Mathematics Stack Exchange
Mathematics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [contest-math]

For questions about mathematics competitions or the questions that typically appear in math competitions. Provide enough information about the source to confirm the question doesn't come from a live contest.

This tag is intended for

  1. Questions from mathematics competitions.
  2. Inquiries about alternative proofs for problems that are from math contests.
  3. Questions that have been inspired by a contest problem, including practice problems.
  4. Questions requesting advice on competing in contests.

See this list of mathematics competitions to get an idea of the types of questions this tag is for.

Mathematics StackExchange has a policy on questions from current competitions. Questions from ongoing competitions will be locked and temporarily deleted until the end of the contest. It is a good idea to include information about a contest, such as a link to the contest webpage.

10461 questions
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6 answers

A math contest problem $\int_0^1\ln\left(1+\frac{\ln^2x}{4\,\pi^2}\right)\frac{\ln(1-x)}x \ \mathrm dx$

A friend of mine sent me a math contest problem that I am not able to solve (he does not know a solution either). So, I thought I might ask you for help. Prove: $$\int_0^1\ln\left(1+\frac{\ln^2x}{4\,\pi^2}\right)\frac{\ln(1-x)}x…
Vladimir Reshetnikov
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144
votes
6 answers

Studying for the Putnam Exam

This is a question about studying for the Putnam examination (and, secondarily, other high-difficulty proof-based math competitions like the IMO). It is not about the history of the competition, the advisability of participating, the career…
Potato
  • 41,411
130
votes
16 answers

Olympiad Inequality $\sum\limits_{cyc} \frac{x^4}{8x^3+5y^3} \geqslant \frac{x+y+z}{13}$

$x,y,z >0$, prove $$\frac{x^4}{8x^3+5y^3}+\frac{y^4}{8y^3+5z^3}+\frac{z^4}{8z^3+5x^3} \geqslant \frac{x+y+z}{13}$$ Note: Often Stack Exchange asked to show some work before answering the question. This inequality was used as a proposal problem…
HN_NH
  • 4,511
122
votes
15 answers

Expected Number of Coin Tosses to Get Five Consecutive Heads

A fair coin is tossed repeatedly until 5 consecutive heads occurs. What is the expected number of coin tosses?
leava_sinus
  • 1,333
113
votes
2 answers

Find all functions $f$ such that if $a+b$ is a square, then $f(a)+f(b)$ is a square

Question: For any $a,b\in \mathbb{N}^{+}$, if $a+b$ is a square number, then $f(a)+f(b)$ is also a square number. Find all such functions. My try: It is clear that the function $$f(x)=x$$ satisfies the given conditions, since: …
math110
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108
votes
7 answers

What is the algebraic intuition behind Vieta jumping in IMO1988 Problem 6?

Problem 6 of the 1988 International Mathematical Olympiad notoriously asked: Let $a$ and $b$ be positive integers and $k=\frac{a^2+b^2}{1+ab}$. Show that if $k$ is an integer then $k$ is a perfect square. The usual way to show this involves a…
kdog
  • 1,247
98
votes
6 answers

Graph theoretic proof: For six irrational numbers, there are three among them such that the sum of any two of them is irrational.

Problem. Let there be six irrational numbers. Prove that there exists three irrational numbers among them such that the sum of any two of those irrational numbers is also irrational. I have tried to prove it in the following way, but I am not…
Arpon Basu
  • 1,241
95
votes
2 answers

A goat tied to a corner of a rectangle

A goat is tied to an external corner of a rectangular shed measuring 4 m by 6 m. If the goat’s rope is 8 m long, what is the total area, in square meters, in which the goat can graze? Well, it seems like the goat can turn a full circle of radius…
space
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93
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6 answers

Contest problem: Show $\sum_{n = 1}^\infty \frac{n^2a_n}{(a_1+\cdots+a_n)^2}<\infty$ s.t., $a_i>0$, $\sum_{n = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{a_n}<\infty$

The following is probably a math contest problem. I have been unable to locate the original source. Suppose that $\{a_i\}$ is a sequence of positive real numbers and the series $\displaystyle\sum_{n = 1}^\infty \frac{1}{a_n}$ converges. Show that…
Potato
  • 41,411
90
votes
1 answer

Determining answers to a true/false test by guessing optimally ($k2^{k-1}$ questions, $2^k$ attempts)

A student has to pass a exam, with $k2^{k-1}$ questions to be answered by yes or no, on a subject he knows nothing about. The student is allowed to pass mock exams who have the same questions as the real exam. After each mock exam the teacher tells…
Sergio
  • 3,519
89
votes
3 answers

Denesting radicals like $\sqrt[3]{\sqrt[3]{2} - 1}$

The following result discussed by Ramanujan is very famous: $$\sqrt[3]{\sqrt[3]{2} - 1} = \sqrt[3]{\frac{1}{9}} - \sqrt[3]{\frac{2}{9}} + \sqrt[3]{\frac{4}{9}}\tag {1}$$ and can be easily proved by cubing both sides and using $x = \sqrt[3]{2}$ for…
Paramanand Singh
  • 92,128
79
votes
5 answers

Drunk man with a set of keys.

I found this problem in a contest of years ago, but I'm not very good at probability, so I prefer to see how you do it: A man gets drunk half of the days of a month. To open his house, he has a set of keys with $5$ keys that are all very similar,…
iam_agf
  • 5,518
72
votes
2 answers

Let, $A\subset\mathbb{R}^2$. Show that $A$ can contain at most one point $p$ such that $A$ is isometric to $A \setminus \{p\}$.

A challenge problem from Sally's Fundamentals of Mathematical Analysis. Problem reads: Suppose $A$ is a subset of $\mathbb{R}^2$. Show that $A$ can contain at most one point $p$ such that $A$ is isometric to $A \setminus \{p\}$ with the usual…
David Bowman
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66
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11 answers

7 fishermen caught exactly 100 fish and no two had caught the same number of fish. Then there are three who have together captured at least 50 fish.

$7$ fishermen caught exactly $100$ fish and no two had caught the same number of fish. Prove that there are three fishermen who have captured together at least $50$ fish. Try: Suppose $k$th fisher caught $r_k$ fishes and that we…
nonuser
  • 91,557
66
votes
7 answers

$\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{4}}\frac{\tan^2 x}{1+x^2}\text{d}x$ on 2015 MIT Integration Bee

So one of the question on the MIT Integration Bee has baffled me all day today $$\int_{0}^{\frac{\pi}{4}}\frac{\tan^2 x}{1+x^2}\text{d}x$$ I have tried a variety of things to do this, starting with Integration By Parts Part 1 $$\frac{\tan…
Teh Rod
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