Category Archives: problem

2009-9 min or max

Suppose that * is an associative and commutative binary operation on the set of rational numbers such that 

  1. 0*0=0
  2. (a+c)*(b+c)=(a*b)+c for all rational numbers a,b,c.

Prove that either

  1. a*b=max(a,b) for all rational numbers a,b, or
  2. a*b=min(a,b) for all rational number a,b.
GD Star Rating
loading...

2009-6 Sum of integers of the fourth power

Prove that each positive integer x can be written as a sum of at most 53 integers to the fourth power. In other words, for every positive integer x, there exist \(y_1,y_2,\ldots,y_k\) with \(k\le 53\) such that \(x=\sum_{i=1}^k y_i^4\).

GD Star Rating
loading...

2009-3 Intersecting family

Let \(\mathcal F\) be a collection of subsets (of size r) of a finite set E such that \(X\cap Y\neq\emptyset\) for all \(X, Y\in \mathcal F\). Prove that there exists a subset S of E such that \(|S|\le (2r-1)\binom{2r-3}{r-1}\) and \(X\cap Y\cap S\neq\emptyset\) for all \(X,Y\in\mathcal F\).

GD Star Rating
loading...

2009-2 Sequence of Log

Let \(a_1<\cdots\) be a sequence of positive integers such that \(\log a_1, \log a_2,\log a_3,\cdots\) are linearly independent over the rational field \(\mathbb Q\). Prove that \(\lim_{k\to \infty} a_k/k=\infty\).

GD Star Rating
loading...