Polynomial
by Z_., Apr 23, 2025, 9:21 PM
Let
be an integer greater than zero. Then, the value of the sum of the reciprocals of the cubes of the roots of the equation
is equal to:

![\[
mx^4 + 8x^3 - 139x^2 - 18x + 9 = 0
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/3/a/a3a9bca412e927632e4921c51f2a6593409031d9.png)
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Z_., 2 hours ago
Reason: .
Reason: .
Inequalities
by Scientist10, Apr 23, 2025, 6:36 PM
If
, then prove that the following inequality holds:
![\[
\sum_{\text{cyc}} \sqrt{1 + \left(x\sqrt{1 + y^2} + y\sqrt{1 + x^2}\right)^2} \geq \sum_{\text{cyc}} xy + 2\sum_{\text{cyc}} x
\]](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/5/5/955863a0cf8747ae45b736b0631f243d3908eb84.png)

![\[
\sum_{\text{cyc}} \sqrt{1 + \left(x\sqrt{1 + y^2} + y\sqrt{1 + x^2}\right)^2} \geq \sum_{\text{cyc}} xy + 2\sum_{\text{cyc}} x
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/5/5/955863a0cf8747ae45b736b0631f243d3908eb84.png)
interesting function equation (fe) in IR
by skellyrah, Apr 23, 2025, 9:51 AM
find all function F: IR->IR such that 

Tangents forms triangle with two times less area
by NO_SQUARES, Apr 23, 2025, 9:08 AM
Let
be triangle, inscribed in parabola. Tangents in points
forms triangle
. Prove that
. (
is area of triangle
).
From F.S.Macaulay's book «Geometrical Conics», suggested by M. Panov






From F.S.Macaulay's book «Geometrical Conics», suggested by M. Panov
Existence of perfect squares
by egxa, Apr 18, 2025, 9:48 AM
Find all natural numbers
for which there exists an even natural number
such that the number
is a perfect square.


![\[
(a - 1)(a^2 - 1)\cdots(a^n - 1)
\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/9/c/a/9caf4eeb82ff46b5ba55ab4b6bc28f0cace586ec.png)
FE solution too simple?
by Yiyj1, Apr 9, 2025, 3:26 AM
Find all functions
such that the equality
holds for all pairs of real numbers
.
My solution
I feel like my solution is too simple. Is there something I did wrong or something I missed?



My solution
Clearly,
is an obvious solution. Now, let
. Then, we have
or
. Therefore, the solutions are
.





I feel like my solution is too simple. Is there something I did wrong or something I missed?
2024 AMC Proposals
by djmathman, Nov 13, 2024, 11:17 PM
Four proposals this time. One great, three OK.
12A 12/10A 19. The first three terms of a geometric sequence are the integers
and
where
What is the sum of the digits of the least possible value of 
Comments
10A 22. Let
be the kite formed by joining two right triangles with legs
and
along a common hypotenuse. Eight copies of
are used to form the polygon shown below. What is the area of triangle
?
Comments
10A 25/12A 22. The figure below shows a dotted grid
cells wide and
cells tall consisting of
squares. Carl places
-inch toothpicks along some of the sides of the squares to create a closed loop that does not intersect itself. The numbers in the cells indicate the number of sides of that square that are to be covered by toothpicks, and any number of toothpicks are allowed if no number is written. In how many ways can Carl place the toothpicks?

Comments
12B 19. Equilateral
with side length
is rotated about its center by angle
, where
, to form
. See the figure. The area of hexagon
is
. What is
?
![[asy]
defaultpen(fontsize(13)); size(170);
pair O=(0,0),A=dir(225),B=dir(-15),C=dir(105),D=rotate(38.21,O)*A,E=rotate(38.21,O)*B,F=rotate(38.21,O)*C;
draw(A--B--C--A,gray+0.4);draw(D--E--F--D,gray+0.4); draw(A--D--B--E--C--F--A,black+0.9); dot(O); dot("$A$",A,dir(A)); dot("$B$",B,dir(B)); dot("$C$",C,dir(C)); dot("$D$",D,dir(D)); dot("$E$",E,dir(E)); dot("$F$",F,dir(F));
[/asy]](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/7/2/a72db31d1d76e376654dd13a3f9a166d0d6056ce.png)
Comments
12A 12/10A 19. The first three terms of a geometric sequence are the integers




Comments
This is probably the most forgettable AMC problem I've written in a while. I think there are some interesting ideas in here -- the point was to figure out how to reason with geometric series having rational common ratios. I also think the number
is a good choice, because once you stumble upon
it's pretty easy to convince yourself this is optimal. But this problem doesn't really have the same "impact" as some of my previous proposals.


10A 22. Let






I had to write a problem about the aperiodic monotile that gained so much popularity in 2023. The only thing worth mentioning here is that the choice of points
,
, and
was intentional: I wanted to make sure most (if not all) of the kites were part of the triangle.
This problem was not intended for the #22 slot, and in this regard I think it was misplaced. That said, the original diagram I submitted to the AMCs did not connect the three vertices
,
, and
to form the triangle. Instead, I only gave the vertices, and it was the students' job to figure out how these points related to each other. I actually think a bit of the problem's purpose was lost with this change. Oh well.



This problem was not intended for the #22 slot, and in this regard I think it was misplaced. That said, the original diagram I submitted to the AMCs did not connect the three vertices



10A 25/12A 22. The figure below shows a dotted grid




![[asy] size(6cm); for (int i=0; i<9; ++i) { draw((i,0)--(i,3),dotted); } for (int i=0; i<4; ++i){ draw((0,i)--(8,i),dotted); } for (int i=0; i<8; ++i) { for (int j=0; j<3; ++j) { if (j==1) { label("1",(i+0.5,1.5)); }}} [/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/b/1/c/b1cfd38f58057d8f0ed435b054143237ba4fac8c.png)

Comments
Yea, no doubt this is my favorite proposal from this year. My original attempt for this problem used
s instead of
s along the middle, but this proved to be too annoying to work with. Changing the numbers made the problem way better than I expected. Slitherlink is a good genre.


12B 19. Equilateral








![[asy]
defaultpen(fontsize(13)); size(170);
pair O=(0,0),A=dir(225),B=dir(-15),C=dir(105),D=rotate(38.21,O)*A,E=rotate(38.21,O)*B,F=rotate(38.21,O)*C;
draw(A--B--C--A,gray+0.4);draw(D--E--F--D,gray+0.4); draw(A--D--B--E--C--F--A,black+0.9); dot(O); dot("$A$",A,dir(A)); dot("$B$",B,dir(B)); dot("$C$",C,dir(C)); dot("$D$",D,dir(D)); dot("$E$",E,dir(E)); dot("$F$",F,dir(F));
[/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/7/2/a72db31d1d76e376654dd13a3f9a166d0d6056ce.png)
Comments
Second year in a row I've written a problem about rotating a regular polygon about its center. Maybe this is a trend? Probably not. Otherwise, this problem is OK. It's not easy to figure out how to extract all the appropriate information, but in the end it seems like most people trig bashed this, which I should have expected. I have a habit of finding strange solutions to my own problems to minimize computation, because that's just how I think.
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by djmathman, Nov 13, 2024, 11:19 PM
Number Theory
by fasttrust_12-mn, Aug 16, 2024, 10:21 AM
Find all integers
for which
is the square of an integer


2023 AMC Proposals
by djmathman, Nov 15, 2023, 6:52 PM
I had quite a few this year! Most of them were on the easy end, though. That's part of the natural progression of things, I guess; I've been less interested in making hard problems and more focused on the easier end of the exam. Though this year it looks like the problems on the hard end were not great; I have some thoughts about a few of them....
12A 6 (March 2023). Points
and
lie on the graph of
. The midpoint of
is
. What is the positive difference between the
-coordinates of
and
?
10A 12 (March 2023). How many three-digit positive integers
satisfy the following properties?
12A 16 (March 2023). Consider the set of complex numbers
satisfying
. The maximum value of the imaginary part of
can be written in the form
, where
and
are relatively prime positive integers. What is
?
10B 1/12B 1 (March 2023). A mom is pouring orange juice for her 4 kids into 4 identical glasses. She fills the first 3 full, but only fills one third of the glass for the last one. How much does she need to pour from the 3 full glasses to fill all of the glasses to an equal amount?
10B 5 (March 2023?). Maddy and Lara see a list of numbers written on a blackboard. Maddy adds
to each number in the list and finds that the sum of her new numbers is
. Lara multiplies each number in the list by
and finds that the sum of her new numbers is also
. How many numbers are written on the blackboard?
10B 7 (March 2023). Square
is rotated
clockwise about its center to obtain square
, as shown below. What is the degree measure of
?
![[asy] size(170); defaultpen(linewidth(0.6)); real r = 25; draw(dir(135)--dir(45)--dir(315)--dir(225)--cycle); draw(dir(135-r)--dir(45-r)--dir(315-r)--dir(225-r)--cycle); label("$A$",dir(135),NW); label("$B$",dir(45),NE); label("$C$",dir(315),SE); label("$D$",dir(225),SW); label("$E$",dir(135-r),N); label("$F$",dir(45-r),E); label("$G$",dir(315-r),S); label("$H$",dir(225-r),W); [/asy]](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/4/0/4/404883b79d8ef1c910971e24f1655976ce3afbae.png)
12B 12 (December 2020). For complex numbers
and
, define the binary operation
by
Suppose
is a complex number such that
. What is
?
You'll notice a lot of March 2023 problems here. Some of you may also remember that I wrote the following last year:
It turns out that right before the AMC constructor meetings last year I had a sudden interest in constructing some problems for the test. The AMC heads requested some complex numbers and logarithm problems, so I focused my efforts on those, with a few extra problems thrown in there for good measure. This was the result of about two weeks' worth of thought, putting research to the side for a bit. There's nothing super flashy here, but I'm decently happy with this set. Favorite is almost certainly 12A #16, though 10B #7 is up there as one of my favorites, too.
12A 6 (March 2023). Points








10A 12 (March 2023). How many three-digit positive integers

- The number
is divisible by
.
- The number formed by reversing the digits of
is divisible by
.
12A 16 (March 2023). Consider the set of complex numbers







10B 1/12B 1 (March 2023). A mom is pouring orange juice for her 4 kids into 4 identical glasses. She fills the first 3 full, but only fills one third of the glass for the last one. How much does she need to pour from the 3 full glasses to fill all of the glasses to an equal amount?
10B 5 (March 2023?). Maddy and Lara see a list of numbers written on a blackboard. Maddy adds




10B 7 (March 2023). Square




![[asy] size(170); defaultpen(linewidth(0.6)); real r = 25; draw(dir(135)--dir(45)--dir(315)--dir(225)--cycle); draw(dir(135-r)--dir(45-r)--dir(315-r)--dir(225-r)--cycle); label("$A$",dir(135),NW); label("$B$",dir(45),NE); label("$C$",dir(315),SE); label("$D$",dir(225),SW); label("$E$",dir(135-r),N); label("$F$",dir(45-r),E); label("$G$",dir(315-r),S); label("$H$",dir(225-r),W); [/asy]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/4/0/4/404883b79d8ef1c910971e24f1655976ce3afbae.png)
12B 12 (December 2020). For complex numbers



![\[w\otimes z=ac+bd\,i.\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/c/8/e/c8ecf215ad3e92354fba57bc8ffdd4526021f183.png)



You'll notice a lot of March 2023 problems here. Some of you may also remember that I wrote the following last year:
Quote:
In any case, that'll be it for a while. As I mentioned before, I didn't submit anything for the 2023-2024 series of contests, so you probably won't see any dj problems there. I probably won't be completely dead, but I certainly don't feel the same passion and fire for problem construction as I used to. (Right now, I'm more focused on improving my mental well-being anyway.) 

This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by djmathman, Nov 15, 2023, 6:55 PM
Floor double summation
by CyclicISLscelesTrapezoid, Jul 12, 2022, 12:52 PM
Which positive integers
make the equation
true?

![\[\sum_{i=1}^n \sum_{j=1}^n \left\lfloor \frac{ij}{n+1} \right\rfloor=\frac{n^2(n-1)}{4}\]](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/e/7/f/e7fb8c20a43535b5aaed5ab254f1ef043263c62b.png)
IMO 2014 Problem 4
by ipaper, Jul 9, 2014, 11:38 AM
Let
and
be on segment
of an acute triangle
such that
and
. Let
and
be the points on
and
, respectively, such that
is the midpoint of
and
is the midpoint of
. Prove that the intersection of
and
is on the circumference of triangle
.
Proposed by Giorgi Arabidze, Georgia.

















Proposed by Giorgi Arabidze, Georgia.
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