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k a May Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
May 1, 2025
May is an exciting month! National MATHCOUNTS is the second week of May in Washington D.C. and our Founder, Richard Rusczyk will be presenting a seminar, Preparing Strong Math Students for College and Careers, on May 11th.

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Summer camps are starting next month at the Virtual Campus in math and language arts that are 2 - to 4 - weeks in duration. Spaces are still available - don’t miss your chance to have an enriching summer experience. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

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[*]May 21st, 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Mathcamp 2025 Qualifying Quiz Part 2 Math Jam, Problems 5 and 6, Canada/USA Mathcamp staff will discuss solutions to Problems 5 and 6 of the 2025 Mathcamp Qualifying Quiz![/list]
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0 replies
jlacosta
May 1, 2025
0 replies
usamOOK geometry
KevinYang2.71   106
N 5 hours ago by jasperE3
Source: USAMO 2025/4, USAJMO 2025/5
Let $H$ be the orthocenter of acute triangle $ABC$, let $F$ be the foot of the altitude from $C$ to $AB$, and let $P$ be the reflection of $H$ across $BC$. Suppose that the circumcircle of triangle $AFP$ intersects line $BC$ at two distinct points $X$ and $Y$. Prove that $C$ is the midpoint of $XY$.
106 replies
KevinYang2.71
Mar 21, 2025
jasperE3
5 hours ago
Geo #3 EQuals FReak out
Th3Numb3rThr33   106
N 6 hours ago by BS2012
Source: 2018 USAJMO #3
Let $ABCD$ be a quadrilateral inscribed in circle $\omega$ with $\overline{AC} \perp \overline{BD}$. Let $E$ and $F$ be the reflections of $D$ over lines $BA$ and $BC$, respectively, and let $P$ be the intersection of lines $BD$ and $EF$. Suppose that the circumcircle of $\triangle EPD$ meets $\omega$ at $D$ and $Q$, and the circumcircle of $\triangle FPD$ meets $\omega$ at $D$ and $R$. Show that $EQ = FR$.
106 replies
Th3Numb3rThr33
Apr 18, 2018
BS2012
6 hours ago
Aime ll 2022 problem 5
Rook567   4
N Yesterday at 9:02 PM by Rook567
I don’t understand the solution. I got 220 as answer. Why does it insist, for example two primes must add to the third, when you can take 2,19,19 or 2,7,11 which for drawing purposes is equivalent to 1,1,2 and 2,7,9?
4 replies
Rook567
Thursday at 9:08 PM
Rook567
Yesterday at 9:02 PM
USAJMO problem 2: Side lengths of an acute triangle
BOGTRO   59
N Yesterday at 4:41 PM by ostriches88
Source: Also USAMO problem 1
Find all integers $n \geq 3$ such that among any $n$ positive real numbers $a_1, a_2, \hdots, a_n$ with $\text{max}(a_1,a_2,\hdots,a_n) \leq n \cdot \text{min}(a_1,a_2,\hdots,a_n)$, there exist three that are the side lengths of an acute triangle.
59 replies
BOGTRO
Apr 24, 2012
ostriches88
Yesterday at 4:41 PM
No more topics!
Jumping on Lily Pads to Avoid a Snake
brandbest1   53
N Apr 29, 2025 by ESAOPS
Source: 2014 AMC 10B #25 & 2014 AMC 12B #22
In a small pond there are eleven lily pads in a row labeled $0$ through $10$. A frog is sitting on pad $1$. When the frog is on pad $N$, $0<N<10$, it will jump to pad $N-1$ with probability $\frac{N}{10}$ and to pad $N+1$ with probability $1-\frac{N}{10}$. Each jump is independent of the previous jumps. If the frog reaches pad $0$ it will be eaten by a patiently waiting snake. If the frog reaches pad $10$ it will exit the pond, never to return. What is the probability that the frog will escape being eaten by the snake?

$ \textbf {(A) } \frac{32}{79} \qquad \textbf {(B) } \frac{161}{384} \qquad \textbf {(C) } \frac{63}{146} \qquad \textbf {(D) } \frac{7}{16} \qquad \textbf {(E) } \frac{1}{2} $
53 replies
brandbest1
Feb 20, 2014
ESAOPS
Apr 29, 2025
Jumping on Lily Pads to Avoid a Snake
G H J
Source: 2014 AMC 10B #25 & 2014 AMC 12B #22
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mathwizard888
1635 posts
#40 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
We know that is the answer because the problem asked for the probability the frog survives starting on Pad 1.
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hshiems
769 posts
#41 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
hshiems wrote:
I have a question:

I'm confused about this statement.

sidenote

Edit: Here is the link to the AMC10/12B Math Jam: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/mathjams.php?mj_id=353
FlakeLCR wrote:
@hshiems that formula was given in the problem :P
What do you mean by "that formula was given in the problem"?

How do you derive the formula anyway? Do you use recursion? Does the formula have anything to do with averages?

Edit: I've noticed that this problem is based on intuition. We use our intuition about averages to build the equation $ p_i=(1-\frac{i}{10})p_{i+1}+\frac{i}{10}p_{i-1} $ and we use our intuition about symmetry to find that $p_5=\frac{1}{2}$.

Edit: Why is it that the formula is $ p_i=(1-\frac{i}{10})p_{i+1}+\frac{i}{10}p_{i-1} $ instead of $ 2p_i=(1-\frac{i}{10})p_{i+1}+\frac{i}{10}p_{i-1} $?
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by hshiems, Apr 13, 2014, 6:11 PM
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pinetree1
1207 posts
#42 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
The statement says that the probability of surviving is the probability of going to the previous pad and surviving plus the probability of going to the next pad and surviving. This is just a formula derived from the problem statement.
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mathtastic
3258 posts
#43 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
Well just think about it. The probability that you survive is the same as the probability you go to the right then survive plus the probability that you go to the left then survive.
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brandbest1
259 posts
#44 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Anyone want to post a solution to this using steady-state Markov chains, even though it's completely unecessary? I'm trying to get a hold on Markov chains with this problem, and I can't seem to get an answer.
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zero.destroyer
813 posts
#45 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
^ you literally would need to find 1+M+M^2+M^3+... infinite series for the markov matrix, which would involve finding (I -M)^(-1). Then multiply that by the (0,1,0,0,...) vector, and look at the 10th entry after multiplication.
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hamup1
380 posts
#46 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
Can someone explain to me how they would quickly arrive at the answer from the system of equations? Thanks!
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v_Enhance
6877 posts
#47 • 12 Y
Y by hamup1, MSTang, Mudkipswims42, AstrapiGnosis, Tawan, daniellionyang, candiru, pad, Ultroid999OCPN, HamstPan38825, Adventure10, Mango247
hamup1 wrote:
Can someone explain to me how they would quickly arrive at the answer from the system of equations? Thanks!

A year late, but apparently no one wrote it out, so...

Letting $p_i$ be the probability from lily pad $i$ (so $p_0=0$, $p_{10}=1$),
the system is rewritten as
\begin{align*}
	p_2 - p_1 &= \frac19(p_1-p_0) = \frac{1}{\binom91} p_1 \\
	p_3 - p_2 &= \frac28(p_2-p_1) = \frac{1}{\binom92} p_1\\
	p_4 - p_3 &= \frac37(p_3-p_2) = \frac{1}{\binom93} p_1 \\
	&\vdots \\
	p_{10} - p_9 &= \frac91(p_3-p_2) = \frac{1}{\binom99} p_1 \\
\end{align*}Adding them all, we get
\[ 1 = p_{10} = \left(
	\frac{1}{\binom90} + \frac{1}{\binom91}
	+ \frac{1}{\binom92} + \dots + \frac{1}{\binom99}
	\right) p_1. \]Equivalently, one can also add up to just $p_5$ to derive the equivalent
\[ \frac12 = p_{5} = \left(
	\frac{1}{\binom90} + \frac{1}{\binom91}
	+ \frac{1}{\binom92} + \frac{1}{\binom93} + \frac{1}{\binom94}
	\right) p_1. \]In any case, we have
\[
	p_1 = 
	\frac{1}{2\sum_{k=0}^4 \binom9k ^{-1} } = \frac{63}{146}.
\]
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Porky623
124 posts
#48 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Sadly enough, Einstein1 still has not posted another problem this year. Well, it was worth a try to look and see! :P
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Porky623
124 posts
#49 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Also, if a positive integer choose another positive integer less than or equal to the former is an integer, how would you get anything other than 1 as the numerator?
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vmaddur
864 posts
#50 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
@v_Enhance Could you break down the process of jumping from $p_1 = 9p_2/10+p_0/10$ and similar equations to what you have above?
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daniellionyang
1840 posts
#51 • 3 Y
Y by vmaddur, Adventure10, Mango247
$p_1 = \frac{9p_2}{10}+\frac{p_0}{10}$
$p_2-p_1=p_2-(\frac{9p_2}{10}+\frac{p_0}{10})=\frac{1}{10}p_2-\frac{1}{10}p_0$
$p_1-p_0=\frac{9p_2}{10}+\frac{p_0}{10}-p_0=\frac{9p_2}{10}-\frac{9p_0}{10}$
Therefore, $p_2-p_1=\frac{1}{9}(p_1-p_0) $.
This post has been edited 7 times. Last edited by daniellionyang, Sep 14, 2016, 2:37 AM
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vmaddur
864 posts
#52 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
From there, is it just intuition to see that it is equal to $\frac{1}{\binom91} p_1$?
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by vmaddur, Sep 14, 2016, 2:37 AM
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daniellionyang
1840 posts
#53 • 2 Y
Y by vmaddur, Adventure10
I believe so. But from this state, its not at all hard to efficient bash to get to $p_5$.
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ESAOPS
262 posts
#54
Y by
this problem is bashy
sol
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