number of turns. Also prove that it is possible to
place 32 discs on the board in such a way that the game can continue indefinitely.

Problem No. 13
(Russian Olympiad, 1996)
Can a 5 x 7 chess board be covered by L's (figures formed from a 2 x 2 square with one of its 4 1 x
1 corners removed), without leaving the limits of the board, in several layers in such a way that each
square of the board is covered by the same number of L's?

2. Divisibility
Level A
Problem No. 14
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
A three-digit natural number is called tricubic if it is equal to the sum of the cubes of its digits.
Find all pairs of consecutive numbers such that both are tricubic.

Problem No. 15
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
The positive integer N has 1994 digits. Of these, 14 are equal to zero and the numbers of times the
other figures appear: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are in the ratio 1:2:3:4:5 :6:7:8:9, respectively.
Show that N is not a perfect square.

Problem No. 16
Determine the smallest integer whose decimal representation consists only of 1's and that is
divisible by the number 333...333 made up of 100 digits equal to 3.
5 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 17
(Selective Test of Argentina, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
We consider the integers n, 1  n  100. For what values of n is there at least one natural number of
n digits that is an odd multiple of 13 and has the sum of the digits equal to 4?

Problem No. 18
(Baltic Olympiad, 1998)
Find all pairs of positive integers x , y that satisfy the following equation:
2 x 2 + 5 y 2 = 11.( xy – 11)

Level B
Problem No. 19
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
Let p be a given positive real number.
3 3
Find the minimum value of x +y knowing that x and y are positive real numbers such that
xy(x+y)=p.

Problem No. 20
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
Let A be a six-digit number, three of which are colored and are equal to 1, 2 and 4.
Show that it is always possible to obtain a number that is a multiple of 7, carrying out only one of
the following operations: either delete the three colored figures, or write all the figures of A in some
order.

Problem No. 21
(VII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1996)
It is intended to completely cover a square of side k (k integer greater than one) with the following
rectangles: 1 rectangle of 1 x 1, 2 rectangles of 2 x 1, 4 rectangles of 3 x 1, ..., 2n rectangles of
( n+1)x1, in such a way that the rectangles do not overlap or exceed the limits of the square.
Find all values of k for which this is possible and, for each value of k found, draw a solution.

Problem No. 22
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
6 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Determine all non-negative integers x, y, z such that:

2x+3y=z2

Problem No. 23
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Determine all positive integers x, y, z such that:
x<y<z
and also

be whole.

Level C
Problem No. 24
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
On each of n cards (n > 2) a figure is written. Arranging the n cards in all possible ways we obtain
n! natural (some possibly the same). Is it possible that the product of those n! natural have only
digits 1 in their decimal representation?

Problem No. 25
(Selective Test of Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Let k > 1 be a natural number. Prove that it is impossible to distribute the numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., k 2 in
the squares of a kxk board, so that the sums of the numbers written in each row and in each column
are all powers of 2.

3. Strategies
Level A
Problem No. 26
(V May Olympiad, First Level, 1999)

On each step of a 10-step ladder there is a frog.

Each one of them can, in one jump, place itself on another step, but when it does so, at the same
time, another frog will jump the same number of steps in the opposite direction: one goes up and the
other goes down. Will the frogs manage to get all together on the same step?
7 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 27
(VII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1996)
The sequence 0, 1, 1, 1, ..., 1 contains 1996 numbers, the first being zero and all the rest being ones.
Any two or more numbers are chosen from the sequence (but not the entire sequence) and one of
them is replaced by the arithmetic mean of the chosen numbers, thus obtaining a new sequence of
1996 numbers.
Prove that, by repeating this operation, it is possible to obtain a sequence in which the 1996
numbers are equal.
NOTE: In each operation you do not necessarily have to choose the same number of numbers.

Problem No. 28
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
The first row of this table is completed with the numbers 1 to 10, in that order.
The second row is completed with the numbers 1 to 10, in any order.
In each box in the third row, write the sum of the two numbers written above.
Is there a way to complete the second row so that the unit figures of the numbers in the third row
are all different?

Problem No. 29
(VI Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
There are ten points marked on a circle. I number them from 1 to 10 and draw all the segments that
these points determine. I color the segments, some with red and others with blue. Without changing
the colors of the segments, I renumber all the points from 1 to 10.
Will it be possible to color the segments and renumber the points so that those numbers that were
linked with red are now linked with blue and the numbers that were linked with blue are now linked
with red?

Problem No. 30
(Variant of a problem proposed in the I May Olympiad, Second Level, 1995)
8 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Verónica, Ana and Gabriela placed in a round have fun with the following game: one of them
chooses a number and says it out loud; The one on your left divides it by its greatest divisor and
says the result out loud; The one on the left divides this last number by its greatest prime divisor
and says the result out loud, and so on. The winner will be the one who must say the number 1 out
loud, at which point the game ends.
Ana chose a number n greater than 50 and less than 100 and won. If I had chosen n + 1 I would
have won too.
Give all the numbers n that Ana could choose.

Level B
Problem No. 31
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
There are 12 points that are vertices of a regular 12-sided polygon. Rafael must draw segments that
have their two ends in two of the drawn points.
You are allowed for each point to be the end of more than one segment and for the segments to
intersect, but you are prohibited from drawing three segments that are the three sides of a triangle in
which each vertex is one of the 12 initial points.
Find the maximum number of segments that Rafael can draw and justify why he cannot draw a
greater number of segments.

Problem No. 32
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
Pedro and Cecilia participate in a game with the following rules:
Pedro chooses a positive integer a and Cecilia beats him if she finds a positive integer b, prime with
a, such that in the prime factorization of a 3 + b 3 at least three different prime factors appear.
Show that Cecilia can always win.

Problem No. 33
(Weekly problems, Argentina, 1995)
Decide whether or not it is possible to distribute the 16 numbers from 1 to 16 in the triangles in the
figure, so that the difference between the numbers placed in the neighboring triangles is worth 1 or
2.
Clarification: Neighboring triangles are those that have a side in common.
9 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 34
(VI Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
On a 5 x 5 chess board, two players play as follows: the first places a rook on a square. Then the
players alternately move the rook according to the usual chess move, starting from the second
player. It is not allowed to move the tower to any square that has already been visited. The player
who cannot move loses. Which of the two players has a winning strategy?

Problem No. 35
(Sweden Olympics)
Eight balls, numbered 1 to 8, are placed in a container like the one shown in the figure.

B1 B2

TO
1 7 8 3 6 4 2 5

The container can be opened at B1 and B2 where a ball can be taken out and placed through the
opening at A pushing the rest of the balls. Find out if, after a sequence of such operations, one can
arrange the balls in the order 1, 2, 3, ..., 8 starting from A.

Level C
Problem No. 36
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 1110, 1111 are written on a blackboard. Tom and Jerry delete the
numbers one by one alternately, starting with Tom, until only two numbers a and b remain (a > b).
Tom tries to make the value a - b as large as possible, while Jerry tries to make a - b as small as
possible. What are the possible values of a - b if Tom and Jerry play as best as possible?
10 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 37
(Chinese National Olympiad, 1996)
Find the smallest positive integer k such that every k-element subset of {1, 2, 3, ..., 50} contains
two elements c , d such that c + d divides cd .

Problem No. 38
(Bulgarian National Olympiad, 1996)
Given a 7 x 7 chess board from which the 4 corner squares have been removed. What is the smallest
number of boxes that we must color, such that a cross of 5 uncolored boxes cannot be found?

4. Equations and inequalities

Level A
Problem No. 39
(XXXIV Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, Local Phase, 1998)
A polynomial p(x) has integer coefficients, and for some integer a , it holds
p( a ) = p( a + 1) = p( a + 2)
Is there any integer k such that p( k ) = 8?

Problem No. 40
(XXXV Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, Local Phase, 1999)
Let a, b and c be non-zero real numbers (with non-zero sum) such that:

Proof that is also verified:

Problem No. 41
(XLII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1998)
Prove the inequality:
a 2 + b 2 + c 2 + d 2 + e 2 > ab + ac + ad + ae
where a, b, c, d, e  R .

Problem No. 42
11 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

(XLII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1998)

Solve the equation in R :

Problem No. 43
(XLIII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1999)
Find all the real numbers x 1 , x 2 , ..., x 1999 , which verify the following relations:
; ; ... , ; .

Level B
Problem No. 44
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
A square of side 1 is given. Show that for each finite set of points on the contour of the square, a
vertex of the square can be found with the following property: the arithmetic mean of the squares of
the distances from said vertex to the points of the set is greater than or equal to 3/4 .

Problem No. 45
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Determine all real x, y, z that satisfy the following system:

Problem No. 46
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Let x, y, z be positive real ones such that

,
prove that :

Problem No. 47
(XLVIII Polish Mathematics Olympiad, 1996)
12 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

The polynomial P (x) of degree n satisfies the following condition:

, for k = 1, 2, 4, 8, ..., 2 n .

Find P(0).

Problem No. 48
(Selective Test of Peru, VIII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1997)
Given the integers m and n such that 1  m < n, we consider a sequence x 1 , x 2 , ... , x n of real
numbers.
A number x i of this sequence is called a leader if there exists an integer p, 1  p  m such that x i +
x i+1 + ... + x i+p-1  0.
Assuming that the succession has leaders, show that the sum of all leaders is non-negative.

Level C
Problem No. 49
(Swedish Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)
Let a and b be real numbers and let

For what values of a and b are there three distinct real numbers x 1 , x 2 , x 3 such that f(x 1 ) = x 2 ,
f(x 2 ) = x 3 , f(x 3 ) = x 1 ?

Problem No. 50
(Selective Test of Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Show that if, for every non-zero integer n, there exists x  Z such that n divides x 2 + bx + c (b,c 
Z), then x 2 + bx + c = 0 have integer roots.
13 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem solutions

1. Maximum and minimum

Level A
Problem No. 1
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
Find the smallest positive integer n such that the 73 fractions

are all irreducible.

Solution No. 1
The fraction f = p / (n + (p + 2)) = p / (p + (n + 2)) ; p  {19, 20, 21, ... , 91} is irreducible if and
only if p is prime with (n + 2). It is easy to verify that for n = 1, 2, ..., 94 f is not irreducible for
some values of p.
For n = 95 f = p/ (p + (95 + 2)) = p / (p + 97) is irreducible for all p  {19, 20, ..., 91}, since 97 is a
prime number, It is prime with all the mentioned values of p.

Problem No. 2
(V May Olympiad, 1999)
Ana, Beatriz, Carlos, Diego and Emilia play a chess tournament.
Each player faces each of the other four only once.
Each player scores 2 points if they win the match, 1 point if they tie and 0 points if they lose.
At the end of the tournament, it turns out that the scores of the 5 players are all different.
Find the maximum number of ties that could have occurred in the tournament and justify why there
could not have been a greater number of ties.
Solution No. 2
Number of matches = 10
If there had been 10, 9 or 8 ties, there would always be two people with the same number of points.
With 7 ties:
A tied with B
A tied with C
A beat D
A beat E
B tied with C
14 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

B tied with D
B beat E
C tied with D
C tied with E
D tied with E
With these results the scores are:
A: 6 points
B: 5 points
C: 4 points
D: 3 points
E: 2 points

Problem No. 3
(IV May Olympiad, 1998)
There are four boats on one of the banks of the river; Their names are Eight, Four, Two and One,
because that is the number of hours it takes each of them to cross the river. You can tie one boat to
another, but not more than one, and then the time it takes them to cross is equal to that of the slower
of the two boats. A single sailor must take all the boats to the other shore. What is the shortest
amount of time you need to complete the move?
Solution No. 3
There must be at least 3 outward trips and 2 return trips. At least one of the trips takes 8 hours.
CASE I :
If the other two outbound trips take two hours, then boat 1 and boat 2 have crossed the river in the
outward direction twice, so those boats must each return on one of the return trips. The total time is
at least 15 hours:
Going: 8 + 2 + 2 = 12
Lap: 2+1=3
CASE II :
If one of the one-way trips takes at least two hours while the other takes at least four hours, we
obtain that the minimum one-way time is equal to (8 + 4 + 2) = 14 hours. As each return trip takes
at least an hour, the total return time is at least 2 hours. The total time in this case is at least 16
hours.
We have proven that the total time is less than or equal to 15. Now, we show that it is indeed
possible to achieve a total time of 15 hours:
2, 1
1
8, 4
2
2, 1
15 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 4
(XVI Argentine Mathematical Olympiad, Intercollegiate Competition, 1999)
Let a, b, c, d, e be consecutive natural numbers such that a + b + c + d + e is a perfect cube and b +
c + d is a perfect square. Find the minimum possible value of c.
Solution No. 4
By data:
a+b+c+d+e=m3
5c = m 3 (1)
Also:
b+c+d=n2
3c = n 2 (2)
From (1) and (2), c must be a multiple of 3 and 5. Since c is minimum, it must only be a multiple of
3 and 5:
C = 3  . 5
Of 1):
 = 3p;  =3q-1
From (2):
 = 2r-1;  =2s
The smallest positive integers that satisfy these conditions are  = 3,  = 2. Therefore:
c = 3 3 .5 2 = 675

Problem No. 5
(XV Argentine Mathematical Olympiad, National Competition, 1998)
Leandro chooses a natural number n and does the following:

calculate a = n 2 + 5 ;
calculate b = (n+1) 2 + 5 ;
Find the greatest common factor between a and b and write this greatest common factor on the
board.
What is the largest number you can write down?
Solution No. 5
We know that:
GCD (a,b) = GCD (a, b - a)
16 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

GCD (a,b) = GCD (n 2 + 5, 2n+1)

But how:
4 (n 2 + 5) – (2n-1).(2n+1) = 21
We can see that the greatest common divisor of (n 2 + 5) and (2n + 1) must also be divisor of 21.
Therefore, the greatest common factor will still be one of the following values: 1, 3, 7 or 21.
For n = 10:
GCD (a, b) = GCD (105, 126) = 21
Therefore, the maximum value that Leandro can score is 21.

Level B
Problem No. 6
(Variant of a problem proposed in the XXXIII Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, 1997)
A square of side 5 is divided into 25 unit squares by lines parallel to the sides. Let A be the set of 16
interior points, which are vertices of the unit squares but are not on the sides of the initial square.
What is the greatest number of points of A that it is possible to choose such that any three of them
are not vertices of a right triangle?
Solution No. 6
We can have 6 points located as follows:

where there are no three that form a right triangle. It can be verified that if we have 7 points or
more, there are still three that form a right triangle. To do this, we number the columns and rows
with the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. We know that in any case there will be a column with 4, 3 or 2
points considered. We analyze the following cases:
CASE I : If the four points in column i are considered, a right triangle will be formed with any other
point.
CASE II : If exactly three points from column i are considered, at most we can locate three
additional points in the row in which a point from column i has not been considered.
17 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

CASE III : If exactly two points in column i are considered, we are not considering the other two
points in said column, for example, in rows p, q.
If there are also two points in any of the remaining columns, these should belong to rows p, q to
avoid the formation of right triangles. But if this were the case, no other point could be located.
If only one point is located in each of the 3 columns other than column i, then there are at most five
points in total.

Finally, it is only possible to locate a maximum of 6 points with the conditions of the problem.

Problem No. 7
(Dutch Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)
Assume that V = {1, 2, 3, ..., 24, 25}. Prove that any subset of V with 17 or more elements contains
at least two distinct numbers whose product is the square of an integer.
Solution No. 7
The maximum number of elements that M can have is 16. For example, the following set does not
present two elements whose product is a square:
M = {1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23}
If we divide the elements of V into the following 16 groups:
1, 4, 9, 16, 25
2, 8, 18
3, 12
5, 20
6, 24
7
10
11
13
14
15
17
19
21
22
23
18 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

where the product of any two elements of the same group is a square, we conclude that if V has 17
elements or more, there will be two elements of V in the same group and the product of said
numbers will be a perfect square.

Problem No. 8
Write 1999 as the product of positive integers, in such a way that the product of said numbers is the
greatest possible.
Solution No. 8
We know that for every integer at  4, it holds that:
a  (a – 2).2
Therefore, none of the chosen numbers will be greater than or equal to 4. We will only choose
numbers 1, 2 or 3. But how:
2.2.2 < 3.3
1.1 < 2
1.3 < 2.2
1.2 < 3
So, to make 1999, the number 1 cannot appear and the number 2 cannot appear more than twice:
1999 = 3 + 3 + 3 + ... + 3 + 3 + 2 + 2

Problem No. 9
(Weekly problems, Argentina, 1995)
With 40 matches the following figure is formed:

The figure has 16 1x1 squares, 9 2x2 squares, 4 3x3 squares, and one 4x4 square.
Determine the minimum number of matches that must be removed so that the resulting figure does
not have any squares of any size.
Solution No. 9
Let p be the number of matches that need to be removed.
For each match removed, at most two 1 x 1 squares disappear. Then, to disappear all the 1 x 1
squares, you must remove at least 8 matches:
p8
But if we manage to disappear all the 1 x 1 squares by removing 8 matches, then none of them were
on the border of the square, so the 4 x 4 square still does not disappear. Therefore, necessarily:
19 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

p9
With p = 9, there is a solution:

Problem No. 10
(XLIII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1999)
On a board of dimension 1999x1999 some of the 1x1 squares are colored in such a way that each
row and each column has exactly one colored square. Prove that each square of 1000 x 1000
squares on the board contains at least one colored square.
Solution No. 10
A 999 x 999 square does not necessarily have a colored square. For example, if we color the 1999
squares located on the diagonal that crosses the board from the upper left corner to the lower right
corner, we can see that the 999 x 999 square located in the upper right corner does not have any
colored squares.
Suppose there was a 1000 x 1000 square without any colored squares:

In the area marked A there should be 1000 colored squares (one for each column) and in area B
there should be 1000 colored squares (one for each row). This is absurd, since there are only 1999
colored squares.
20 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Level C
Problem No. 11
(Czechoslovakian Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)
A 19 x 19 board contains integers such that any two numbers in neighboring squares differ by at
most 2. Find the greatest number of different numbers that can be placed on the board (two squares
are considered neighbors if they have a side in common).
Solution No. 11
Many times within a problem we can make definitions that simplify the explanation of the problem.
For example, in this problem we will assign an ordered pair of positive integers (f, c) to each box; 1
 f, c  19 which we will call “coordinates” of the box which tells us that said box is located in row “f”
and in column “c”. Likewise, it will be very useful to define the concept of “distance between boxes”
in the following way: If we have two boxes with coordinates (f 1 ,c 1 ) and (f 2 ,c 2 ), the distance
between them will be equal to |f 1 - f 2 | + |c 1 - c 2 |.
Therefore, two neighboring numbers have a distance of 1 and their maximum difference is 2. From
this we deduce that the greatest difference between two numbers that are in boxes that are distant
from d is equal to 2 d . Then, since the greatest distance between 2 squares is between those
located at (1,1) and (19,19), which is equal to 36, the greatest difference between any two numbers
on our board will be 72 and, therefore Therefore, the maximum number of different numbers that
can exist on the board is 73.

CASE I : Suppose you have 73 different integers on the board.

Let the numbers be: a 1 <a 2 < ... < a 73 . Necessarily 73 and 1 will be at the ends of one of
the diagonals of the board. But the distance between the square where 1 is located (one vertex) and
the square where 72 is located (which is not located at the opposite vertex) will be at most 35 and
their difference would be at most 70. But at 72 - at 1  71, which leads to a contradiction. Therefore,
this case cannot occur.

CASE II : Suppose you have 72 different integers on the board.

Let the numbers be: a 1 <a 2 < ... < a 72 . Necessarily, 72 and 1 will be found at the ends of
one of the diagonals of the board, since their difference at 72 - at 1  71. Since a 72 -a 2  70, then
the distance between the vertex square where a 72 is located and the square where a 2 is located is
at least 35. Since it cannot be 36, then said distance will necessarily be 35, which indicates that a 2

will be located next to a 1 . Analogously, by comparing 1 with 71 , we show that 71 is next to 72 . We

now observe that the distance between 2 and 71 is equal to 34. This contradicts a 71 - a 2  69 > 2.34.
Then, we have shown that this case cannot occur either.

CASE III : Suppose you can have 71 different numbers on the board.
21 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

We see that in this case the numbers can be distributed in the following way:
which is formed by putting the first 19 odd numbers in the left column and forming the rest of the
columns by
adding 2
units to the
previous
column,
except for
the second
and last
column
which are
obtained by
adding only
one to the
previous
column.

In general, it is demonstrated by the same procedure that for an nxn board, n  3, the
greatest number of different numbers that I can locate is (4n - 5).

Problem No. 12
(Irish National Olympiad, 1996)
On a 5 x 9 chess board, the following game is played. Initially, a number of disks are randomly
placed in some of the squares, no more than one disk per square. On each turn all disks move
according to the following rules:
(iv) Each disc can be moved one square up, down, left or right;
(v) If a disc moves up or down on one turn, that disc must move left or right on the next turn,
and vice versa;
(vi) At the end of each turn, no square must contain 2 or more discs.
The game ends if it is impossible to complete another turn. Prove that if 33 discs are initially placed
on the board, the game will end after a certain number of turns. Also prove that it is possible to
place 32 discs on the board in such a way that the game can continue indefinitely.
Solution No. 12
22 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 13
(Russian Olympiad, 1996)
Can a 5 x 7 chess board be covered by L's (figures formed from a 2 x 2 square from which one of its
4 1 x 1 corners is removed), without leaving the limits of the board, in several layers in such a way
that each square of the board is covered by the same number of L's?
Solution No. 13

2. Divisibility
Level A
Problem No. 14
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
A three-digit natural number is called tricubic if it is equal to the sum of the cubes of its digits.
Find all pairs of consecutive numbers such that both are tricubic.
Solution No. 14

Problem No. 15
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
The positive integer N has 1994 digits. Of these, 14 are equal to zero and the numbers of times the
other figures appear: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, are in the ratio 1:2:3:4:5 :6:7:8:9, respectively.
Show that N is not a perfect square.
Solution No. 15
By data, the number of zero digits is 14. So the number of non-zero digits is 1994 - 14 = 1980.
Let k be the number of ones in N. Then, the number of digits 2 will be 2k, the number of digits 3
will be 3k, ..., the number of digits 9 will be 9k.
So, since N has 1980 non-zero digits.
1980 = k + 2k + 3k + ... + 9k
1980 = 45k
k = 44 (1)
Then, let's find the sum of digits S of N:
23 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

We see that the sum of the digits of N is 12540, which is a multiple of 3, but is not a multiple of 9.
So, if N were equal to k 2 , with N being a multiple of 3, k would have to be a multiple of 3; but in
this case k 2 = N would have to be a multiple of 9, which does not happen. Therefore N cannot be a
perfect square.

Problem No. 16
Determine the smallest integer whose decimal representation consists only of 1's and that is
divisible by the number 333...333 made up of 100 digits equal to 3.
Solution No. 16

Problem No. 17
(Selective Test of Argentina, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
We consider the integers n, 1  n  100. For what values of n is there at least one natural number of
n digits that is an odd multiple of 13 and has the sum of the digits equal to 4?
Solution No. 17
CASE I : If n  5: Since 1001 is a multiple of 13, the number
N = 1001.10 n-4 + 1001
is an odd number of n digits that is a multiple of 13 and whose sum of digits is 4. Then, for all n  5
the requested condition is fulfilled.
CASE II : If n = 1, 2 or 3: Let's see what are the odd numbers of 1, 2 or 3 digits with sum of digits
equal to 4:
13, 31, 103, 121, 211, 301.
Of them, only 13 is a multiple of 13.
We find solution only for n = 2.
CASE III : If n = 4. Suppose that there exists the odd number S of 4 digits with sum of digits 4 and
that it is a multiple of 13. Then, if S ends in the figure 3, N would have to be equal to 1003 to
24 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

comply with the sum of figures equal to 4, but this number does not comply with being a multiple
of 13. Therefore S ends in 1.
If we subtract 1001 from S, we should have another number multiple of 13 that ends in zero and
whose sum of digits is 2. The only numbers of at most 4 digits that end in zero and have a sum of 2
digits are 20, 110, 200, 1010, 1100 and 2000. But since none of them are multiples of 13, then there
is no solution for n = 4.
Finally, we conclude that only for n  {2, 5, 6, 7, 8, ..., 100} there is at least one n-digit number that
is an odd multiple of 13.

Problem No. 18
(Baltic Olympiad, 1998)
Find all pairs of positive integers x , y that satisfy the following equation:
2 x 2 + 5 y 2 = 11.( xy – 11)
Solution No. 18

Ordering properly:
2x 2 – 11 xy + 5y 2 = -121
(2x – y) (x – 5y) = -121
Since x, y are positive we can see that (2x – y) > (x – 5y). Therefore, we have three possibilities:
CASE I : (2x – y) = 121; (x – 5y) = -1
CASE II : (2x – y) = 11; (x – 5y) = -11
CASE III : (2x – y) = 1; (x – 5y) = -121
By solving the three systems of equations, we only obtain integer solutions in case III:
x = 14; y = 27

Level B
Problem No. 19
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
Let p be a given positive real number.
3 3
Find the minimum value of x +y knowing that x and y are positive real numbers such that
xy(x+y)=p.
Solution No. 19
Let's call M the expression to minimize
M = x 3 + y 3 = (x + y)(x 2 - xy + y 2 )
25 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

M = (x + y)  (x + y) 2 - 3xy 
M= (x + y) 3 - 3xy (x + y)
As:
p = xy (x + y)
M = (x + y) 3 - 3p (1)
But:

(x + y)  2 (equality with x = y)

(x + y)  2

(x + y) 3 / 2  2
(x + y) 3  4p (equality with x = y) (2)

From (2) to (1)

M  p (equality with x = y)
Finally, the minimum value of M = x 3 + y 3 is p, which occurs when x = y.

Problem No. 20
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
Let A be a six-digit number, three of which are colored and are equal to 1, 2 and 4.
Show that it is always possible to obtain a number that is a multiple of 7, carrying out only one of
the following operations: either delete the three colored figures, or write all the figures of A in some
order.
Solution No. 20

Problem No. 21
(VII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1996)
It is intended to completely cover a square of side k (k integer greater than one) with the following
n
rectangles: 1 rectangle of 1 x 1, 2 rectangles of 2 x 1, 4 rectangles of 3 x 1, ..., 2 rectangles of
(n+1)x1, in such a way that the rectangles do not overlap or exceed the limits of the square.
Find all values of k for which this is possible and, for each value of k found, draw a solution.
Solution No. 21
26 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

First of all we will find the values of k such that the area of the square of area k2 is equal to the sum
of the areas of 1 1 x 1 rectangle, 2 2 x 1 rectangles, 4 3 x 1 rectangles, . .., 2 n rectangles of (n + 1) x
1. Then, from the values of k obtained, I will keep those that allow me to place the rectangles
without overlaps on the board.
So :

(1)
Be

But S we can express it as the sum of the following (n+1) partial sums:

=
.......... ......

=
Therefore, S will be equal to:

Where from :

(2)
Replacing (2) in (1) :

(3)
Equation (3) is a Diophantine equation with two variables n, k with k > 0, n  0. Testing for n = 0,
1, 2, 3 we find the following two solutions:
k = 1, n = 0
k = 7, n = 3
Now, we will show that there is no solution for n > 3.
27 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Since (k + 1) and (k - 1) differ by two, they will both be odd numbers or even numbers. They
cannot be odd, since their product is a multiple of two. Then, (k +1) and (k -1) will both be even.
Then, since the difference of (k +1) and (k -1) is two, then being both even, they will have a

maximum common divisor of two. Then, one between (k +1) and (k -1) will be a multiple of and
the other will be a multiple of 2. But it is easy to prove by induction that for n > 3:

So, in (3), cannot have two factors that differ in two, and one of them is a multiple of .
Therefore, the only probable solutions will be:

We note that the product of (k + 1) and (k - 1) is a multiple of . A trivial solution is k =1, n = 0;

If k > 1, both numbers (k + 1) and (k - 1) must be powers of 2 differentiated by 2, with the only
possible values being 4 and 2. So the only two possible solutions are:
k = 1, n = 0
k = 7, n = 3
We also see that in both cases it is feasible to divide the square into rectangles as shown in the
following diagram.

That is, k = 1 and k = 7 are the only solutions to the problem.

Problem No. 22
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Determine all non-negative integers x, y, z such that:
2x+3y=z2
Solution No. 22
Since 2 x + 3 y is not a multiple of 3, then z is not a multiple of 3 either. This means that z 2
is a
multiple of 3 plus one. Then also 2 x must be a multiple of 3 plus one, which means x must be even:
28 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

x = 2a (1)
Replacing (1) into the original equation:
3 y = z 2 - 2 2a = (z + 2 a )(z - 2 a )
But both (z + 2 a ), (z - 2 a ) are not multiples of three, since (z + 2 a ) - (z - 2 a ) = 2 a+1
is not a
multiple of 3. So necessarily:
(z - 2a ) = 1 (2)
(z + 2 a ) = 3 and (3)
From (2) and (3):
2 a+1 +1= 3 and (4)
From (4), we see that 2 a+1 must be a multiple of 3 plus two, so a must necessarily be even:
a = 2b (5)
CASE I : If a = 0, we get y = 1. With this: x = 0, z = 2.
CASE II : If a  2, 3 and must be a multiple of 4 plus one, so y must be even:
y = 2c (6)
Replacing (6) in (4):
2 a+1 = (3 c + 1)(3 c - 1) (7)
We see that both (3 c + 1), (3 c - 1) must be powers of 2 that differ by two. Therefore :
( 3c + 1) = 4 (8)
( 3c - 1) = 2 (9)
From (8) and (9), we get c = 1. Then, a = 2, y = 2, x = 4, z = 5.
Finally, the Diophantine equation has solutions:
x = 0, y = 1, z = 2
x = 4, y = 2, z = 5

Problem No. 23
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Determine all positive integers x, y, z such that:
x<y<z
and also

be whole.
Solution No. 23
29 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

By multiplying the three given numbers, we must also obtain an integer:

Therefore, the following expression must also be an integer:

(1)

CASE I : If x = 1. For this case, substituting x = 1 in (1), we obtain that the following number must
be an integer:

M=

For y = 2, z = 3, we have M = 1. But for other values 1 < y < z, we will have M < 1. Therefore, after
verification, we conclude that in this case the only solution to the problem is:
x = 1, y = 2, z = 3. (2)
CASE II : If x = 2. For this case, substituting x = 2 in (1), we obtain that the following number
must be an integer:

N= (3)

Testing for y = 3, z = 4 ; y = 3, z= 5 ; y = 3, z = 6; y = 3, z = 7, we obtain, after verification, as a

solution:
x = 2, y = 3, z = 7 (4)
Furthermore, for y = 3 , z  7, expression (3) for N is less than one.
If y  4, we will have z  5, and also the expression (3) of N is less than one.
CASE III : If x  3, we will have y  4, z  5, and the expression in (1) is less than or equal to
one:

Therefore, in this case, there is no solution that satisfies the problem conditions. Finally (2) and (4)
are the only solutions to the problem.

Level C
Problem No. 24
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
30 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

On each of n cards (n > 2) a figure is written. Arranging the n cards in all possible ways we obtain
n! natural (some possibly the same). Is it possible that the product of those n! natural have only
digits 1 in their decimal representation?
Solution No. 24
Suppose you have the n cards written with figures in such a way that the product of the n! Numbers
formed by permuting these cards have all their digits equal to one. (*)
Since the product has the last digit 1, then an even number cannot be written on any of the cards,
because the result of the product would be even, which does not happen. Therefore the only figures
that can be written on the cards are 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. In a similar way, we deduce that five cannot be
written on any of the cards, otherwise the product of the n! numbers would end in five. In
conclusion we have that the only figures used on the cards are 1, 3, 7, and 9.
Since each cardboard is used the same number of times in the n! numbers, each of them is located
as the last digit in (n-1)! numbers, where n  3. Therefore in the expansion of (n-1) ! the number 2
necessarily appears, that is, (n-1)! It's even.
i) If we have a card where 1 is written, we have that the last two figures of the numbers
formed with this card at the end can be 11, 31, 71, 91. All of them are equal to -1 (mod 4). But since
the number of numbers that have this card as the last one is even, it turns out that the product of the
numbers that have a card with 1 written on it is congruent with +1 modulo 4.
ii) If we have a card where 3 is written, we have that the last two figures of the numbers
formed with this card at the end can be 13, 33, 73, 93. All of them are equal to +1 (mod 4). Then,
the product of the numbers that have a cardboard with 3 written on it, is congruent with +1 modulo
4.
In a similar way to the two previous cases we obtain:
iii) The product of the numbers that have a card with 7 written on it, is congruent with +1
modulo 4.
iv) The product of the numbers that have a cardboard with 7 written on it, is congruent with +1
in module 4.

From what was demonstrated in (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), we observe that the product of all n! numbers
must necessarily be congruent with +1 (mod 4). But the result ends in 11, which indicates that the
product is congruent with -1 (mod 4). Having reached a contradiction, we conclude that the
assumption in (*) is false, that is, you cannot have n cards (n>2) written with figures in such a way
that the product of the n! Numbers formed by permuting these cards have all their digits equal to
one.
31 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 25
(Selective Test of Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Let k > 1 be a natural number. Prove that it is impossible to distribute the numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., k 2 in
the squares of a kxk board, so that the sums of the numbers written in each row and in each column
are all powers of 2.
Solution No. 25

3. Strategies
Level A
Problem No. 26
(V May Olympiad, First Level, 1999)
On each step of a 10-step ladder there is a frog.
Each one of them can, in one jump, place itself on another step, but when it does so, at the same
time, another frog will jump the same number of steps in the opposite direction: one goes up and the
other goes down. Will the frogs manage to get all together on the same step?
Solution No. 26

Problem No. 27
(VII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1996)
The sequence 0, 1, 1, 1, ..., 1 contains 1996 numbers, the first being zero and all the rest being ones.
Any two or more numbers are chosen from the sequence (but not the entire sequence) and one of
them is replaced by the arithmetic mean of the chosen numbers, thus obtaining a new sequence of
1996 numbers.
Prove that, by repeating this operation, it is possible to obtain a sequence in which the 1996
numbers are equal.
NOTE: In each operation you do not necessarily have to choose the same number of numbers.
Solution No. 27
There are several ways to get what you requested:

First Solution :
32 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

To represent the changes in the sequence, we will underline the numbers chosen to be replaced by
their arithmetic mean:
First we choose the first two numbers:

0 1 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

0,5 0,5 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

Then, we choose the numbers located in positions 1, 3, 5, ..., 1995, which are a total of 998
numbers, obtaining an arithmetic mean of:

obtaining another new sequence of numbers:

0 1 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

0,5 0,5 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

0,5 1 1 ...... 1

Finally, we choose the numbers of the even positions: 2, 4, 6, ..., 1996, finally obtaining:

0 1 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

0,5 0,5 1 1 1 1 ...... 1 1

0,5 1 1 ...... 1

......
33 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

with which the demonstration is concluded.

Second Solution:
In this case we will first choose the initial 998 numbers. Then we will choose, in successive
operations, the pairs of numbers in positions 1 and 999; 2 and 1000; 3 and 1001; ... ; 998 and 1996,
as shown in the following diagram, where in the first row, the positions of each of the numbers
appear:
34 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

1° 2° 3° 997° 998° 999° 1000° 1001° ...... 1996°

0 1 1 ...... 1 1 1 1 1 ...... 1

...... 1 1 1 ...... 1

...... 1 1 ...... 1

...... 1 ...... 1

...... ..... ..... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ......

...... ..... ..... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ......

...... ......

With which the demonstration is concluded. It is important to note that while in the first solution the
operation was performed 3 times, in this second solution, it was performed 999 times, both being
correct.

Problem No. 28
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
The first row of this table is completed with the numbers 1 to 10, in that order.
The second row is completed with the numbers 1 to 10, in any order.
In each box in the third row, write the sum of the two numbers written above.
Is there a way to complete the second row so that the unit figures of the numbers in the third row
are all different?
35 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Solution No. 28
We will show that it is not possible due to a false assumption.
The units digit of the sum of the numbers in the third row is given by the sum 0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5
+ 6 + 7 + 8+ 9 = 45, that is, the units digit of said sum must be 5. However, the number of units can
also be found by adding the 20 numbers arranged in the first two rows, that is, 2 (0 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
5 + 6 + 7 + 8+ 9) = 90, That is, said number of units must be equal to zero. Since this figure cannot
be 5 and 0 at the same time, the numbers cannot be completed in the manner requested by the
problem.

Problem No. 29
(VI Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
There are ten points marked on a circle. I number them from 1 to 10 and draw all the segments that
these points determine. I color the segments, some with red and others with blue. Without changing
the colors of the segments, I renumber all the points from 1 to 10.
Will it be possible to color the segments and renumber the points so that those numbers that were
linked with red are now linked with blue and the numbers that were linked with blue are now linked
with red?
Solution No. 29

The number of segments will be = 45.

Then the initial coloring will give:

_ R red lines.
_ Blue lines.

But like: R + A = 45.

Then: R  A .........(1) (since 45 is odd)

For the condition to be met, all the numbers that were joined by the colored line
36 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

red must now join with blue lines and vice versa, it means that the number of lines of
color red and blue are the same, but because of (1) this is absurd.

Therefore, it is not possible that the numbering and coloring proposed in the problem can be carried out.

Problem No. 30
(Variant of a problem proposed in the I May Olympiad, Second Level, 1995)
Verónica, Ana and Gabriela placed in a round have fun with the following game: one of them
chooses a number and says it out loud; The one on your left divides it by its greatest prime divisor
and says the result out loud; The one on the left divides this last number by its greatest prime
divisor and says the result out loud, and so on. The winner will be the one who must say the number
1 out loud, at which point the game ends.
Ana chose a number n greater than 50 and less than 100 and won. If I had chosen n + 1 I would
have won too.
Give all the numbers n that Ana could choose.
Solution No. 30
Each number that is spoken has one prime factor less than the previous one. For this reason, for Ana
to choose a number and she wins, she must choose a number that has a number of prime factors
multiple of 3. For example, if Ana chooses the number 360 = 5.3.3.2.2.2, which has 6 prime factors,
she will win, and the game will play out as follows:
Ana says: 360
Veronica says: 72
Gabriela says: 24
Ana says: 8
Veronica says: 4
Gabriela says: 2
Ana says: 1 (End of the game; Ana wins)

Finally, we must find which numbers n between 50 and 100 satisfy that both n and ( n +1) have a
number of prime divisors that is a multiple of 3. The only ones that comply are n = 63, n = 98:

n = 63: 63 = 7.3.3
64 = 2.2.2.2.2.2
n = 98: 98 = 7.7.2
37 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

99 = 11.3.3

Level B
Problem No. 31
(V May Olympiad, Second Level, 1999)
There are 12 points that are vertices of a regular 12-sided polygon. Rafael must draw segments that
have their two ends in two of the drawn points.
You are allowed for each point to be the end of more than one segment and for the segments to
intersect, but you are prohibited from drawing three segments that are the three sides of a triangle in
which each vertex is one of the 12 initial points.
Find the maximum number of segments that Rafael can draw and justify why he cannot draw a
greater number of segments.
Solution No. 31

Problem No. 32
(V Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1995)
Pedro and Cecilia participate in a game with the following rules:
Pedro chooses a positive integer a and Cecilia beats him if she finds a positive integer b, prime with
a, such that in the prime factorization of a 3 + b 3 at least three different prime factors appear.
Show that Cecilia can always win.
Solution No. 32

We know that the series of prime numbers is infinite, so let P 1 , P 2 , P 3 (a  P 1  P 2  P 3 ),

the first three numbers greater than a.

As:
M = a 3 + b 3 = (a + b) (a 2 - ab + b 2 )

If Cecilia chooses:
b=P1.Q2.P3-a

We will get:
M =  a + (P 1 . Q 2 . P 3 - a)   a 2 - ab + b 2 
38 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

M = P 1 . Q 2 . P 3 (a 2 - ab + b 2 )

And therefore the expression M will contain at least three different primes.

Problem No. 33
(Weekly problems, Argentina, 1995)
Decide whether or not it is possible to distribute the 16 numbers from 1 to 16 in the triangles in the
figure, so that the difference between the numbers placed in the neighboring triangles is worth 1 or
2.
Clarification: Neighboring triangles are those that have a side in common.

Solution No. 33
It is not possible to make such a distribution. By condition of the problem, the greatest difference
between the numbers written in two neighboring triangles is 2. Also, the greatest difference between
the numbers located in two triangles, one of which is a neighbor of the neighbor of the other, is
equal to 4, for example, in the graph, the greatest difference between a and b is 4.

t
o

With similar reasoning, it is observed that the greatest difference between the numbers written in
any two triangles is 12 units (considering the furthest triangles). But since the difference between
the numbers 1 and 16 is 15  12, it will not be possible to locate the 16 numbers respecting the
requested conditions.
39 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Problem No. 34
On a 5 x 5 chess board, two players play as follows: the first places a rook on a square. Then the
players alternately move the rook according to the usual chess move, starting from the second
player. It is not allowed to move the tower to any square that has already been visited. The player
who cannot move loses. Which of the two players has a winning strategy?
Solution No. 34

Problem No. 35
(Sweden Olympics)
Eight balls, numbered 1 to 8, are placed in a container like the one shown in the figure.

B1 B2

TO
1 7 8 3 6 4 2 5

The container can be opened at B1 and B2 where a ball can be taken out and placed through the
opening at A pushing the rest of the balls. Find out if, after a sequence of such operations, one can
arrange the balls in the order 1, 2, 3, ..., 8 starting from A.
Solution No. 22

Level C
Problem No. 36
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)

The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, ..., 1110, 1111 are written on a blackboard. Tom and Jerry delete the
numbers one by one alternately, starting with Tom, until only two numbers a and b remain (a > b).
Tom tries to make the value a - b as large as possible, while Jerry tries to make a - b as small as
possible. What are the possible values of a - b if Tom and Jerry play as best as possible?
Solution No. 36
40 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Since there are 1111 = 2,555 +1 numbers, Tom will choose 555 numbers to delete, while Jerry will
choose 554 numbers.
If Jerry chooses a strategy by which he always deletes the smallest number available, in the end at
least the first 554 numbers must have been deleted and the maximum difference that can be had will
be the one between the numbers 1111 and 555, that is, Jerry can guarantee that the difference is at
most 556.
If Tom chooses 556 as the first number, then there will be two groups of numbers of equal size that
have not yet been deleted: those less than 556 and those greater than 556. Jerry necessarily deletes a
number from either group. Then, Tom will choose a number that belonged to the other group but is
consecutive to 556 (that is, if Jerry chooses a number less than 556, Tom will choose 557.
Otherwise, Tom will choose the number 555 to be deleted). In this way, Tom has a group of two
deleted numbers which has 554 upper numbers and 554 lower numbers not yet deleted. Tom will
proceed in the same way, taking care to have the same number of undeleted numbers both greater
than and less than his group of consecutive deleted numbers. In the end, the group of consecutive
deleted numbers must be at least 555 deleted numbers (since Tom chooses a total of 555 numbers),
with an undeleted number greater than this group, and also a number smaller than the group that has
not been deleted. The difference between these two numbers is greater than or equal to 556, since
there are at least 555 deleted numbers between them. In this way, Tom guarantees obtaining a final
result greater than or equal to 556.
Finally, since Jerry can guarantee that the difference between the two final numbers is at most 556,
while Tom can guarantee that the difference is at least 556, we can conclude that, if they both play
as best as possible, the value of a - b that they will obtain will be equal to 556.

Problem No. 37
(Chinese National Olympiad, 1996)
Find the smallest positive integer k such that every k-element subset of {1, 2, 3, ..., 50} contains
two elements c , d such that c + d divides cd .
Solution No. 37

Problem No. 38
(Bulgarian National Olympiad, 1996)
Given a 7 x 7 chess board from which the 4 corner squares have been removed. What is the smallest
number of boxes that we must color, such that a cross of 5 uncolored boxes cannot be found?
41 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Solution No. 38

4. Equations and inequalities

Level A
Problem No. 39
(XXXIV Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, Local Phase, 1998)
A polynomial p(x) has integer coefficients, and for some integer a , it holds
p( a ) = p( a + 1) = p( a + 2)
Is there any integer k such that p( k ) = 8?
Solution No. 39

Problem No. 40
(XXXV Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, Local Phase, 1999)
Let a, b and c be non-zero real numbers (with non-zero sum) such that:

Proof that is also verified:

Solution No. 40

Problem No. 41
(XLII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1998)
Prove the inequality:
a 2 + b 2 + c 2 + d 2 + e 2  ab + ac + ad + ae
where a, b, c, d, e  R .
Solution No. 41
We know that a real number squared is greater than or equal to zero:
(a/2 – b) 2  0
(a/2 – c) 2  0
(a/2 – d) 2  0
42 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

(a/2 – e) 2  0
Adding up:
(a/2 – b) 2 + (a/2 – c) 2 + (a/2 – d) 2 + (a/2 – e) 2  0
4.(a/2)2 - (ab + ac + ad + ae) + (b 2 + c 2 + d 2 + e 2 )  0
a 2 + b 2 + c 2 + d 2 + e 2  ab + ac + ad + ae
with which the inequality is proven.

Problem No. 42
(XLII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1998)
Solve the equation in R :

Solution No. 42

Problem No. 43
(XLIII Mathematical Olympiad of Moldova, 1999)
Find all the real numbers x 1 , x 2 , ..., x 1999 , which verify the following relations:
; ; ... , ; .
Solution No. 43

Level B
Problem No. 44
(X Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1999)
A square of side 1 is given. Show that for each finite set of points on the contour of the square, a
vertex of the square can be found with the following property: the arithmetic mean of the squares of
the distances from said vertex to the points of the set is greater than or equal to 3/4 .
Solution No. 34

Problem No. 45
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Determine all real x, y, z that satisfy the following system:
43 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Solution No. 45
We see that if one of the unknowns takes the value of zero, then the other two also take the value of
zero. Then, a first solution is:

x=0;y=0;z=0 (1)
We then proceed to calculate the non-zero solutions. For this case we have to:

that is, and must comply with:

0 < and < 1
In analogous form for x , z :
0 < x < 1 ; 0 < z < 1.
From the expression:

We can get :

(2)

In analogous form, for the other two equations:

(3)

(4)

Multiplying (2), (3) and (4) :

But x , y , z are greater than zero. Then :

(5)
44 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

Applying the inequality between geometric and arithmetic means:

(6)

Also :

(7)

(8)

Multiplying (6), (7) and (8) :

Comparing this last inequality with equation (5), we observe that equality must necessarily be
fulfilled in the relations (6), (7) and (8). This is only true when:
x = (1 - x) ; y = (1 - y) ; z = (1 - z)
That is to say :

(9)

Finally, the solutions of the system are given by (1) and (9).

Problem No. 46
(Training Lists, Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Let x, y, z be positive real ones such that

,
prove that :

Solution No. 45
We make the following variable change:
(1)
and, replacing in the data:
m + n + p = 1 (2)
From (1), we also obtain:
(3)
45 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

(4)

Applying the inequality between the arithmetic mean and the geometric mean:

Using (2), we obtain:

(5)

Now, we will apply the inequality between the mean and the harmonic mean with weights:

With :

With (2) :

With (5) :

Finally, with (4) and (3) :

Problem No. 47
(XLVIII Polish Mathematics Olympiad, 1996)
46 AND. Valerian / Olympiad Problems: Number Theory and Algebra

The polynomial P (x) of degree n satisfies the following condition:

, for k = 1, 2, 4, 8, ..., 2 n .

Find P(0).
Solution No. 47

Problem No. 48
(Selective Test of Peru, VIII Olympiad of the Southern Cone, 1997)
Given the integers m and n such that 1  m < n, we consider a sequence x 1 , x 2 , ... , x n of real
numbers.
A number x i of this sequence is called a leader if there exists an integer p, 1  p  m such that x i +
x i+1 + ... + x i+p-1  0.
Assuming that the succession has leaders, show that the sum of all leaders is non-negative.

Level C
Problem No. 49
(Swedish Mathematical Olympiad, 1993)
Let a and b be real numbers and let

For what values of a and b are there three distinct real numbers x 1 , x 2 , x 3 such that f(x 1 ) = x 2 ,
f(x 2 ) = x 3 , f(x 3 ) = x 1 ?

Problem No. 50
(Selective Test of Brazil, VIII Southern Cone Olympiad, 1997)
Show that if, for every non-zero integer n, there exists x  Z such that n divides x 2 + bx + c (b,c 
Z), then x 2 + bx + c = 0 have integer roots.
Solution No. 50