1968 IMO Problems

Problems of the 10th IMO 1968 in USSR.

Problem 1

Prove that there is one and only one triangle whose side lengths are consecutive integers, and one of whose angles is twice as large as another.

Solution

Problem 2

Find all natural numbers $x$ such that the product of their digits (in decimal notation) is equal to $x^2 - 10x - 22$ .

Solution

Problem 3

Consider the system of equations $ax_1^2 + bx_1 + c = x_2$ $ax_2^2 + bx_2 + c = x_3$ $\cdots$ $ax_{n-1}^2 + bx_{n-1} + c = x_n$ $ax_n^2 + bx_n + c = x_1$ with unknowns $x_1, x_2, \cdots, x_n$ where $a, b, c$ are real and $a \neq 0$ . Let $\Delta = (b - 1)^2 - 4ac$ . Prove that for this system

(a) if $\Delta < 0$ , there is no solution,

(b) if $\Delta = 0$ , there is exactly one solution,

(c) if $\Delta > 0$ , there is more than one solution.

Solution

Problem 4

Prove that in every tetrahedron there is a vertex such that the three edges meeting there have lengths which are the sides of a triangle.

Solution

Problem 5

Let $f$ be a real-valued function defined for all real numbers $x$ such that, for some positive constant $a$ , the equation $f(x + a) = \frac{1}{2} + \sqrt{f(x) - (f(x))^2}$ holds for all $x$ .

(a) Prove that the function $f$ is periodic (i.e., there exists a positive number $b$ such that $f(x + b) = f(x)$ for all $x$ ).

(b) For $a = 1$ , give an example of a non-constant function with the required properties.

Solution

Problem 6

For every natural number $n$ , evaluate the sum $\sum_{k = 0}^\infty\bigg[\frac{n + 2^k}{2^{k + 1}}\bigg] = \Big[\frac{n + 1}{2}\Big] + \Big[\frac{n + 2}{4}\Big] + \cdots + \bigg[\frac{n + 2^k}{2^{k + 1}}\bigg] + \cdots$ (The symbol $[x]$ denotes the greatest integer not exceeding $x$ .)

Solution

1968 IMO * IMO 1968 Problems on the Resources page * IMO Problems and Solutions, with authors * Mathematics competition resources

1968 IMO (Problems) • Resources
Preceded by 1967 IMO	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6	Followed by 1969 IMO
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1968 IMO Problems

Contents

Problem 1

Problem 2

Problem 3

Problem 4

Problem 5

Problem 6