2019 USAJMO Problems/Problem 1

Problem

There are $a+b$ bowls arranged in a row, numbered $1$ through $a+b$ , where $a$ and $b$ are given positive integers. Initially, each of the first $a$ bowls contains an apple, and each of the last $b$ bowls contains a pear.

A legal move consists of moving an apple from bowl $i$ to bowl $i+1$ and a pear from bowl $j$ to bowl $j-1$ , provided that the difference $i-j$ is even. We permit multiple fruits in the same bowl at the same time. The goal is to end up with the first $b$ bowls each containing a pear and the last $a$ bowls each containing an apple. Show that this is possible if and only if the product $ab$ is even.

Solution

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

2019 USAJMO (Problems • Resources)
First Problem	Followed by Problem 2
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2019 USAJMO Problems/Problem 1

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