Stay ahead of learning milestones! Enroll in a class over the summer!

G
Topic
First Poster
Last Poster
k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

WOOT early bird pricing is in effect, don’t miss out! If you took MathWOOT Level 2 last year, no worries, it is all new problems this year! Our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program is for high school level competitors. AoPS designed these courses to help our top students get the deep focus they need to succeed in their specific competition goals. Check out the details at this link for all our WOOT programs in math, computer science, chemistry, and physics.

Looking for summer camps in math and language arts? Be sure to check out the video-based summer camps offered at the Virtual Campus that are 2- to 4-weeks in duration. 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)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]April 3rd (Webinar), 4pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learning with AoPS: Perspectives from a Parent, Math Camp Instructor, and University Professor
[*]April 8th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MATHCOUNTS State Discussion
April 9th (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learn about Video-based Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus
[*]April 10th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MathILy and MathILy-Er Math Jam: Multibackwards Numbers
[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

Introductory: Grades 5-10

Prealgebra 1 Self-Paced

Prealgebra 1
Sunday, Apr 13 - Aug 10
Tuesday, May 13 - Aug 26
Thursday, May 29 - Sep 11
Sunday, Jun 15 - Oct 12
Monday, Jun 30 - Oct 20
Wednesday, Jul 16 - Oct 29

Prealgebra 2 Self-Paced

Prealgebra 2
Sunday, Apr 13 - Aug 10
Wednesday, May 7 - Aug 20
Monday, Jun 2 - Sep 22
Sunday, Jun 29 - Oct 26
Friday, Jul 25 - Nov 21

Introduction to Algebra A Self-Paced

Introduction to Algebra A
Monday, Apr 7 - Jul 28
Sunday, May 11 - Sep 14 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Wednesday, May 14 - Aug 27
Friday, May 30 - Sep 26
Monday, Jun 2 - Sep 22
Sunday, Jun 15 - Oct 12
Thursday, Jun 26 - Oct 9
Tuesday, Jul 15 - Oct 28

Introduction to Counting & Probability Self-Paced

Introduction to Counting & Probability
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 2
Thursday, May 15 - Jul 31
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Wednesday, Jul 9 - Sep 24
Sunday, Jul 27 - Oct 19

Introduction to Number Theory
Thursday, Apr 17 - Jul 3
Friday, May 9 - Aug 1
Wednesday, May 21 - Aug 6
Monday, Jun 9 - Aug 25
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14
Tuesday, Jul 15 - Sep 30

Introduction to Algebra B Self-Paced

Introduction to Algebra B
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 30
Tuesday, May 6 - Aug 19
Wednesday, Jun 4 - Sep 17
Sunday, Jun 22 - Oct 19
Friday, Jul 18 - Nov 14

Introduction to Geometry
Wednesday, Apr 23 - Oct 1
Sunday, May 11 - Nov 9
Tuesday, May 20 - Oct 28
Monday, Jun 16 - Dec 8
Friday, Jun 20 - Jan 9
Sunday, Jun 29 - Jan 11
Monday, Jul 14 - Jan 19

Intermediate: Grades 8-12

Intermediate Algebra
Monday, Apr 21 - Oct 13
Sunday, Jun 1 - Nov 23
Tuesday, Jun 10 - Nov 18
Wednesday, Jun 25 - Dec 10
Sunday, Jul 13 - Jan 18
Thursday, Jul 24 - Jan 22

Intermediate Counting & Probability
Wednesday, May 21 - Sep 17
Sunday, Jun 22 - Nov 2

Intermediate Number Theory
Friday, Apr 11 - Jun 27
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Wednesday, Jun 18 - Sep 3

Precalculus
Wednesday, Apr 9 - Sep 3
Friday, May 16 - Oct 24
Sunday, Jun 1 - Nov 9
Monday, Jun 30 - Dec 8

Advanced: Grades 9-12

Olympiad Geometry
Tuesday, Jun 10 - Aug 26

Calculus
Tuesday, May 27 - Nov 11
Wednesday, Jun 25 - Dec 17

Group Theory
Thursday, Jun 12 - Sep 11

Contest Preparation: Grades 6-12

MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Basics
Wednesday, Apr 16 - Jul 2
Friday, May 23 - Aug 15
Monday, Jun 2 - Aug 18
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Advanced
Friday, Apr 11 - Jun 27
Sunday, May 11 - Aug 10
Tuesday, May 27 - Aug 12
Wednesday, Jun 11 - Aug 27
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

AMC 10 Problem Series
Friday, May 9 - Aug 1
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Tuesday, Jun 17 - Sep 2
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Monday, Jun 23 - Sep 15
Tues & Thurs, Jul 8 - Aug 14 (meets twice a week!)

AMC 10 Final Fives
Sunday, May 11 - Jun 8
Tuesday, May 27 - Jun 17
Monday, Jun 30 - Jul 21

AMC 12 Problem Series
Tuesday, May 27 - Aug 12
Thursday, Jun 12 - Aug 28
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 21
Wednesday, Aug 6 - Oct 22

AMC 12 Final Fives
Sunday, May 18 - Jun 15

F=ma Problem Series
Wednesday, Jun 11 - Aug 27

WOOT Programs
Visit the pages linked for full schedule details for each of these programs!


MathWOOT Level 1
MathWOOT Level 2
ChemWOOT
CodeWOOT
PhysicsWOOT

Programming

Introduction to Programming with Python
Thursday, May 22 - Aug 7
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14 (1:00 - 2:30 pm ET/10:00 - 11:30 am PT)
Tuesday, Jun 17 - Sep 2
Monday, Jun 30 - Sep 22

Intermediate Programming with Python
Sunday, Jun 1 - Aug 24
Monday, Jun 30 - Sep 22

USACO Bronze Problem Series
Tuesday, May 13 - Jul 29
Sunday, Jun 22 - Sep 1

Physics

Introduction to Physics
Wednesday, May 21 - Aug 6
Sunday, Jun 15 - Sep 14
Monday, Jun 23 - Sep 15

Physics 1: Mechanics
Thursday, May 22 - Oct 30
Monday, Jun 23 - Dec 15

Relativity
Sat & Sun, Apr 26 - Apr 27 (4:00 - 7:00 pm ET/1:00 - 4:00pm PT)
Mon, Tue, Wed & Thurs, Jun 23 - Jun 26 (meets every day of the week!)
0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
Counting in two different ways
bamboozled   1
N 26 minutes ago by vincentwant
For a positive integer $n$ show that
$$\sum_{i=0}^{\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor} 2^{n-2i} \binom{n}{n-2i} \binom{2i}{i} = \binom{2n}{n}$$
1 reply
bamboozled
an hour ago
vincentwant
26 minutes ago
Differentiation Marathon!
LawofCosine   197
N 31 minutes ago by LawofCosine
Hello, everybody!

This is a differentiation marathon. It is just like an ordinary marathon, where you can post problems and provide solutions to the problem posted by the previous user. You can only post differentiation problems (not including integration and differential equations) and please don't make it too hard!

Have fun!

(Sorry about the bad english)
197 replies
LawofCosine
Feb 1, 2025
LawofCosine
31 minutes ago
symmetric linear combination of matrices
MetaphysicalWukong   2
N 38 minutes ago by rchokler
What conditions on $\alpha,\ \beta,\ \gamma$ will make M symmetric? Show all working.
2 replies
MetaphysicalWukong
Apr 2, 2025
rchokler
38 minutes ago
Problem Regarding Measure Theory
Safal   2
N an hour ago by Safal
Source: My Friend and Me
Let $(X,M,\nu)$ be a measure space, and $E\subseteq X$.
Let $$f:E\to[0,\infty]$$be a measurable function, and $f\in L^{1}(\nu)$. Suppose $$E_1\subset E_2\subset E_3\subset\cdots$$such that $\bigcup_{i=1}^{\infty} E_{n}=E$.
Is it true that $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} \int_{E_n} f d\nu =\int_{E} f d\nu?$$
I think
2 replies
Safal
2 hours ago
Safal
an hour ago
No more topics!
infinite string of characters
Martin.s   12
N May 18, 2024 by Zfn.nom-_nom
For which integers $m$ does an infinite string of characters

\[ S = c_{1} \cdot c_{2} \cdot c_{3} \cdot c_{4} \cdot c_{5} \ldots \]
exist such that for all $n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ there are exactly $m \cdot n$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? (A substring is a finite subsequence of consecutive characters.)

$\textbf{Bonus:}$Does an infinite string $S$ exist such that there are exactly $p_{n}$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? $p_{n}$ is the $n$th prime.

12 replies
Martin.s
May 10, 2024
Zfn.nom-_nom
May 18, 2024
infinite string of characters
G H J
G H BBookmark kLocked kLocked NReply
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#1
Y by
For which integers $m$ does an infinite string of characters

\[ S = c_{1} \cdot c_{2} \cdot c_{3} \cdot c_{4} \cdot c_{5} \ldots \]
exist such that for all $n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ there are exactly $m \cdot n$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? (A substring is a finite subsequence of consecutive characters.)

$\textbf{Bonus:}$Does an infinite string $S$ exist such that there are exactly $p_{n}$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? $p_{n}$ is the $n$th prime.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#2
Y by
bump this
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
alexheinis
10518 posts
#3 • 1 Y
Y by MS_asdfgzxcvb
The number of patters of length $n$ is called $P(n)$ and it is called the complexity function of the word. Just a few remarks.
- if $P(n)=n$ for all $n$ then $P(1)=1$ and the word is constant. Hence not possible. More generally, if $P(k)\le k$ for some $k$ then the word is ultimately periodic and $P(n)$ is bounded.
- for $P(n)=2n$ nice examples can be found in a paper by Günter Rote, Journal of Number Theory 46. I will quote Theorem 2 here.
Let $c,\phi,\theta\in R$ with $0<\phi<1,0<\theta<\min(\phi,1-\phi), \theta\not\in Q$ and $n\theta\not\equiv \phi(1)$ for all $n$. Define the word $a\in \{0,1\}^\infty$ as follows: $a_n=1\iff c+n\theta \in [0,\phi)\mod 1$. Then $P(a,n)=2n$ for all $n$.
- let $r$ be a positive integer. In my thesis I construct words $w$ such that $P(w,n)=r(n+1)$ for $n$ large. This is not your question since there is an extra term and we deal with ultimate complexity here. But it might be interesting nonetheless.
- the answer to your question is in fact Theorem 5.3 in https://www.emis.de/journals/BBMS/Bulletin/bul971/cassaigne.pdf, a paper by Julien Cassaigne.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#4
Y by
alexheinis wrote:
The number of patters of length $n$ is called $P(n)$ and it is called the complexity function of the word. Just a few remarks.
- if $P(n)=n$ for all $n$ then $P(1)=1$ and the word is constant. Hence not possible. More generally, if $P(k)\le k$ for some $k$ then the word is ultimately periodic and $P(n)$ is bounded.
- for $P(n)=2n$ nice examples can be found in a paper by Günter Rote, Journal of Number Theory 46. I will quote Theorem 2 here.
Let $c,\phi,\theta\in R$ with $0<\phi<1,0<\theta<\min(\phi,1-\phi), \theta\not\in Q$ and $n\theta\not\equiv \phi(1)$ for all $n$. Define the word $a\in \{0,1\}^\infty$ as follows: $a_n=1\iff c+n\theta \in [0,\phi)\mod 1$. Then $P(a,n)=2n$ for all $n$.
- let $r$ be a positive integer. In my thesis I construct words $w$ such that $P(w,n)=r(n+1)$ for $n$ large. This is not your question since there is an extra term and we deal with ultimate complexity here. But it might be interesting nonetheless.
- the answer to your question is in fact Theorem 5.3 in https://www.emis.de/journals/BBMS/Bulletin/bul971/cassaigne.pdf, a paper by Julien Cassaigne.

The document you provided is in French (or another language that I'm not familiar with). Could you please provide a link to the same document in English, or would you like me to summarize its content for you?
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
alexheinis
10518 posts
#5
Y by
Let me just translate the theorem for you:
Suppose $(a,b)\in N\times Z$. There exists a sequence with complexity $P(n)=an+b$ for all $n\ge 1$ (with $P(0)=1$) iff $a+b\ge 1$ and $2a+b\le (a+b)^2$.
From this it follows that the answer to your question is for all $m\ge 2$. I don't know if the paper has appeared in English and the proof is rather technical.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#6
Y by
any solution?
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Zfn.nom-_nom
282 posts
#7
Y by
alexheinis wrote:
From this it follows that the answer to your question is for all $m\ge 2$. I don't know if the paper has appeared in English and the proof is rather technical.

yea, but that doesn't help me much, same for the fact that S can't be eventually periodic ;/
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Etkan
1551 posts
#9
Y by
Martin.s wrote:
any solution?

You already received a solution here
alexheinis wrote:
- the answer to your question is in fact Theorem 5.3 in https://www.emis.de/journals/BBMS/Bulletin/bul971/cassaigne.pdf, a paper by Julien Cassaigne.
There are a lot of translation apps on the internet (Google Translate, for example), so the fact that you are not familiar with some language is not an impediment to understand a paper. It is your job now to try to understand it. After doing that, you may come back here with some specific question about the paper, but merely posting "any solution?" as if you hadn't received a detailed answer is (in my humble opinion) definitely disrespectful for alexheinis.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#10
Y by
Etkan wrote:
Martin.s wrote:
any solution?

You already received a solution here
alexheinis wrote:
- the answer to your question is in fact Theorem 5.3 in https://www.emis.de/journals/BBMS/Bulletin/bul971/cassaigne.pdf, a paper by Julien Cassaigne.
There are a lot of translation apps on the internet (Google Translate, for example), so the fact that you are not familiar with some language is not an impediment to understand a paper. It is your job now to try to understand it. After doing that, you may come back here with some specific question about the paper, but merely posting "any solution?" as if you hadn't received a detailed answer is (in my humble opinion) definitely disrespectful for alexheinis.


Oh my goodness, I'm genuinely surprised by your reaction. I respect Alexheinis too, but I don't speak French, so why can't I post a message like "any solution"? And why are you assuming that it's disrespectful to Alexheinis?

Here's the translation by Google. If anyone can understand this translation, please let me know.

‘’Indeed, it is an impressive translation, isn't it?’’
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1145300784649609320/1239464462180810752/IMG_3827.png?ex=664304bb&is=6641b33b&hm=1b7e913b9b6c785d77a6ff2559400189a86e3393ef5245da6d8c6293ea3c3dc1&

I suggest you consider your words carefully before writing anything too harsh or strong, and I assure you, I'm here with humility.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Martin.s, May 13, 2024, 6:32 AM
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Etkan
1551 posts
#11 • 1 Y
Y by Martin.s
Ok, I guess I must apologise.
What I meant is that you can ask for help in translating or something like that (I'm not going to read this attached translation), but the "any solution?" sounds a bit rude. I guess I've seen a lot of users here which only intended to use this as a "do my homework for me" platform, and they always have that kind of comments, so I probably missjudged you. Please keep in mind that the chances of receiving a solution decrease when the difficulty of the posted problem increase, so in general, don't bump to much and don't insist that hard when you don't receive a solution.

Again, I apologise for missjudging you. I hope we maintain a cordial relation here in the future.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Martin.s
1533 posts
#12
Y by
https://cdn.aops.com/images/3/b/e/3beb6a140493b500302425cd24f66d000a22a606.png
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Zfn.nom-_nom
282 posts
#13
Y by
Quote:
\[ S = c_{1} \cdot c_{2} \cdot c_{3} \cdot c_{4} \cdot c_{5} \ldots \]
exist such that for all $n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ there are exactly $m \cdot n$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? (A substring is a finite subsequence of consecutive characters.)

$\textbf{Bonus:}$Does an infinite string $S$ exist such that there are exactly $p_{n}$ distinct substrings of $S$ with length $n$? $p_{n}$ is the $n$th prime.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding something, but aren't there only 2 distinct substrings of length ? in ? for any ?? Namely, the one starting with 0 and the one starting with 1?
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Zfn.nom-_nom, May 18, 2024, 7:15 AM
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
Zfn.nom-_nom
282 posts
#14
Y by
any comments?
Z K Y
N Quick Reply
G
H
=
a