Plan ahead for the next school year. Schedule your class today!

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k a July Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jwelsh   0
Jul 1, 2025
We are halfway through summer, so be sure to carve out some time to keep your skills sharp and explore challenging topics at AoPS Online and our AoPS Academies (including the Virtual Campus)!

[list][*]Over 60 summer classes are starting at the Virtual Campus on July 7th - check out the math and language arts options for middle through high school levels.
[*]At AoPS Online, we have accelerated sections where you can complete a course in half the time by meeting twice/week instead of once/week, starting on July 8th:
[list][*]MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Basics
[*]MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Advanced
[*]AMC Problem Series[/list]
[*]Plus, AoPS Online has a special seminar July 14 - 17 that is outside the standard fare: Paradoxes and Infinity
[*]We are expanding our in-person AoPS Academy locations - are you looking for a strong community of problem solvers, exemplary instruction, and math and language arts options? Look to see if we have a location near you and enroll in summer camps or academic year classes today! New locations include campuses in California, Georgia, New York, Illinois, and Oregon and more coming soon![/list]

MOP (Math Olympiad Summer Program) just ended and the IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) is right around the corner! This year’s IMO will be held in Australia, July 10th - 20th. Congratulations to all the MOP students for reaching this incredible level and best of luck to all selected to represent their countries at this year’s IMO! Did you know that, in the last 10 years, 59 USA International Math Olympiad team members have medaled and have taken over 360 AoPS Online courses. Take advantage of our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training (WOOT) courses
and train with the best! Please note that early bird pricing ends August 19th!
Are you tired of the heat and thinking about Fall? You can plan your Fall schedule now with classes at either AoPS Online, AoPS Academy Virtual Campus, or one of our AoPS Academies around the US.

Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes start 7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT unless otherwise noted.

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0 replies
jwelsh
Jul 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
Find all c making a sequence strictly decreasing
v_Enhance   11
N an hour ago by Giabach298
Source: USA TSTST 2025/7
For a positive real number $c$, the sequence $a_1, a_2, \dots$ of real numbers is defined as follows. Let $a_1=c$, and for $n \geq 2$, let\[a_n = \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} (a_i)^{n-i+1}.\]Find all positive real numbers $c$ such that $a_i>a_{i+1}$ for all positive integers $i$.

Luke Robitaille
11 replies
v_Enhance
Jul 1, 2025
Giabach298
an hour ago
A geometry problem
MathMaxGreat   7
N an hour ago by Joalro178
Source: 2025 Summer NSMO
In $\triangle ABC$, $D$ is on the angle bisector of $\angle BAC$, $ED\perp BC$ and $E$ is on $BC$.
Prove: the radius of the circumcircles of the pedal triangles from $E$ to $\triangle ABD$ and $\triangle ACD$ is equal.
7 replies
MathMaxGreat
Jul 9, 2025
Joalro178
an hour ago
why are there 9 problems on combo sl
tastymath75025   40
N an hour ago by eg4334
Source: IMO 2019 SL C1
The infinite sequence $a_0,a _1, a_2, \dots$ of (not necessarily distinct) integers has the following properties: $0\le a_i \le i$ for all integers $i\ge 0$, and \[\binom{k}{a_0} + \binom{k}{a_1} + \dots + \binom{k}{a_k} = 2^k\]for all integers $k\ge 0$. Prove that all integers $N\ge 0$ occur in the sequence (that is, for all $N\ge 0$, there exists $i\ge 0$ with $a_i=N$).
40 replies
tastymath75025
Sep 22, 2020
eg4334
an hour ago
g, g + id, ..., g + 100id all bijections on Z/n
62861   17
N 2 hours ago by KevinYang2.71
Source: USA Winter TST for IMO 2019, Problem 2, by Ashwin Sah and Yang Liu
Let $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ denote the set of integers considered modulo $n$ (hence $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ has $n$ elements). Find all positive integers $n$ for which there exists a bijective function $g: \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z} \to \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$, such that the 101 functions
\[g(x), \quad g(x) + x, \quad g(x) + 2x, \quad \dots, \quad g(x) + 100x\]are all bijections on $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$.

Ashwin Sah and Yang Liu
17 replies
1 viewing
62861
Dec 10, 2018
KevinYang2.71
2 hours ago
Prove that the fraction (21n + 4)/(14n + 3) is irreducible
DPopov   113
N 2 hours ago by idk12345678
Source: IMO 1959 #1
Prove that the fraction $ \dfrac{21n + 4}{14n + 3}$ is irreducible for every natural number $ n$.
113 replies
DPopov
Oct 5, 2005
idk12345678
2 hours ago
Find all sequences satisfying two conditions
orl   36
N 2 hours ago by eg4334
Source: IMO Shortlist 2007, C1, AIMO 2008, TST 1, P1
Let $ n > 1$ be an integer. Find all sequences $ a_1, a_2, \ldots a_{n^2 + n}$ satisfying the following conditions:
\[ \text{ (a) } a_i \in \left\{0,1\right\} \text{ for all } 1 \leq i \leq n^2 + n;
\]

\[ \text{ (b) } a_{i + 1} + a_{i + 2} + \ldots + a_{i + n} < a_{i + n + 1} + a_{i + n + 2} + \ldots + a_{i + 2n} \text{ for all } 0 \leq i \leq n^2 - n.
\]
Author: Dusan Dukic, Serbia
36 replies
orl
Jul 13, 2008
eg4334
2 hours ago
Guessing Point is Hard
MarkBcc168   34
N 3 hours ago by vincentwant
Source: IMO Shortlist 2023 G5
Let $ABC$ be an acute-angled triangle with circumcircle $\omega$ and circumcentre $O$. Points $D\neq B$ and $E\neq C$ lie on $\omega$ such that $BD\perp AC$ and $CE\perp AB$. Let $CO$ meet $AB$ at $X$, and $BO$ meet $AC$ at $Y$.

Prove that the circumcircles of triangles $BXD$ and $CYE$ have an intersection lie on line $AO$.

Ivan Chan Kai Chin, Malaysia
34 replies
MarkBcc168
Jul 17, 2024
vincentwant
3 hours ago
x_1x_2...x_(n+1)-1 is divisible by an odd prime
ABCDE   54
N 3 hours ago by eg4334
Source: 2015 IMO Shortlist N3
Let $m$ and $n$ be positive integers such that $m>n$. Define $x_k=\frac{m+k}{n+k}$ for $k=1,2,\ldots,n+1$. Prove that if all the numbers $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_{n+1}$ are integers, then $x_1x_2\ldots x_{n+1}-1$ is divisible by an odd prime.
54 replies
ABCDE
Jul 7, 2016
eg4334
3 hours ago
Circles cut from cardboard
BigSams   10
N 3 hours ago by mudkip42
Source: Canadian Mathematical Olympiad - 2009 - Problem 2.
Two circles of different radii are cut out of cardboard. Each circle is subdivided into $200$ equal sectors. On each circle $100$ sectors are painted white and the other $100$ are painted black. The smaller circle is then placed on top of the larger circle, so that their centers coincide. Show that one can rotate the small circle so that the sectors on the two circles line up and at least $100$ sectors on the small circle lie over sectors of the same color on the big circle.
10 replies
BigSams
May 4, 2011
mudkip42
3 hours ago
IMO MOHS rating predictions
ohiorizzler1434   12
N 4 hours ago by AbbyWong
Everybody, with the IMO about to happen soon, what are your predictions for the MOHS ratings of the problems? I predict 10 20 40 15 25 45.
12 replies
ohiorizzler1434
Yesterday at 4:48 AM
AbbyWong
4 hours ago
Putnam 2018 A1
62861   32
N Yesterday at 8:40 PM by mudkip42
Find all ordered pairs $(a, b)$ of positive integers for which
\[\frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} = \frac{3}{2018}.\]
32 replies
62861
Dec 2, 2018
mudkip42
Yesterday at 8:40 PM
Matrix equation
Natrium   4
N Yesterday at 8:05 PM by GreenKeeper
If $A$ is a complex matrix with $AA^*A=A^3,$ prove that $A$ is self-adjoint, i.e., that $A^*=A.$
4 replies
Natrium
Jul 12, 2025
GreenKeeper
Yesterday at 8:05 PM
NT By Probabilistic Method
EthanWYX2009   1
N Yesterday at 7:41 PM by Manivs
Source: 2024 March 谜之竞赛-6
Given a positive integer \( k \) and a positive real number \( \varepsilon \), prove that there exist infinitely many positive integers \( n \) for which we can find pairwise coprime integers \( n_1, n_2, \cdots, n_k \) less than \( n \) satisfying
\[\text{gcd}(\varphi(n_1), \varphi(n_2), \cdots, \varphi(n_k)) \geq n^{1-\varepsilon}.\]Proposed by Cheng Jiang from Tsinghua University
1 reply
EthanWYX2009
Yesterday at 6:57 AM
Manivs
Yesterday at 7:41 PM
Probability that x/y is odd
Stear14   2
N Yesterday at 4:12 PM by Stear14
Part A. $\ $ Let $\ x,y\in U[0,1]$. $\ $ Find the probability that the nearest integer to the ratio $\ x/y\ $ is odd.

Part B. $\ $ Let $\ x,y\in N(0,1)$. $\ $ Find the probability that the nearest integer to the ratio $\ x/y\ $ is odd.

In both cases, give the answers not as infinite series, but in terms of elementary functions and known constants.
2 replies
Stear14
Sunday at 5:41 AM
Stear14
Yesterday at 4:12 PM
Chebyshev polynomial and prime number
mofidy   2
N Apr 10, 2025 by mofidy
Let $U_n(x)$ be a Chebyshev polynomial of the second kind. If n>2 and x > 2 is a integer, Could $U_n(x) -1$ be a prime number?
Thanks.
2 replies
mofidy
Apr 3, 2025
mofidy
Apr 10, 2025
Chebyshev polynomial and prime number
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mofidy
132 posts
#1
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Let $U_n(x)$ be a Chebyshev polynomial of the second kind. If n>2 and x > 2 is a integer, Could $U_n(x) -1$ be a prime number?
Thanks.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by mofidy, Apr 3, 2025, 8:15 PM
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Snoop76
325 posts
#2
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You can prove that:

For $n$ even $U_n(x)-1$ is even .

For $n=2p-1$ odd we can check that $U_{2p-1}(x)-1=0$ for $x=cos\frac{2k\pi}{2p-1}$ and $U_{2p-1}(x)-1=0$ for $x=cos\frac{(2k+1)\pi}{2p+1}$

From here results that $U_{2p-1}(x)-1$ is divisible with the minimal polynomial of $cos\frac{2k\pi}{2p-1}$ and $cos\frac{(2k+1)\pi}{2p+1}$.

So $U_{2p-1}(x)-1$ can be factorised to at least two irreductibil polynomials.
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mofidy
132 posts
#3
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Thanks @Snoop76
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