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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.

Are you interested in working towards MATHCOUNTS and don’t know where to start? We have you covered! If you have taken Prealgebra, then you are ready for MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Basics. Already aiming for State or National MATHCOUNTS and harder AMC 8 problems? Then our MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Advanced course is for you.

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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
+1 w
jlacosta
May 1, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
Marking vertices in splitted triangle
mathisreal   2
N 2 minutes ago by sopaconk
Source: Mexico
Let $n$ be a positive integer. Consider a figure of a equilateral triangle of side $n$ and splitted in $n^2$ small equilateral triangles of side $1$. One will mark some of the $1+2+\dots+(n+1)$ vertices of the small triangles, such that for every integer $k\geq 1$, there is not any trapezoid(trapezium), whose the sides are $(1,k,1,k+1)$, with all the vertices marked. Furthermore, there are no small triangle(side $1$) have your three vertices marked. Determine the greatest quantity of marked vertices.
2 replies
mathisreal
Feb 7, 2022
sopaconk
2 minutes ago
distance of a point from incircle equals to a diameter of incircle
parmenides51   5
N 9 minutes ago by Captainscrubz
Source: 2019 Oral Moscow Geometry Olympiad grades 8-9 p1
In the triangle $ABC, I$ is the center of the inscribed circle, point $M$ lies on the side of $BC$, with $\angle BIM = 90^o$. Prove that the distance from point $M$ to line $AB$ is equal to the diameter of the circle inscribed in triangle $ABC$
5 replies
parmenides51
May 21, 2019
Captainscrubz
9 minutes ago
f(a + b) = f(a) + f(b) + f(c) + f(d) in N-{O}, with 2ab = c^2 + d^2
parmenides51   8
N 4 hours ago by TiagoCavalcante
Source: RMM Shortlist 2016 A1
Determine all functions $f$ from the set of non-negative integers to itself such that $f(a + b) = f(a) + f(b) + f(c) + f(d)$, whenever $a, b, c, d$, are non-negative integers satisfying $2ab = c^2 + d^2$.
8 replies
parmenides51
Jul 4, 2019
TiagoCavalcante
4 hours ago
Functional Inequality Implies Uniform Sign
peace09   33
N 4 hours ago by ezpotd
Source: 2023 ISL A2
Let $\mathbb{R}$ be the set of real numbers. Let $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ be a function such that \[f(x+y)f(x-y)\geqslant f(x)^2-f(y)^2\]for every $x,y\in\mathbb{R}$. Assume that the inequality is strict for some $x_0,y_0\in\mathbb{R}$.

Prove that either $f(x)\geqslant 0$ for every $x\in\mathbb{R}$ or $f(x)\leqslant 0$ for every $x\in\mathbb{R}$.
33 replies
peace09
Jul 17, 2024
ezpotd
4 hours ago
Labelling edges of Kn
oVlad   1
N 5 hours ago by TopGbulliedU
Source: Romania Junior TST 2025 Day 2 P3
Let $n\geqslant 3$ be an integer. Ion draws a regular $n$-gon and all its diagonals. On every diagonal and edge, Ion writes a positive integer, such that for any triangle formed with the vertices of the $n$-gon, one of the numbers on its edges is the sum of the two other numbers on its edges. Determine the smallest possible number of distinct values that Ion can write.
1 reply
oVlad
May 6, 2025
TopGbulliedU
5 hours ago
c^a + a = 2^b
Havu   8
N 5 hours ago by MathematicalArceus
Find $a, b, c\in\mathbb{Z}^+$ such that $a,b,c$ coprime, $a + b = 2c$ and $c^a + a = 2^b$.
8 replies
Havu
May 10, 2025
MathematicalArceus
5 hours ago
Concurrence of lines defined by intersections of circles
Lukaluce   1
N 5 hours ago by sarjinius
Source: 2025 Macedonian Balkan Math Olympiad TST Problem 2
Let $\triangle ABC$ be an acute-angled triangle and $A_1, B_1$, and $C_1$ be the feet of the altitudes from $A, B$, and $C$, respectively. On the rays $AA_1, BB_1$, and $CC_1$, we have points $A_2, B_2$, and $C_2$ respectively, lying outside of $\triangle ABC$, such that
\[\frac{A_1A_2}{AA_1} = \frac{B_1B_2}{BB_1} = \frac{C_1C_2}{CC_1}.\]If the intersections of $B_1C_2$ and $B_2C_1$, $C_1A_2$ and $C_2A_1$, and $A_1B_2$ and $A_2B_1$ are $A', B'$, and $C'$ respectively, prove that $AA', BB'$, and $CC'$ have a common point.
1 reply
Lukaluce
Apr 14, 2025
sarjinius
5 hours ago
Factorial Divisibility
Aryan-23   45
N 5 hours ago by MathematicalArceus
Source: IMO SL 2022 N2
Find all positive integers $n>2$ such that
$$ n! \mid \prod_{ p<q\le n, p,q \, \text{primes}} (p+q)$$
45 replies
Aryan-23
Jul 9, 2023
MathematicalArceus
5 hours ago
Multiple of multinomial coefficient is an integer
orl   14
N 5 hours ago by mickeymouse7133
Source: Romanian Master in Mathematics 2009, Problem 1
For $ a_i \in \mathbb{Z}^ +$, $ i = 1, \ldots, k$, and $ n = \sum^k_{i = 1} a_i$, let $ d = \gcd(a_1, \ldots, a_k)$ denote the greatest common divisor of $ a_1, \ldots, a_k$.
Prove that $ \frac {d} {n} \cdot \frac {n!}{\prod\limits^k_{i = 1} (a_i!)}$ is an integer.

Dan Schwarz, Romania
14 replies
orl
Mar 7, 2009
mickeymouse7133
5 hours ago
Functional Equation from IMO
prtoi   1
N 5 hours ago by KAME06
Source: IMO
Question: $f(2a)+2f(b)=f(f(a+b))$
Solve for f:Z-->Z
My solution:
At a=0, $f(0)+2f(b)=f(f(b))$
Take t=f(b) to get $f(0)+2t=f(t)$
Therefore, f(x)=2x+n where n=f(0)
Could someone please clarify if this is right or wrong?
1 reply
prtoi
6 hours ago
KAME06
5 hours ago
can you solve this..?
Jackson0423   1
N 5 hours ago by GreekIdiot
Source: Own

Find the number of integer pairs \( (x, y) \) satisfying the equation
\[ 4x^2 - 3y^2 = 1 \]such that \( |x| \leq 2025 \).
1 reply
Jackson0423
May 8, 2025
GreekIdiot
5 hours ago
Gergonne point Harmonic quadrilateral
niwobin   0
5 hours ago
Triangle ABC has incircle touching the sides at D, E, F as shown.
AD, BE, CF concurrent at Gergonne point G.
BG and CG cuts the incircle at X and Y, respectively.
AG cuts the incircle at K.
Prove: K, X, D, Y form a harmonic quadrilateral. (KX/KY = DX/DY)
0 replies
niwobin
5 hours ago
0 replies
Combi that will make you question every choice in your life so far
blug   1
N 6 hours ago by HotSinglesInYourArea
$A$ and $B$ are standing in front of the room in which there is $C$. They know that there is a chessboard in the room and that on every square there is a coin. Every coin is black on one side and white on the other side and is flipped randomly. $A$ enters the room and then $C$ points at exactly one square on the chessboard. After that, $A$ must flip exactly one coin of his choice on the chessboard to the other side and leave. Finally, $B$ enters the room ($A$ and $B$ haven't met again after $A$ entered the room) and he has to guess which square did $C$ point at.
What strategy do $A$ and $B$ have that will make this happen every time?
1 reply
blug
Yesterday at 5:46 PM
HotSinglesInYourArea
6 hours ago
Functional equation
Pmshw   17
N Yesterday at 7:26 PM by arzhang2001
Source: Iran 2nd round 2022 P2
Find all functions $f:\mathbb{R}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ such that for any real value of $x,y$ we have:
$$f(xf(y)+f(x)+y)=xy+f(x)+f(y)$$
17 replies
Pmshw
May 8, 2022
arzhang2001
Yesterday at 7:26 PM
IMO 2017 Problem 3
fattypiggy123   77
N Dec 25, 2023 by awesomeming327.
A hunter and an invisible rabbit play a game in the Euclidean plane. The rabbit's starting point, $A_0,$ and the hunter's starting point, $B_0$ are the same. After $n-1$ rounds of the game, the rabbit is at point $A_{n-1}$ and the hunter is at point $B_{n-1}.$ In the $n^{\text{th}}$ round of the game, three things occur in order:

[list=i]
[*]The rabbit moves invisibly to a point $A_n$ such that the distance between $A_{n-1}$ and $A_n$ is exactly $1.$

[*]A tracking device reports a point $P_n$ to the hunter. The only guarantee provided by the tracking device to the hunter is that the distance between $P_n$ and $A_n$ is at most $1.$

[*]The hunter moves visibly to a point $B_n$ such that the distance between $B_{n-1}$ and $B_n$ is exactly $1.$
[/list]
Is it always possible, no matter how the rabbit moves, and no matter what points are reported by the tracking device, for the hunter to choose her moves so that after $10^9$ rounds, she can ensure that the distance between her and the rabbit is at most $100?$

Proposed by Gerhard Woeginger, Austria
77 replies
fattypiggy123
Jul 18, 2017
awesomeming327.
Dec 25, 2023
IMO 2017 Problem 3
G H J
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fattypiggy123
615 posts
#1 • 48 Y
Y by anantmudgal09, bobcats4thewin, laegolas, Ankoganit, mira74, nmd27082001, JasperL, kk108, rkm0959, mathwiz0803, Lam.DL.01, Tawan, don2001, Ultroid999OCPN, integrated_JRC, Amir Hossein, Davi-8191, W.Sun, gyluo, Wizard_32, Varuneshwara, tintin21, mijail, The_Maitreyo1, OlympusHero, Shashank-, DarthVader2618, tenebrine, franzliszt, megarnie, samrocksnature, centslordm, tigerzhang, rayfish, fidgetboss_4000, TheHimMan, Lamboreghini, JG666, ImSh95, rohan.sp, fuzimiao2013, aidan0626, EpicBird08, LoloChen, Adventure10, Mango247, Sedro, KhaiMathAddict
A hunter and an invisible rabbit play a game in the Euclidean plane. The rabbit's starting point, $A_0,$ and the hunter's starting point, $B_0$ are the same. After $n-1$ rounds of the game, the rabbit is at point $A_{n-1}$ and the hunter is at point $B_{n-1}.$ In the $n^{\text{th}}$ round of the game, three things occur in order:
  1. The rabbit moves invisibly to a point $A_n$ such that the distance between $A_{n-1}$ and $A_n$ is exactly $1.$
  2. A tracking device reports a point $P_n$ to the hunter. The only guarantee provided by the tracking device to the hunter is that the distance between $P_n$ and $A_n$ is at most $1.$
  3. The hunter moves visibly to a point $B_n$ such that the distance between $B_{n-1}$ and $B_n$ is exactly $1.$
Is it always possible, no matter how the rabbit moves, and no matter what points are reported by the tracking device, for the hunter to choose her moves so that after $10^9$ rounds, she can ensure that the distance between her and the rabbit is at most $100?$

Proposed by Gerhard Woeginger, Austria
This post has been edited 6 times. Last edited by djmathman, Jun 16, 2020, 4:13 AM
Reason: problem author
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prague123
230 posts
#2 • 12 Y
Y by biomathematics, Limitedcurry, TheMortalTheorist, Emmane1pi, Ultroid999OCPN, megarnie, OliverA, Lamboreghini, Adventure10, Mango247, Sedro, KhaiMathAddict
The answer to this problem must be negative, otherwise it would be boring.
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tarzanjunior
849 posts
#4 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, KhaiMathAddict
Any idea about who proposed this problem?
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ank 1729
272 posts
#5 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
tarzanjunior wrote:
Any idea about who proposed this problem?

Maybe It'll sound weird but why do I think thus was proposed from Taiwan or Hong Kong :/ Purely speculating here.
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prague123
230 posts
#6 • 7 Y
Y by integrated_JRC, jamessuper, gvole, sabkx, Adventure10, Mango247, Sedro
Too much hearsay. Moderator, please delete.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by prague123, Jul 18, 2017, 6:16 PM
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NikitaSkybytskyi
224 posts
#9 • 4 Y
Y by me9hanics, sabkx, Adventure10, Sedro
The best estimate I got so far is $d_{n+1}\le\sqrt{\left(\sqrt{d_n^2-1}-1\right)^2+1}+1.$ This only works for $n$ less than approximately 650000 which is a lot smaller than $10^9.$ This makes me think of winning strategy for the rabbit. I believe that if such a strategy exists, then we will have our tracking device always lying so that $\angle B_{n-1}P_nA_n = 90^\circ$ and $P_nA_n=1$ (such a case gives an equality in the bound above (unless I made a mistake)). Note that this is not always possible.

Important note: I got bound by considering only the latest info ($P_n$) from the tracking device, so there is still a chance of the existence of a more advanced winning strategy for the hunter.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by NikitaSkybytskyi, Jul 18, 2017, 7:17 PM
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Wolowizard
617 posts
#10 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
I think the answer is yes.
Because if the answer is no, then you just need to prove that the rabbit can escape the hunter when it's making every step to be farthest from the hunter.
Since we can now assume that hunter knows that rabbit is going away from him every step it wouldn't be that trivky to prove that he can/can't do what problem is stating.
Therefore the answer must be positive.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Wolowizard, Jul 18, 2017, 7:05 PM
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InCtrl
871 posts
#12 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
did anyone solve this on the contest?
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NikitaSkybytskyi
224 posts
#13 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
You know, I tried to model the situation described in my above post starting when $d_n=A_nB_n$ is already big (~10) and it seems like tracing back more than one point $P_n$ doesn't really help us, it decreases the possible area of rabbit just by several percents, which is not really helpful. Therefore we are left with two possibilities: either few starting points $P_n$ are crucial in determining the position of a rabbit throughout the game, or rabbit can escape in this scenario.

Note that if $P_1=B_0$ then we have literally no info, so we may get $d_1$ as big as 2 (if the hunter and rabbit choose opposite directions), so we already start to lose some info from not the latest $P_n$.

Oh, wait, I got another thought: the only way for us to be able to precisely tell which are the possible rabbit's positions is for all $P_n$ to lie on some straight line.
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PepsiCola
85 posts
#14 • 3 Y
Y by Expyri96, Adventure10, Mango247
It would be quite amusing if there were to be an inversion solution to this, especially given its geometric flavor :-D
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oneplusone
1459 posts
#15 • 304 Y
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The answer is no. WLOG let the rabbit control the tracking device.

We define an $r$-muffin to be the region enclosed by a lower semicircle of radius 1 and an arc of a circle of radius $r$ placed above the semicircle. Call the top of the muffin to be the midpoint of the arc of radius $r$, and the center of the muffin to be the center of its semicircle. In particular, the unit circle is a 1-muffin.

If the rabbit can be anywhere in an $r$-muffin (with the tracking device on the center of the muffin), in the next round the rabbit can be anywhere in an $(r+1)$-muffin with the top just 1 higher (and placing the tracking device on the center of the muffin) (see diagram below). Furthermore, if the hunter is a distance $d$ below the top of the $r$-muffin (that is, the hunter is below the top of the muffin and the distance from the hunter to the line through the top and tangent to the muffin is $d$), then in the next round the hunter will be at least a distance $d$ below the top of the $(r+1)$-muffin. We say the game is in state $(r,d)$ if the rabbit can be anywhere in an $r$-muffin and the hunter is at least distance $d$ below the top of the muffin. Then in 1 round, the rabbit can make the game change from state $(r,d)$ to $(r+1,d)$.

Another game changer is the following: if the rabbit can be anywhere in an $r$-muffin, let $A$ be the leftmost point of the muffin, then in the next round the rabbit can be anywhere in the unit circle centered at $A$ (which is a 1-muffin). Now the top of the 1-muffin can be anywhere, so we pick the top to be the point furthest from the hunter (and rotate so the top is really the top). WLOG the hunter is to the right of the muffin, then with some geometry, the game state changed from $(r,d)$ to $\left(1,\sqrt{(d-r+\sqrt{r^2-1})^2+1}\right)$. This is only beneficial if $r>d$. So we can change the state from $(2d,d)$ to $\left(1,\sqrt{(-d+\sqrt{4d^2-1})^2+1}\right)$.

Thus we can change the game state from $(1,d)$ to $\left(1,\sqrt{(-d+\sqrt{4d^2-1})^2+1}\right)$ in at most $2d+1$ rounds. With some algebra (rabbits are good at multiplying), we can show that $\sqrt{(-d+\sqrt{4d^2-1})^2+1}>\sqrt{d^2+\frac12}$, so we can change the game state from $(1,d)$ to $\left(1,\sqrt{d^2+\frac12}\right)$ in at most $2d+1$ rounds. Our aim is the state $(1,100)$. We can change the state from $(1,\sqrt{s})$ to $\left(1,\sqrt{s+\frac12}\right)$ in $2\sqrt{s}+1$ rounds. Thus we can get from $(1,1)$ to $(1,100)$ in at most $4(\sqrt{2}+\sqrt{3}+\cdots+\sqrt{10000})+20000\sim 4000000$ rounds, which is much less than $10^9$. Now we just need to get to $(1,1)$. In the first round, place the tracking device at $A_0$, then the rabbit can be anywhere on the unit circle. In the second round, place the tracking device diametrically opposite the hunter, then we will be in state $(1,2)$ in fact, and we are done.
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This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by oneplusone, Jul 18, 2017, 8:46 PM
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Borbas
402 posts
#16 • 12 Y
Y by fprosk, mathwiz0803, gyluo, opptoinfinity, Amir Hossein, OlympusHero, HamstPan38825, megarnie, fidgetboss_4000, Adventure10, sabkx, KhaiMathAddict
Someone give oneplusone a trophy for solving this monster-problem! Congrats!
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Anno
412 posts
#17 • 6 Y
Y by DaniyalQazi2, mathwiz0803, Amir Hossein, OlympusHero, Adventure10, Mango247
@oneplusone are you at IMO 2017. If so, did you solve this on contest because that would be really impressive.
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r3mark
255 posts
#18 • 6 Y
Y by mathwiz0803, Amir Hossein, OlympusHero, Adventure10, Mango247, KhaiMathAddict
oneplusone graduated a while ago.
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Davi-8191
34 posts
#19 • 7 Y
Y by Kayak, mathwiz0803, Amir Hossein, AlastorMoody, OlympusHero, megarnie, Adventure10
One plus one good dolution
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