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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.

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
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
IMO96/2 [the lines AP, BD, CE meet at a point]
Arne   47
N 18 minutes ago by Bridgeon
Source: IMO 1996 problem 2, IMO Shortlist 1996, G2
Let $ P$ be a point inside a triangle $ ABC$ such that
\[ \angle APB - \angle ACB = \angle APC - \angle ABC.
\]
Let $ D$, $ E$ be the incenters of triangles $ APB$, $ APC$, respectively. Show that the lines $ AP$, $ BD$, $ CE$ meet at a point.
47 replies
Arne
Sep 30, 2003
Bridgeon
18 minutes ago
A sharp one with 3 var (3)
mihaig   4
N 30 minutes ago by aaravdodhia
Source: Own
Let $a,b,c\geq0$ satisfying
$$\left(a+b+c-2\right)^2+8\leq3\left(ab+bc+ca\right).$$Prove
$$a^2+b^2+c^2+5abc\geq8.$$
4 replies
mihaig
Yesterday at 5:17 PM
aaravdodhia
30 minutes ago
Cup of Combinatorics
M11100111001Y1R   1
N an hour ago by Davdav1232
Source: Iran TST 2025 Test 4 Problem 2
There are \( n \) cups labeled \( 1, 2, \dots, n \), where the \( i \)-th cup has capacity \( i \) liters. In total, there are \( n \) liters of water distributed among these cups such that each cup contains an integer amount of water. In each step, we may transfer water from one cup to another. The process continues until either the source cup becomes empty or the destination cup becomes full.

$a)$ Prove that from any configuration where each cup contains an integer amount of water, it is possible to reach a configuration in which each cup contains exactly 1 liter of water in at most \( \frac{4n}{3} \) steps.

$b)$ Prove that in at most \( \frac{5n}{3} \) steps, one can go from any configuration with integer water amounts to any other configuration with the same property.
1 reply
M11100111001Y1R
Yesterday at 7:24 AM
Davdav1232
an hour ago
Bulgaria National Olympiad 1996
Jjesus   7
N an hour ago by reni_wee
Find all prime numbers $p,q$ for which $pq$ divides $(5^p-2^p)(5^q-2^q)$.
7 replies
Jjesus
Jun 10, 2020
reni_wee
an hour ago
Can't be power of 2
shobber   31
N an hour ago by LeYohan
Source: APMO 1998
Show that for any positive integers $a$ and $b$, $(36a+b)(a+36b)$ cannot be a power of $2$.
31 replies
shobber
Mar 17, 2006
LeYohan
an hour ago
Brilliant Problem
M11100111001Y1R   4
N an hour ago by IAmTheHazard
Source: Iran TST 2025 Test 3 Problem 3
Find all sequences \( (a_n) \) of natural numbers such that for every pair of natural numbers \( r \) and \( s \), the following inequality holds:
\[
\frac{1}{2} < \frac{\gcd(a_r, a_s)}{\gcd(r, s)} < 2
\]
4 replies
M11100111001Y1R
Yesterday at 7:28 AM
IAmTheHazard
an hour ago
Own made functional equation
Primeniyazidayi   1
N an hour ago by Primeniyazidayi
Source: own(probably)
Find all functions $f:R \rightarrow R$ such that $xf(x^2+2f(y)-yf(x))=f(x)^3-f(y)(f(x^2)-2f(x))$ for all $x,y \in \mathbb{R}$
1 reply
Primeniyazidayi
May 26, 2025
Primeniyazidayi
an hour ago
not fun equation
DottedCaculator   13
N 2 hours ago by Adywastaken
Source: USA TST 2024/6
Find all functions $f\colon\mathbb R\to\mathbb R$ such that for all real numbers $x$ and $y$,
\[f(xf(y))+f(y)=f(x+y)+f(xy).\]
Milan Haiman
13 replies
DottedCaculator
Jan 15, 2024
Adywastaken
2 hours ago
Serbian selection contest for the IMO 2025 - P6
OgnjenTesic   12
N 3 hours ago by atdaotlohbh
Source: Serbian selection contest for the IMO 2025
For an $n \times n$ table filled with natural numbers, we say it is a divisor table if:
- the numbers in the $i$-th row are exactly all the divisors of some natural number $r_i$,
- the numbers in the $j$-th column are exactly all the divisors of some natural number $c_j$,
- $r_i \ne r_j$ for every $i \ne j$.

A prime number $p$ is given. Determine the smallest natural number $n$, divisible by $p$, such that there exists an $n \times n$ divisor table, or prove that such $n$ does not exist.

Proposed by Pavle Martinović
12 replies
OgnjenTesic
May 22, 2025
atdaotlohbh
3 hours ago
Geometry with fix circle
falantrng   33
N 3 hours ago by zuat.e
Source: RMM 2018 Problem 6
Fix a circle $\Gamma$, a line $\ell$ to tangent $\Gamma$, and another circle $\Omega$ disjoint from $\ell$ such that $\Gamma$ and $\Omega$ lie on opposite sides of $\ell$. The tangents to $\Gamma$ from a variable point $X$ on $\Omega$ meet $\ell$ at $Y$ and $Z$. Prove that, as $X$ varies over $\Omega$, the circumcircle of $XYZ$ is tangent to two fixed circles.
33 replies
falantrng
Feb 25, 2018
zuat.e
3 hours ago
USAMO 2001 Problem 2
MithsApprentice   54
N 3 hours ago by lpieleanu
Let $ABC$ be a triangle and let $\omega$ be its incircle. Denote by $D_1$ and $E_1$ the points where $\omega$ is tangent to sides $BC$ and $AC$, respectively. Denote by $D_2$ and $E_2$ the points on sides $BC$ and $AC$, respectively, such that $CD_2=BD_1$ and $CE_2=AE_1$, and denote by $P$ the point of intersection of segments $AD_2$ and $BE_2$. Circle $\omega$ intersects segment $AD_2$ at two points, the closer of which to the vertex $A$ is denoted by $Q$. Prove that $AQ=D_2P$.
54 replies
MithsApprentice
Sep 30, 2005
lpieleanu
3 hours ago
German-Style System of Equations
Primeniyazidayi   1
N 4 hours ago by Primeniyazidayi
Source: German MO 2025 11/12 Day 1 P1
Solve the system of equations in $\mathbb{R}$

\begin{align*}
\frac{a}{c} &= b-\sqrt{b}+c \\
\sqrt{\frac{a}{c}} &= \sqrt{b}+1 \\
\sqrt[4]{\frac{a}{c}} &=\sqrt[3]{b}-1
\end{align*}
1 reply
Primeniyazidayi
4 hours ago
Primeniyazidayi
4 hours ago
gcd nt from switzerland
AshAuktober   5
N 4 hours ago by Siddharthmaybe
Source: Swiss 2025 Second Round
Let $a, b$ be positive integers. Prove that the expression
\[\frac{\gcd(a+b,ab)}{\gcd(a,b)}\]is always a positive integer, and determine all possible values it can take.
5 replies
AshAuktober
5 hours ago
Siddharthmaybe
4 hours ago
Shortlist 2017/G1
fastlikearabbit   92
N 4 hours ago by Ilikeminecraft
Source: Shortlist 2017
Let $ABCDE$ be a convex pentagon such that $AB=BC=CD$, $\angle{EAB}=\angle{BCD}$, and $\angle{EDC}=\angle{CBA}$. Prove that the perpendicular line from $E$ to $BC$ and the line segments $AC$ and $BD$ are concurrent.
92 replies
fastlikearabbit
Jul 10, 2018
Ilikeminecraft
4 hours ago
Turbo the snail avoiding monsters
LLL2019   62
N Feb 28, 2025 by Maximilian113
Source: IMO 2024/5
Turbo the snail plays a game on a board with $2024$ rows and $2023$ columns. There are hidden monsters in $2022$ of the cells. Initially, Turbo does not know where any of the monsters are, but he knows that there is exactly one monster in each row except the first row and the last row, and that each column contains at most one monster.

Turbo makes a series of attempts to go from the first row to the last row. On each attempt, he chooses to start on any cell in the first row, then repeatedly moves to an adjacent cell sharing a common side. (He is allowed to return to a previously visited cell.) If he reaches a cell with a monster, his attempt ends and he is transported back to the first row to start a new attempt. The monsters do not move, and Turbo remembers whether or not each cell he has visited contains a monster. If he reaches any cell in the last row, his attempt ends and the game is over.

Determine the minimum value of $n$ for which Turbo has a strategy that guarantees reaching the last row on the $n$-th attempt or earlier, regardless of the locations of the monsters.

Proposed by Cheuk Hei Chu, Hong Kong
62 replies
LLL2019
Jul 17, 2024
Maximilian113
Feb 28, 2025
Turbo the snail avoiding monsters
G H J
G H BBookmark kLocked kLocked NReply
Source: IMO 2024/5
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LLL2019
834 posts
#1 • 26 Y
Y by KevinYang2.71, MatejV127, hauy1, L567, GeoKing, AlexCenteno2007, centslordm, trk08, ehuseyinyigit, Gato_combinatorio, eduD_looC, Therealway, JuanOrtiz, axolotlx7, Rounak_iitr, OronSH, mathleticguyyy, ItsBesi, QueenArwen, Yrock, ohiorizzler1434, Scilyse, vinyx, Kingsbane2139, cubres, cursed_tangent1434
Turbo the snail plays a game on a board with $2024$ rows and $2023$ columns. There are hidden monsters in $2022$ of the cells. Initially, Turbo does not know where any of the monsters are, but he knows that there is exactly one monster in each row except the first row and the last row, and that each column contains at most one monster.

Turbo makes a series of attempts to go from the first row to the last row. On each attempt, he chooses to start on any cell in the first row, then repeatedly moves to an adjacent cell sharing a common side. (He is allowed to return to a previously visited cell.) If he reaches a cell with a monster, his attempt ends and he is transported back to the first row to start a new attempt. The monsters do not move, and Turbo remembers whether or not each cell he has visited contains a monster. If he reaches any cell in the last row, his attempt ends and the game is over.

Determine the minimum value of $n$ for which Turbo has a strategy that guarantees reaching the last row on the $n$-th attempt or earlier, regardless of the locations of the monsters.

Proposed by Cheuk Hei Chu, Hong Kong
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by LLL2019, Jul 17, 2024, 10:40 PM
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LLL2019
834 posts
#2 • 4 Y
Y by ehuseyinyigit, Kingsbane2139, ihatemath123, cubres
The answer is answer.

This was initially proposed to our Test 1, which is very easy, but our coach told him to propose it IMO instead, resulting in most of our team being trolled by it.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by LLL2019, Jul 17, 2024, 1:05 PM
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chronondecay
145 posts
#3 • 10 Y
Y by mofumofu, tenplusten, oneplusone, Jalil_Huseynov, khina, trk08, eduD_looC, Yrock, Supercali, GreenTea2593
Could you please spoiler the answer? This is the first place that many people are going to see the question, and putting the answer right there completely robs them of the experience. (I'm not a fan of the title either.)
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v_Enhance
6878 posts
#4 • 22 Y
Y by yuyang, carefully, hauy1, CT17, Modesti, GeoKing, Gms68bx, kred9, tapir1729, MathIQ., a4691, Rounak_iitr, Sedro, math_comb01, QueenArwen, OronSH, andlind, LLL2019, ihatemath123, Yrock, CyclicISLscelesTrapezoid, quantam13
Solution

Extended comments
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by v_Enhance, Jul 23, 2024, 10:50 AM
Reason: add extended comments
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popop614
272 posts
#5
Y by
Buh ?
probably a fakesolve
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carefully
241 posts
#6 • 1 Y
Y by Windleaf1A
This must be the most troll problem ever, even more troll than APMO 2019 P4.
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Blast_S1
363 posts
#7
Y by
Redacted
This post has been edited 7 times. Last edited by Blast_S1, Jan 16, 2025, 3:00 AM
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Kingsbane2139
42 posts
#8 • 16 Y
Y by Funcshun840, Iveela, MarkBcc168, WJ777, Algorithmic_Yogi, Mathematics_enthusiasts, Windleaf1A, sondat, YOUsername, GioOrnikapa, LLL2019, Nartku, dbnl, axsolers_24, GuvercinciHoca, Trebsch
Not suitable for IMO. No mathematical beauty. WHAT IS THE PSC DOING???
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Kingsbane2139, Jul 17, 2024, 1:35 PM
Reason: E
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hotmonkey1
2192 posts
#10 • 5 Y
Y by Pomer, ehuseyinyigit, Windleaf1A, YOUsername, dbnl
second year in a row guessing the answer to a p5 combi wrong and completely failing it!!!!!!
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kingu
220 posts
#11 • 1 Y
Y by YOUsername
This problem is a cook.
The title should be changed, it is not inadequate
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by kingu, Jul 17, 2024, 1:40 PM
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ABCDE
1963 posts
#12 • 46 Y
Y by carefully, popop614, szpolska, khina, IAmTheHazard, v_Enhance, centslordm, akliu, trk08, golue3120, aidan0626, juckter, Sleepy_Head, Gato_combinatorio, ehuseyinyigit, pikapika007, Sedro, L567, kred9, Supercali, williamxiao, ohiorizzler1434, megarnie, YaoAOPS, kingu, tree_3, sixoneeight, ImbecileMathImbaTation, tapir1729, holdmyquadrilateral, InCtrl, ihatemath123, EpicBird08, YOUsername, mathfun07, OronSH, Jack_w, Kingsbane2139, anantmudgal09, Ritwin, clarkculus, LLL2019, Frestho, BR1F1SZ, QueenArwen, fidgetboss_4000
Notably, the fifth problem of this IMO is the same as the fifth round of Squid Game, which is this problem on a $37\times2$ grid with one monster in every other row.
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IAmTheHazard
5005 posts
#13 • 1 Y
Y by AlexCenteno2007
The answer is $3$.

Renumber the rows to start with $0$, so the first row with monsters is row $1$. Impose a coordinate system $(\text{row},\text{col})$ in the obvious way.

To see that at least $3$ attempts are required, suppose that Turbo first move out of the zeroth row is onto $(1,n)$. It could be the case that he encounters a monster there. In this case, if Turbo could win for $n=2$ then his next attempt must remain within either row $1$ or column $n$, since he could bump into another monster the instant he steps out. But since $(1,n)$ is occupied this is clearly impossible.

For a strategy for at least $3$ attempts, Turbo moves onto $(1,2)$ and then moves right until $(1,2022)$. If he encounters a monster on $(1,n)$, then his next attempts are $(0,n-1) \to (1,n-1) \to (2,n-1) \to (2,n) \to (2023,n)$ and $(0,n+1) \to (1,n+1) \to (2,n+1) \to (2,n) \to (2023,n)$, and one of these must work. Otherwise Turbo moves onto $(1,1)$ and then $(1,2023)$ if possible; one of these must have a monster on it; WLOG $(1,1)$ since both actually give the same amount of information.

Turbo's next move repeats the following procedure for $k=2,3,\ldots$: he moves onto $(k,k+1)$, then moves rightwards until $(k,2023)$. If Turbo doesn't encounter a monster during the process for $k$, then he gains the knowledge that there must be a monster on $(k,k)$ since there's nowhere else for it to go (by induction). If Turbo encounters a monster at some point, then he knows that there is no monster on $(k,k)$, but a monster on $(k-1,k-1)$. Then on his third and final attempt he can move to $(k,k) \to (k,k-1) \to (2023,k-1)$. If Turbo never encounters a monster then he eventually ends up on $(2022,2023)$, and can win by moving down. $\blacksquare$
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circlethm
98 posts
#14
Y by
Rough writeup because I'm retired. Cute problem but idk what the committee was thinking

Strategy.
We want a strategy that works in the 'worst case'. So start by assuming we hit a monster in Row 1 (start on leftmost cell, move right until we get the monster).

Case 1. Hit it at the first or last cell.

WLOG say monster at (1, 1). Then ideally we'd start at (2, 1), and we could try to go around it with (2, 2), (2, 3), (1, 3), and straight up to the top.Worst case we then hit a monster at one of (2, 2) or (2, 3). If we hit it at (2, 2), we keep having the problem of needing to take right steps and going up. So let's preempt that loop by just trying that strategy: we go (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 2), etc.

Worst case this fails at some step. If the step was an upward step, then we now have a cleared row so we can go back along to the original monster's column and go up, done. If the step was a rightward step, then we can retrace our steps until we are again beside the monster, but then go along that row until the column of the first monster. Go up, done

Case 2. Hit it somewhere in the middle.

We try go around it on the right as before, if this fails we can just go in the other direction and it works.

This works in 3 moves.

Optimal.

To see 3 is optimal, suppose we start at (k, 1). We place a monster at (k, 1). That's one attempt gone. Then they must go upwards at some point, and they only know a monster cannot be at column k, so when they eventually do move up to (l, 2), we can have placed a monster there already.
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Chus
15 posts
#15 • 48 Y
Y by Jalil_Huseynov, InternetPerson10, the4seasons, khina, trk08, Supertinito, ATGY, Maths_Girl, aidan0626, Gato_combinatorio, ehuseyinyigit, peter_ib, Sedro, Assassino9931, L567, kamatadu, Supercali, ohiorizzler1434, megarnie, carefully, Scrutiny, RobertRogo, scannose, KST2003, EpicBird08, mathaddiction, ihatemath123, Therealway, Snark_Graphique, navier3072, anser, aops-g5-gethsemanea2, p_square, OronSH, timon92, LLL2019, QueenArwen, Nartku, Rijul saini, Yrock, dbnl, Ritwin, dgrozev, sami1618, CyclicISLscelesTrapezoid, Qingzhou_Xu, giangtruong13, farhad.fritl
OMGGG that's my problem... Sorry for trolling y'all :wacko:
More about the backstory in a bit..
how i wrote this problem inspired by my public exam listening paper (no not related to squid game, unfortunately)
personal thoughts on problem difficulty

Anyways hope everyone still enjoyed the problem nevertheless : )

ps i think this broke the record for imo problem with the most words wow
pps turbo beats ai (at least for now) letsgoooooo
This post has been edited 5 times. Last edited by Chus, Jul 26, 2024, 7:41 PM
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kingu
220 posts
#16 • 2 Y
Y by Gato_combinatorio, IYxMT
Don't be! It is enjoyable and fun (tho yeah...)
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by kingu, Jul 23, 2024, 10:59 PM
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