Each year, a special committee appointed by the Unione Matematica Italiana orga-

nizes the selection of students to form the Italian team to compete in the Interna-
tional Mathematical Olympiads: the “Progetto Olimpiadi della Matematica”.
The project is sponsored by the Italian Ministery for Education, University and
Research MIUR, Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca,
and is actively supported by a very large number of mathematics teachers through-
out the country.
The selection of students is in three stages:
1. I giochi di Archimede are held in midNovember in each participating school:
they consist of a collection of some twenty, twenty-five multiple choice prob-
lems. They are designed to be suitable for a vast number of students of all
kinds of schools (nearly all Italian schools take part in this) so that the ques-
tions require mainly a quick intuition, but possibly few technical abilities.
Different problems are set for junior students in the first two levels at high
school, and for senior students.
2. Le gare di febbraio are held in midFebruary in each of the one hundred math-
ematical zones which cover Italy. Only students with best results in “I giochi
di Archimede” take part in this. Problems include multiple choice problems,
others with a numeric answer, and yet others which require a mathematical
proof.
3. Le Olimpiadi Italiane della Matematica is the final stage where the best stu-
dents from each zone test their mathematical abilities with problems which
require both calcutions and proofs. It is held in the second weekend of May
in Cesenatico, on the Adriatic coast, south of Venice.
The present pamphlet collects all the problems given during the selection process
in view of the 2006 I.M.O. in Ljubljana. A grid with the bare answers appears at
the end of the first two section, where the reader may also find some hints. There
are complete solutions for the problems of the final stage and of the team selection
test.

Pisa, 11 June 2006 Marco Forti

chairman of the Committee
Progetto Olimpiadi della Matematica
I Giochi di Archimede
23 November 2005
Problems for junior students
1 How many digits does the number 23 · 54 · 105 have?
(A) 6 (B) 7 (C) 8 (D) 9 (E) none of the previous
√
2 1212 is equal √
to:
(A) 66 , (B) 122 3 , (C) 212 36 , (D) 612 , (E) none of the previous
3 What is the maximum value that the number a(b + c) − b(a + c) can have when
a, b and c are distinct integers greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to
10?
(A) 80 (B) 81 (C) 84 (D) 90 (E) 100
4 Grandma Lucy has brought a basket with 120 cherries for her three grandchildren,
four-year-old James, seven-year-old Martin and nine-year-old Gary. Lucy gives all
of the cherries to her grandchildren, using the following criterion to divide them
between them: she gives to each grandchild a number of cherries which is the age
of the child multiplied by a certain factor. This factor is the same for all three
grandchildren. How many cherries will James receive?
(A) 20 (B) 21 (C) 22 (D) 23 (E) 24
5 An atoll has a shape delimitated by two concentric circles, with radii 1km and
6km respectively. John and Mark are the only inhabitants of the atoll. After a
storm, which has destroyed both of their huts, they decide to rebuild them so that
the two huts are as far away from each other as possible while the straight path
that connects the two huts is completely on land. What will be distance between
the two
√ huts? (Assume √ that the two circumferences belong to the atoll.)
35 37 √ √ √
(A) km, (B) km, (C) 37km, (D) 2 35km, (E) 2 37km.
2 2
6 In a rectangular room the walls face the direction of the four cardinal points
and there are four doors which lead into the room. Three men are in the room and
they make the following statements. The first man says, “There are no doors on the
south wall.” The second man says, “There are only doors on the north wall.” The
third man says, “On each wall there is at most one door.” What can be determined,
given these statements?
(A) The first man’s statement is true (B) The second man’s statement in true
(C) The third man’s statement is true (C) At least one statement is false (D)
Nothing certain can be deduced from the given statements
7 At the end of a football championship in which 20 teams have participated, the
Mathematicians have won 19 matches, tied 12 matches and lost 7 matches. The
team’s coach notices that 19 = 12 + 7. For a generic team in the championship, we
indicate with (v, d, l) the triple consisting of, respectively, the number of victories,
draws and losses which the team has obtained in the championship. How many
2

distinct triples are there such that v = d + l? (Note: the triples are ordered, so, for
instance, (19, 12, 7) and (19, 7, 12) are to be considered distinct.)
(A) 19 (B) 20 (C) 38 (D) 40 (E) none of the previous
8 ABC is a right triangle and the catheti AB and AC are respectively 3m and 4m
long. Let B 0 and C 0 be points belonging to the sides AB and AC respectively, such
that the line B 0 C 0 is parallel to the line BC and the distance between the two lines
is 1m. The area of the triangle AB 0 C 0 is:
49 2 65 2 7
(A) m , (B) 2m2 , (C) m , (D) m2 , (E) none of the previous
24 24 2
9 For any natural number n, the product (n + 2)(n + 3)(2n + 5) is always divisible
by:
(A) 4 (B) 6 (C) 9 (D) 10 (E) 15
10 How many ordered pairs of integers (a, b) are there such that the sum a + b is
equal to the product ab?
(A) None (B) one (C) two (D) four (E) more than four
11 Frank finds an old combination padlock: the padlock is closed and to open it
he must align three digits in the correct order, every one of which can vary between
0 and 9. Frank does not remember the correct combination, but he is sure that
the sum of three digits is 10. How many tries will it take him, at most, to find the
correct combination?
(A) 61 (B) 63 (C) 65 (D) 67 (E) 69
12 In a triangle, for each pair of sides the two axes and the bisecting line of the
angle formed by the two sides intersect in the same point. We can state that:
(A) there are no triangles with this property (B) the triangle is equilateral (C)
the triangle has an angle of 30◦ (D) the triangle is a right triangle (E) the
triangle has an angle of 45◦
13 How many are the integers greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 100
which are equal to the square of the number of their positive divisors? (Remember:
among the divisors of a number there are also 1 and the number itself.)
(A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5
14 For every integer n between 10 and 90 (10 and 90 included), the product of
its digits is added to the sum of its digits, obtaining a new number S(n). For how
many integers n is S(n) equal to n?
(A) 8 (B) 9 (C) 10 (D) 11 (E) 12
15 We have two circles, one whose radius measures 1m and one whose radius
measures 3m. Knowing that there are two lines perpendicular to each other, each of
which is tangent to both circumferences, what is the minimal value that the distance
between
√ the centres√of the two circles
√ can have?
√ √ √
(A) 2m, (B) 2 2m, (C) ( 2 + 5)m, (D) 2 5m, (E) 4 2m
 3

16 Alex has not done his homework, and as a punishment his teacher makes him
write on a piece of paper all the numbers from 1 to 2005 (writing each number only
once). How many times will Alex have to write the digit 1?
(A) 1490 (B) 1491 (C) 1600 (D) 1601 (E) 1610

17 A square and the four circular arcs which have a side of

the square as a diameter are shown in the figure. The side
of the square measures 10m. What is the distance between
the points
√ A and B? √ √
(A)
√ 3( 6 − 1) m, (B) 5 m, (C) 5( 6 − 2) m, (D)
8( 3 − 1) m, (E) none of the previous
18 In a big office there are 84 employees, each one of which knows at least one
language between English and German. Moreover, 20% of those who speak English
also speak German, and 80% of those who speak German also speak English. how
many employees speak both languages?
(A) 12, (B) 14, (C) 15, (D) 16, (E) 18

19 In the figure to the side, how wide is the angle α?

(A) 70◦ (B) 75◦ (C) 80◦ (D) 90◦
(E) it cannot be determined
20 In each of the following chains of inequalities the same five numbers appear.
Which of the inequalities is completely true?
2 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 3 2
(A) 23 < 23 < 32 < 32 < 33 , (B) 32 < 32 < 23 < 23 < 33 ,
2 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 2
(C) 32 < 32 < 23 < 33 < 23 , (D) 32 < 23 < 32 < 23 < 33 ,
2 2 3 2 3
(E) 32 < 23 < 32 < 33 < 23

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
D C B E D D B A B C B B C B B D C D C E
4

Problems for senior students

1 What is the maximum value that the number a(b + c) − b(a + c) can have when
a, b and c are distinct integers greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to
10?
(A) 80 (B) 81 (C) 84 (D) 90 (E) 100
2 How many positive integers n are there such that n3 + 2n2 + n is a perfect square?
(A) None (B) at least one (C) at least 5 (D) at least 10 (E) none of the
previous
3 How many ordered pairs of integers (a, b) are there such that the sum a + b is
equal to the product ab?
(A) None (B) one (C) two (D) four (E) more than four
4 How many are the 4-digit numbers with 1 as the first digit and with at least three
equal digits?
(A) 36 (B) 37 (C) 39 (D) 40 (E) none of the previous
5 In a triangle, for each pair of sides the two axes and the bisecting line of the angle
formed by the two sides intersect in the same point. We can state that:
(A) there are no triangles with this property (B) the triangle is equilateral (C)
the triangle has an angle of 30◦ (D) the triangle is a right triangle (E) the
triangle has an angle of 45◦
6 How many natural numbers n are there such that 2n divides n + 30?
(A) None (B) one (C) two (D) four (E) more than four
7 Frank finds an old combination padlock: the padlock is closed and to open it he
must align three digits in the correct order, every one of which can vary between 0
and 9. Frank does not remember the correct combination, but he is sure that the
sum of three digits is 10. How many tries will it take him, at most, to find the
correct combination?
(A) 61 (B) 63 (C) 65 (D) 67 (E) 69
8 ABC is a right triangle and the catheti AB and AC are respectively 3m and 4m
long. Let B 0 and C 0 be points belonging to the sides AB and AC respectively, such
that the line B 0 C 0 is parallel to the line BC and the distance between the two lines
is 1m. The area of the triangle AB 0 C 0 is:
49 2 65 2 7
(A) m , (B) 2m2 , (C) m , (D) m2 , (E) none of the previous
24 24 2
9 How many integers n are there such that both n − 52 and n + 52 are perfect
squares?
(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 8
10 a and b are two integers that satisfy the equation 2a4 − 4ab + b2 + 2 = 0. How
many distinct values can a have?
(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) no pair of integers (a, b) satisfies this equation
 5

11 A square and the four circular arcs which have a side of

the square as a diameter are shown in the figure. The side
of the square measures 10m. What is the distance between
the points
√ A and B? √ √
(A)
√ 3( 6 − 1)m, (B) 5 m, (C) 5( 6 − 2)m, (D)
8( 3 − 1)m, (E) none of the previous

12 A math test has ten multiple choice questions, each one of which has four
possible answers, marked by the letters A, B, C and D. For each question there is
only one correct answer. Charlie finds out that in the list of correct answers there
are three A’s, three B’s, two C’s and two D’s. What probability does Charlie have,
choosing a random list of answers that satisfies these conditions, to answer all ten
questions correctly?
(A) 1/26500 (B) 1/25200 (C) 1/24600 (D) 1/21200 (E) 1/20800

13 How many are the integers greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 100
which are equal to the square of the number of their positive divisors? (Remember:
among the divisors of a number there are also 1 and the number itself.)
(A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5

14 How many real numbers x are solutions to the equation |x − 2| − 4 = 1/|x − 3|?
(A) none (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) more than four

15 In the figure to the side, how wide is the angle α?

(A) 70◦ (B) 75◦ (C) 80◦ (D) 90◦
(E) it cannot be determined

16 Alex has not done his homework, and as a punishment his teacher makes him
write on a piece of paper all the numbers from 1 to 2005 (writing each number only
once). How many times will Alex have to write the digit 1?
(A) 1490 (B) 1491 (C) 1600 (D) 1601 (E) 1610

17 A group of 24 friends go to a dinner, and they all sit at a round table. Every
girl in the group says, “I am sitting beside a boy”. There are twice as many girls as
there are boys. How many girls are certainly lying?
(A) 0 (B) 4 (C) 8 (D) 19 (E) cannot be determined

18 The polynomial p is defined as p(x) = ax2005 + x + b, where a and b are real

numbers. How many values can a and b have if p(x + 1) − p(x − 1) = p(x) for every
real value of x?
(A) a = 0 and b = 2 (B) any a and b = 0 (C) a = 1 and any b (D) a = b = 0
(E) no value of a and b
6

19 The side of the equilateral triangle ABC in the figure mea-

sures 5m. Knowing that AP = 4m, BQ = 4m and CR = 3m,
what is the area of the triangle P QR divided by the area of the
triangle ABC?
2 9 11 3
(A) , (B) , (C) , (D) , (E) none of the previous
5 25 20 7
20 A progression of numbers a0 , a1 , a2 , . . . , an , . . . has this property: the first two
numbers are equal to 1, and for every n greater than or equal to one, an+1 =
n(an + an−1 ) (for example a2 = 1(a1 + a0 ) = 1 · 2 = 2). What is the final digit of
a2005 ?
(A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 6 (E) 8
21 Alice, Betty, Cecily and Dora, decide to buy a balloon each from a vendor who
only sells red or blue balloons. They will buy one one after the other, Alice first,
then Betty, then Cecily, then Dora. Betty says: “If Alice buys a red balloon, I will
buy a red one also.” Cecily says: “I will buy a balloon the same colour as Betty’s.”
Dora says: “If Alice buys a red balloon, I will buy a balloon the same colour as
Cecily’s.” Which of the following statements is certainly true?
(A) It is impossible that all four girls will buy a red balloon (B) at least three
girls will buy a balloon of the same colour (C) Dora and Betty will buy a balloon
of the same colour (D) at least two girls will buy a red balloon (E) none of the
previous statements are necessarily true
22 How many four letter words (which do not necessarily have to have a meaning)
can be written using only the letters A, B, E, M, O in such a way that none following
a B is an M? (e.g. ABEB counts, but OBAM does not.)
(A) 43 · 5 (B) 42 · 52 (C) 4 · 53 (D) 29 (E) 54
23 Of all the rectangles of area 6m2 , the one with the least perimeter has a hy-
pothenuse which√measures √ √
(A) 3m (B) 3 3m (C) 2 6m (D) 4 3m (E) none of the previous
√
24 A regular tetrahedron whose sides measure 6 3cm lies on a plane p (i.e. one of
the tetrahedron’s faces belongs to the plane). Let V be the vertex of the tetrahedron
wich does not belong to p. The tetrahedron is rotated by 90◦ around the line which
passes through one of the sides which belong to p. How far is now V from p?
1 2 √
(A) √ cm (B) cm (C) 3cm (D) 3 3cm (E) none of the previous
3 3
2·4·6···2004·2006
25 Let x = 1·3·5···2003·2005 . Then:
√4
√
4
√ √ √
(A) x
√ < 2006 (B) 2006 < x < 3 2006 (C) 3
2006 < x < 2006
(D) 2006 < x < 2006 (E) x > 2006
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
B E C B B D B A D B C B C B C D A E A A B C D C D
Gara di Febbraio
16 February 2006
1 A number is called “modern” if it can be written as 2006 “several” times. For
example, 200620062006 is modern, while 20200606 and 2006200 are not. How many
digits does the first modern perfect square have?
(A) 32 (B) 64 (C) 100 (D) 1000 (E) there is no such number
2 Read the following statements: Mary has a dog and a cat.
Mary has neither a dog nor a cat.
If Mary has a dog, then she also has a cat.
Mary doesn’t have a dog, but she has a cat.
How many statements, at most, can be false at the same time?
(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) 4
3 Which of the following expressions is equivalent to (x + y + z)3 − x3 − y 3 − z 3 ?
(A) 3x2 (y + z) + 3y 2 (x + z) + 3z 2 (x + y)
(B) 3x(y + z)2 + 3y(x + z)2 + 3z(x + y)2
(C) 3(x + y)(x + z)(y + z)
(D) 3x(y 2 + z 2 ) + 3y(x2 + z 2 ) + 3z(x2 + y 2 )
(E) 3xy(1 − z) + 3xz(1 − y) + 3yz(1 − x)
4 The inhabitants of an island are either knights or knaves: knights always tell the
truth, and knaves always lie. One day, Albert says: “Bill is a knight.” Bill says:
“We . . . all knights” (at that moment a truck passed by and nobody heard if Bill
said “We are all. . . ” or “We are not all. . . ”). Charles says: “Bill said that not we
are not all knights.” How many of them are knights?
(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) it cannot be determined
5 Sylvia has 2006 tiles in the shape of an equilateral triangle. She wants to arrange
all of them on a table without overlapping them, so that each tile has exactly two
sides in common with other two tiles. Will she be able to do it? Was she able to do
it last year when she had 2005 tiles?
(A) It is not possible in either case.
(B) It is possible with 2005 tiles, but not with 2006.
(C) It is possible with 2006 tiles, but not with 2005.
(D) It is possible in these two cases, but there is at least one number greater than
12 for which it is not possible.
(E) It is possible for any number of tiles greater than 12.
6 Consider a plane tessellated with equilateral triangles, and let F0 be a triangle on
this plane. We can build a series of polygons as follows: F1 is the polygon obtained
by adding to F0 all of the triangles that touch F0 (either with a side or with a vertex.
Similarly, F2 is obtained by adding to F1 all of the the triangles that touch F1 . Of
how many triangles is F1 0 composed of?
(A) 541 (B) 661 (C) 691 (D) 721 (E) 841
8

7 Two circumferences with the same radius intersect in the points X and Y . Let
P be a point on the arc XY of one of the two circumferences which is internal to
the other circumference. Knowing that the segment XY measures 3 and that the
angle X PbY √measures 120◦ , the
√ area of the intersection
√ of the two √
circles?
(A) 2(π − 4 3) (B) 3(π − 3) (C) 21 (3π − 3) (D) 2(π − 23 3) (E) 2(π −
1
3
√
4 3)

8 Let ABC be a triangle and A0 the symmetrical of A with respect to BC. Let DAA0
be a triangle similar to ABC and D0 the symmetrical of D with respect to AA0 .
If the area of the quadrilateral ABA0 C multiplied by the area of the quadrilateral
ADA0 D equals√16, it is possible to√determine that the measure of AA0 is. . .
(A) 1 (B) 2 4 2 (C) 2 (D) 2 2 (E) not uniquely determined
√
q p
9 How many square roots must there be in the expression · · · 123.456.789 so
that the result is less than 2?
(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8 (E) 9
p
3
√ p
3
√
10 The computation of 2 + 5 + 2 − 5 gives. . .
p
3
√ √ √
(A) 9 − 4 5 (B) 1 (C) 32 (D) 3 4 (E) 2 3 2
11 The members of a tribe have ten fingers in each hand and nine toes in each
foot, so they count both in base 10 or in base 19. In their mathematical culture,
a positive integer is called “holy” if it is written in both bases with the same two
digits. How many holy numbers are there?
12 Someone wrote on the blackboard a 17-digit number whose digits are only 1 and
2. Paul walks in and writes the same number backwards, with the digits aligned
with the previous one. James walks in and writes beneath each column the greatest
digit that appears in that column. Albert walk in and writes beneath each column
the smallest digit that appears in that column, then erases the first two numbers.
Megan walks in and sees the numbers 12212212221221221 and 11211111211111211
on the blackboard. She is told what Paul, James and Albert have done. How many
are the number which could have been written on the blackboard before Paul came
in?
13 Let ABCD be a parallelogram. It is known that AB measures 6, that the
b measures 60◦ and that ADB
angle B AD b measures 90◦ . Let P be the barycenter of
the triangle ACD. What is the product of the areas of the triangle ABP and the
quadrilateral ACP D?
√
14 In a pyramid with a square base,√the sides of the base measure 3 and all of
the sides of the lateral faces measure 2. How wide is the angle between two sides
which do not belong to the same lateral face?
15 How many five digit numbers (i.e. greater than or equal to 10000 and less than
or equal to 99999) do not contain zeros or multiples of 12?
 9

16 Let k ≥ 1 be a natural number. Determine how many positive integers n have

the following properties:
(a) n has k digits in base 10, and all of its digits are odd
n
(b) n is divisible by 5, and the number , in base 10, also has k digits, all of which
5
are odd.
17 Let ABCD be a quadrilateral; let E be the intersection (other than A) between
the circumferences of diameters AB and AC, and let F be the intersection (other
than A) between the circumferences of diameters AC and AD. Prove that
b = 90◦ then BC is parallel to AD
1. if E AD
2. if E AD b = 90◦ then ABCD is a parallelogram
b = F AB
3. if ABCD ia a parallelogram then E AD
b = F ABb = 90◦ .

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
E E C A C B E D A B 4 16 27 120 4374

Sketch of proof of 16: Since multiplication
by 5 is one-one, for a given k > 0, the positive
integers satisfying conditions (a) and (b) are as
many as those m such that both m and 5m have
k digits in base 10, all odd. Let m1 m2 . . . mk
be m in decimal notation: the leading digits m1
must be 1. And, for i = 2, . . . , k the number 5mi
must be either 5, 25, or 45, as the ten’s digit of
5mi must be even to add to an odd number with
the unit’s digit 5 of 5mi−1 . Hence the function
requested is k 7→ 3k−1 .
Sketch of proof of 17: Let M and N be
the centres of the circumferences of diameters
AB and AC, respectively. Triangles AM N and
ABC are similar; so M N is parallel to BC.It is
also perpendicular to AE as common chord of
the two circles. Hence AD is parallel to M N if
and only if it is perpendicular to AE.
XXI Olimpiadi Italiane della Matematica
Cesenatico, 5 May 2006
1 Rose and Savino play the following game with the a deck of traditional Neapolitan
playing cards: 40 cards of four different suits, numbered 1 to 10. At the beginning
each player has 20 cards; taking turns, one shows a card on the table. Whenever
some cards on the table add to 15 exactly, these are removed from the game (if the
sum 15 can be reached in more than one way, the player who has moved last decides
which cards adding to 15 to removed). At the end of the game that Rose and Savino
area playing, only one 9 card is left on the table, Savino holds two cards numbered
3 and 5 in his hand and Rose holds one card. What is the number on Rose’s card?
2 Find all values of m, n, p such that

pn + 144 = m2

where m, n are positive integers and p is a prime number.

3 Let A and B be two points not diametrically opposed on a circle Γ. Let P be
a point on Γ, different from A and B, and let H be the orthocentre of the triangle
ABP . Find the locus of H as P varies over all points of Γ different from A and B.
4 On an infinite chessboard all positive numbers are written in ascending order
along a spiral, starting from 1 and proceeding anticlockwise, as shown in the figure.

17 16 15 14 13
18 5 4 3 12
19 6 1 2 11
20 7 8 9 10
21 22 23 24 25

A “right half-line” of the chessboard is the set of squares given by a square C and
by all squares lying on the same row as C and to the right of C
1. Prove that there exists a right half-line none of whose squares contains a
multiple of 3.
2. Determine if there exist infinitely many pairwise disjoint right half-lines none
of whose squares contains a multiple of 3.
5 Consider the inequality

(x1 + ... + xn )2 ≥ 4(x1 x2 + x2 x3 + . . . + xn x1 ).

 11

1. Determine for which n ≥ 3 the inequality holds true for all possible choices of
positive real numbers x1 , . . . , xn .
2. Determine for which n ≥ 3 the inequality holds true for all possible choices of
real numbers x1 , . . . , xn .
6 Albert and Barbara play the following game: at the beginning there are some
piles of coins on the table, not all necessarily with the same number of coins. The
players move in turn and Albert starts. Each player makes one and only one of the
following possible moves:
• either one removes a coin out of a pile;
• or one divides a pile into two piles, each pile with at least a coin.
The one who takes the last coin out of the table wins the game. Depending on the
number of piles and on the number of coins that each pile contains at the beginniing,
find which of the players has a winning strategy.
Solution to 1: The number on the card is 8.
10 · 11
Because the total sum of cards is · 4 = 220. and the sum of those removed
2
is a multiple of 15. The number on the card in Rose’s hand is the reminder of the
division of 220 − (5 + 3 + 9) = 203 by 15.
Solution to 2: The possible values for (m, n, p) are (13, 2, 5), (20, 8, 2), and
(15, 4, 3).
Because the condition on m, n, p is equivalent to pn (m + 12)(m − 12). So,
(
m + 12 = pa
m − 12 = pb

for some positive integers a > b with a + b = n. It follows that 24 = pb (pa−b − 1).
Either pb = 1 or p = 2 (and b = 3 as p does not divide pa−b − 1) or p = 3. It is easy
to compute the values of m, n and p in each case.
Solution to 3: The locus is the circumference symmetric to Γ with respect to AB
without the points symmetric to A and B.
Let C be diametrically opposed to B on Γ, C AB b is a right angle, thus P H and
CA are parallel, as both are perpendicular to AB. Similarly, C PbB is a right angle,
hence CP e AH are parallel.
Thus AHP C is a parallelogram and P H = AC for every P in Γ, and P H is
−−→
perpendicular to AB. Hence the vector P H is constant as P moves on Γ.
−−→ −→
The required locus is the translation of the circumference Γ by the vector P H ≡ CA,
without the translations of A and B which are precisely A0 and B 0 .
Solution to 4: The sequence of numbers which appear in the square before a
corner of the spiral is

b1 = 1, b2 = 2, . . . , b2i+1 = (i + 1) + b2i , b2i+2 = 2(i + 1) + b2i , . . .

12

So the number in the square before each other corner from the first square (that
with the number 1) is the next perfect square. And the square of 2j + 1 appears in
the j th line below the first square.
So the right half-line from 1 contains the numbers (2j −1)2 +j +1 = 3(j 2 −j)+j 2 +1
and 3(j 2 − j) + j 2 + 1 ≡ 1, 2(mod3).
Similarly, the j-th number to the right of the square with number (6k + 1)2 is

(6k + 2j − 1)2 + j = (6k)2 + 12k(2j − 1) + 3(j 2 − j) + j 2 + 1

which is congruent to 1 or 2 modulo 3.

Solution to 5: The inequality does not hold
• for n = 3 and x1 = x2 = x3 = 1
• for n ≥ 5 and x1 = x2 = 1, x3 = 0, x4 = −2, x5 = . . . = xn = 0,
and
• is true for all real numbers in case n = 4 as

(x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 )2 − 4(x1 x2 + x2 x3 + x3 x4 + x4 x1 ) = (x1 − x2 + x3 − x4 )2

• is true for all positive real numbers in case n ≥ 4. The induction step is
proved by permuting x1 , . . . , xn , xn+1 so that x1 is the largest, and applying
the induction hypothesis to the n numbers x1 , . . . , xn + xn+1 .
Solution to 6: For a given configuration of piles on the table, let s be the number
of those piles with exactly one coin, and let r be the number of piles with an even
number of coins. A winning strategy is to play leaving opponent with a configuration
with both s and r even.
Italian Team Selection Test
Pisa, 20-21 May 2006
Day 1
1 Let S be a string with 99 characters, 66 of which are A’s and 33 are B’s. Say that
S is “good” if, for each initial substring of S (i.e. consisting of the first n characters,
1 ≤ n ≤ 99), the number of different words obtained by permuting the characters
of the substring is odd.
How many good strings are there? Which strings are good?
2 Let ABC be a triangle, let H be its orthocentre and let L, M , and N be the
midpoints of the sides AB, BC, and CA, respectively.
Prove that
HL2 + HM 2 + HN 2 < AL2 + BM 2 + CN 2
if and only if ABC is acutangle.
3 Find all integer functions f : Z → Z such that

f (m − n + f (n)) = f (m) + f (n) for all m, n ∈ Z.

Day 2
4 Let γ1 and γ2 be two intersecting circumferences, and let Q and R be their
intersection points. Let γ be a circumference such that the other two are internally
tangent to it, and let A1 and A2 be the tangency points of γ with γ1 and γ2 ,
respectively. Let P be a point on γ and let B1 and B2 be the other intersection
points of the segments P A1 and P A2 with γ1 and γ2 , respectively.
a) Prove that the tangent to γ1 in B1 and the tangent to γ2 in B2 are parallel.
b) Prove that B1 B2 is the common tangent to γ1 and γ2 if and only if P lies on
QR.
5 Let n be a positive integer, and let An be the set of all positive integers a less
than or equal to n such that n|(an + 1).
a) Find all n such that An is non-empty.
b) Find all n such that the cardinality |An | of An is even and non-zero.
c) Is there n such that |An | = 130?
6 Let p(x) be a polynomial with complex coefficients such that p(0) 6= 0. Prove
that there exists a multiple of p(x) with real positive coefficients (all coefficients,
from the constant term to the leading term) if and only if p(x) has no positive real
root.
14

For the solution of 1: Since the number of different words written with a A’s
and b B’s is na , the problem reduces to finding a path in Pascal’s Triangle which

touches only odd numbers, from the vertex to the number at position a = 33 in row
n = 99. There are odd numbers in row n = 64 only at the extremes, a = 0, 64,
n


and in row n = 96, only at positionsP ki a = 1, 32, 64, 96 since a is odd if and only
if a is a partial sum of n = i 2 , kj < kj+1 . There is a single good string:
A . . A} B
| .{z | .{z
. . B} AAB.
64 32

For the solution of 2: The inequality in the statement is equivalent to (HL2 −

AL2 )+(HM 2 −BM 2 )+(HN 2 −CN 2 ) < 0. Consider the three circles with diameters
the three sides of the triangle: the inequality involves the powers of the orthocentre
with respect to each circle, and those are all the same. Hence the inequality is
equivalent to asking that H is inside the three circles.
For the solution of 3: The function f is either the constant 0 or multiplication
by 2.
The action of f on the image is by doubling since f (f (n)) = f (n−n+f (n)) = 2f (n).
Now f (m + n) = f (m) + f (n) since
f (f (m) + f (n)) = f (n + f (m)) + f (n) = f (m + n) + f (m) + f (n)
and the left-hand side is 2(f (m) + f (n)) since f (m) + f (n) is one of the values of f .
Hence f (n) = a · n for some number a. And the initial condition, with m = n = 1,
yields that a2 = 2a.
For the solution of 4: Let O1 , O2 , and O be the centres of γ1 , γ2 , and γ,
respectively. O1 B1 is parallel to OB which is in turn parallel to O2 B2 , so the
tangent lines to γ1 in B1 , to γ2 in B2 , and to γ in B are parallel. So P is the
midpoint on the arc determined on γ by the tangent to γ1 in B1 (and similarly for
the tangent to γ2 in B2 ) and the square of the distance to a vertex of the arc is the
power of P with respect to γ1 (similarly for γ2 ). The two tangents coincide if and
only if P is on the radical axis of γ1 and γ2 .
For the solution of 5: An is empty exactly when 4|n or n = 2d and d is odd
and one of its prime factors is congruent to 3 mod 4. When An is non-empty,
the number of solutions of an ≡ −1(mod n) is the same as that of solutions of
α` Q`
an ≡ 1(mod n) and, for n = pα 1 · . . . · p` , that number is
1 αi
i=1 gcd(n, φ(pi )) =
Q` αi −1
i=1 p gcd(n, (pi − 1)).
For the solution of 6: A polynomial with real positive coefficients has no
positive real root. For the converse, given a polynomial of the form x − (a + ib)
consider (x − (a + ib))(x − (a − ib)) in case a ≤ 0. If a > 0 and b 6= 0, then there is a
power (a+ib)k with negative real part and (xk −(a+ib)k )(xk −(a−ib)k ) is a multiple
of x − (a + ib) with non-negative real coefficients and a positive constant term so
that multiplying by 1 + x + . . . + xk−1 produces a polynomial such as required.