POPULAR LECTURES (N MATHEMATICS ate fa ef hed MATHEMATICAL — PROBLEMS AND — ad OP a of WY A er ged from the Polish 4 Mathematical Olympiads Pergamon Press PWAN-Polish Scientific Publishers bsPOPULAR LECTURES IN MATHEMATICS Editors: I. N. Syeppow anp M. Stark VOLUME 12 Mathematical Problems and Puzzles from the Polish Mathematical OlympiadsTITLES IN THE POPULAR LECTURES IN MATHEMATICS SERIES Vol. 1 The Method of Mathematical Induction By 1.8. Sommexrr Vol. 2 Fibonacci Numbers By N.N. Voros’ev Vol. 3 Some Applications of Mechanice to Mathematics By V.A. Usrensxn Vol. 4 Geometrical Conatrucions Using Compasses Only By A. N. Kosrovsart Vol. 5 The Ruler in Geometrical Constructions By A.8. Swoconzmzvsan Vol. 6 Inequalities By P.P. Korovam Vol. 7 One Hundred Problema in Elementary Mathematica By H. Sremmavs Vol. 8 Complex Numbers and Conformal Mappings By A. Marxusmsvice Vol. 9 The Cube Made Interesting By A. Eurenrevoar Vol. 10 Mathematical Games and Pastimes By A.P. Domonvap Vol. 11 A Selection of Probleme in the Teory of Numbers By W. Srerprsxr Vol. 12 Mathematical Probleme and Puzzles from the Polish Mathematical Olympiads By 8, StraszewrozMathematical Problems and Puzeles From the Polish Mathematical Olympiads BY S. STRASZEWICZ = TRANSLATED FROM POLISH BY J. SMOLSKA PERGAMON PRESS OXFORD - LONDON - EDINBURGH : NEW YORK PARIS - FRANKFURT PWN—POLISH SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHERS WARSZAWAPergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford 4 & 5 Fitzroy Square, London W.1 Pergamon Press (Scotland) Ltd., 2 & 3 Teviot Place, Edinburgh 1 Pergamon Press Inc., 122 East 55th St., New York 22, N.Y. Gauthier-Villars, 55 Quai des Grands-Augustins, Paris 6 Pergamon Pross GmbH, Kaiserstrasso 75, Frankfurt-am-Main 229628 hic SBVNS Copyright 1965 PANSTWOWE WYDAWNICTWO NAUKOWE (PWN—Polish Scientific Publishers) WARSZAWA First English edition 1965 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-2236 ‘This book is a translation of the original Zadania z olimpiad matematycenyeh, Vol. 1, published by Pafistwowe Zaktady Wydawnictw Szkolych, 1960 Printed in Poland (DRP)I IL CONTENTS Arithmetic and Algebra § 1, Integers § 2. Polynomials, Algebraic Fractions, Irrational Expressions § 3. Equations § 4. Inoqualities Geometry and Trigonometry 5. Proving Theorems 6. Finding Geometrical Magnitudes 7. Loci § § § § 8. Constructions § 9. Maxima and Minima § 10. Trigonometrical ‘Transformations PROBLEMS 113 116 118 11s 120 122 SOLUTIONS 10 24 46 92 123 189 235 253 332 357PREFACE ‘THIs book is a translation of the second Polish edition, published in 1960, in which various improvements were made. The contest for secondary school pupils known as the Mathe- matical Olympiad has been held in Poland every year since 1949/50. It is organized by the Polish Mathematical Society under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, which pro- vides the necessary financial means. Direct control of the contest is in the hands of a Central Committee in Warsaw and of Re- gional Committees in seven university towns. In each com- mittee university professors collaborate with secondary school teachers, Participation in the contests is voluntary. They are open to all secondary school pupils in the country but in practice candidates for the Olympiad are recruited from the two senior forms (ages: 16 to 18). The Olympiad comprises three stages. Stage one (preparatory) lasts throughout October, November and December. At the beginning of each month the Central Committee sends out to all secondary schools in the country a set of problems which pupils are expected to solve individually, working at home, within the months in question. No check is made to see whether they work entirely on their own. The pupils’ solutions are then mailed by their school to the appropriate regional committee, where they are assessed. The authors of the best solutions are then admitted to the second stage (regional) contests. These take place in March—on the same day at all the seven regional centres, and the same problems are set at each. The contestants have to come up in person to their nearest regional centre. The contest lasts two days. Each day three problems have to be solved in the allotted time of four hours. The candidates work in one room under the supervision of members of the local regional committee; they are not allowed to communicate with one another or to receive help from the professors. Their chance to discuss the problems with the professors comes at the social gatherings organized for this purpose after the contest. The pupils who have produced the best papers are admitted viiviii Preface to the third stage (final) contest, which takes place in Warsaw in the month of April and is organized along the same lines as the regional contest. The papers are assessed by the Central Com- mittee and the authors of the best of them are awarded prizes. The problems set at the contests require only a knowledge of school mathematics (i.e. elementary algebra, geometry and trigonometry) but are on the whole more difficult than the usual school exercises. Their degree of difficulty, however, is not uniform, for it is considered desirable that not only the most gifted pupils but also those of average ability should —with a certain effort— manage to solve some of the problems and gain a number of points at the contests. This book contains the problems set at the first five Olympiads. It has been prepared in order to provide secondary school pupils with suitable topics to be worked out on their own, individually or collectively. It aims at extending their knowledge of mathe- matics and training them in mathematical thinking. Accordingly, the solutions of most of the problems have been given in an extend- ed form, the readers’ attention being drawn to various details of the reasoning. In addition, several problems have been provided with commentaries containing generalizations or further develop- ment of the topics in question, including various supplementary data of elementary mathematics outside the scope of the school syllabus. These commentaries are given separately, in the form of remarks following the solutions. This arrangement of the contents has been adopted in order to make the book easy to read even for less advanced pupils, who can skip over the material contained in the remarks. More advanced readers, however, will find in them instructive examples of mathematical reasoning, which may stimulate their own initiative in posing problems and seeking solutions. In most cases several solutions of the same problem have been given, which might perhaps seem superfluous. ‘The aim, however, has been to show that the solution of a problem may result from different mental associations and be obtained through different processes of reasoning. It will be observed that several of the solutions given in the book are due to the pupils themselves, Thus for instance problem 15 was solved by means of geometrical illustration (method III) by one of the participants in the Third Olympiad and the original method IIT of solving problem 153 was found by a participant in the Fourth Olympiad. It has frequently occurred at the Olympiads that pupils have presented different solutions from those expected by the Committee. S. SrraszewiczPART ONE Arithmetic and AlgebraPROBLEMS § 1. Integers 1. Find two natural numbers a and 6 given their greatest common divisor D =12 and their least common multiple M = 432, Give the method of finding solutions in the general case. 2. Prove that a sum of natural numbers is divisible by 9 if and only if the sum of all the digits of those numbers is divisible by 9. 3. Prove that the number which in the decimal system is expressed by means of 91 unities is a composite number. 4, Prove that if an integer a is not divisible either by 2 or by 3, then the number a?—1 is divisible by 24. 5. Find when the sum of the cubes of three successive natural numbers is divisible by 18. 6. Prove that if the sum of three natural numbers is divisible by 8, then the sum of the cubes of those numbers is also divisible by 3. 7. Show that if n is an integer, then n®—3n?-+2n is divisible by 6. 8. Prove that number 2541 is divisible by 11. 9. Prove that the sum of two successive natural numbers and the sum of their squares are relatively prime. 10. Prove that every odd prime number p can be represented as the difference of the squares of two natural numbers, and that this can be done in one way only. 11. What digits should be put instead of zeros in the third and the fifth places in number 3000003 in order to give a number divisible by 13? 12. Prove that if a natural number n is greater than 4 and is not a prime, then the product of the successive natural numbers from 1 to n—1 is divisible by n. 18. Prove that if m is an even natural number, then number 13"+ 6 is divisible by 7.