VOL

AMS / MAA ANNELI LAX NEW MATHEMATICAL LIBRARY VOL 12

12

HUNGARIAN

Hungarian, Problem Book II

PROBLEM BOOK II

based on the
Eötvös Competitions
1906–1928

TRANSLATED BY
ELVIRA RAPAPORT
 10.1090/nml/012

HUNGARIAN PROBLEM BOOK

BASED ON THE Et)TVt)S COMPETITIONS, 1906-1928
 NEW MATHEMATICAL LIBRARY
published by
The Mathematical Association of America

Editorial Committee
Ivan Niven, Chairman (1981-83) Anneli Lax, Editor
University of Oregon New York University
W. G . Chinn (1980-82) City College of San Francisco
Basil Gordon (1980-82) University of California, Los Angeles
M. M. Schiffer (1979-81) Stanford University

The New Muthematical Library (NRIL) was begun in 1961 by the

School Mathematics Study Group to make available to high school
students short expository books on various topics not usually covered
in the high school syllabus. I n a decade the XRIL matured into a
steadily growing series of some twenty titles of interest not only
to the originally intended audience, but to college students and
teachers a t all levels. Previously published by Random House and
L. W. Singer, the NML became a publication series of the Mathe-
matical Association of America (MAA) in 1975. Under the auspices
of the MAA the KML will continue to grow and will remain dedi-
cated to its original and expanded purposes.
 HUNGARIAN
PROBLEM BOOK

BASED ON THE EOTVOS COMPETITIONS, 1906-1928

REVISED AND EDITED BY
G. HAJOS, G. NEUKOMM, J. SUUNYI,
ORIGINALLY COMPILED BY JbZSEF KURSCHAK

translated by

Elvira Rapaport
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute

12
THE MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION
OF AMERICA
©Copyright 1963 by The Mathematical Association of America (Inc.)
All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in Washington, D.C. by
The Mathematical Association of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-16149
Print ISBN 978-0-88385-612-3
Electronic ISBN 978-0-88385-959-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
 Note to the Reader

T his book is one of a series written by professional mathematicians

in order to make some important mathematical ideas interesting
and understandable fo a large audience of high school students and
laymen. Most of the volumes in the New Mathematical Library cover
topics not usually included in the high school curriculum; they vary
in difficulty, and, even within a single book, some parts require a
greater degree of concentration than others. Thus, while the reader
needs little technical knowledge to understand most of these books,
he will have to make an intellectual effort.
If the reader has so far encountered mathematics only in classroom
work, he should keep in mind that a book on mathematics cannot be
read quickly. Nor must he expect to understand all parts of the book
on first reading. He should feel free to skip complicated parts and
return to them later; often an argument will be clarified by a subse-
quent remark. On the other hand, sections containing thoroughly
familiar material may be read very quickly.
The best way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics, and each
book includes problems, some of which may require considerable
thought. The reader is urged to acquire the habit of reading with
paper and pencil in hand; in this way mathematics will become in-
creasingly meaningful to him.
The authors and editorial committee are interested in reactions to
the books in this series and hope that readers will write to: Anneli
Lax, Editor, New Mathematical Library, NEWYORKUNIVERSITY,
THE COURANT INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES, 251 Mercer
Street, New York, N. Y. 10012.

The Editors
 NEW MATHEMATICAL LIBRARY

1 Numbers: Rational and Irrational by Ivan Niven

2 What is Calculus About? by W. W. Sawyer
3 An Introduction to Inequalities by E. F. Beckenbach and R. Bellman
4 Geometric Inequalities by N. D. Kazarinof
5 The Contest Problem Book I Annual High School Examinations 1950-1960.
Complied and with solutions by Charles T. Salkind
6 The Lore of Large Numbers by P. J. Davis
7 Uses of Infinity by Leo Zippin
8 Geometric Transformations I by I. M. Yaglom, translated by A. Shields
9 Continued Fractions by Carl D. Olds

I
10 Graphs and Their Uses by Oystein Ore
1 1 Hungarian Problem Books I and 11, Based on the Eotvos
12 Competitions 18941905 and 1906-1928 translated by E. Rapaport
13 Episodes from the Early History of Mathematics by A. Aaboe
14 Groups and Their Graphs by I.-Grossman and W. Magnus
15 The Mathematics of Choice by Ivan Niuen
16 From Pythagoras to Einstein by K. 0. Friedrichs
17 The Contest Problem Book I1 Annual High School Examinations 1961-1965.
Complied and with solutions by Charles T. Salkind
18 First Concepts of Topology by W. G. Chinn and N. E. Steenrod
19 Geometry Revisited by H. S. M . Coxeter and S. L. Greitzer
20 Invitation to Number Theory by Oystein Ore
21 Geometric Transformations I1 by I. M . Yaglom, translated by A . Shields
22 Elementary Cryptanalysis-A Mathematical Approach by A. Sinkov
23 Ingenuity in Mathematics by Ross Honsberger
24 Geometric Transformations I11 by I. M . Yaglom, translated by A. Shenitzer
25 The Contest Problem Book 111 Annual High School Examination 1966-1972
Complied and with solutions by C. T. Salkind and J. M . Earl
26 Mathematical Methods in Science by George Pblya
27 International Mathematical Olympiads 1959-1977. Compiled and with solution:
by Samuel L. Greitzer
28 The Mathematics of Games and Gambling by Edward W. Packel
Others titles in preparation
 CONTENTS

Editors’ Note
From the Hungarian Prefaces
Preface to the American Edition
Problems
Solutions
1906: 1, 2,3 19, 22, 23
1907: 1, 2,3 24, 26, 28
1908: 1 , 2 , 3 29, 29, 30
1909: 1, 2, 3 31, 32, 35
1910: 1, 2,3 35, 36, 37
1911: 1, 2,3 43, 44, 46
1912: 1, 2,3 47, 50, 50
1913: 1, 2,3 55, 55, 57
1914: 1, 2,3 58, 59, 62
1915: 1, 2,3 62, 63, 64
1916: 1, 2, 3 65, 68, 77
1917: 1, 2,3 77, 78, 79
1918: 1, 2,3 79) 81, 82
1922: 1, 2,3 84, 85, 86
1923: 1, 2,3 87, 88, 92
1924: 1, 2, 3 93, 94, 95
1925: 1, 2, 3 99) 100,102
1926: 1, 2, 3 103, 106,106
1927: 1, 2,3 107, 109, 109
1928: 1, 2, 3 111, 113, 113
Classification of Problems 116
List of Explanatory Notes 118
List of Biographical Footnotes 119
List of Contest Winners 120
 HUNGARIAN PROBLEM BOOK
BASED ON THE Et)TVt)S COMPETITIONS, 1906-1928
 From the Hungarian Prefaces

The first of these contests was held in 1894 by the Mathematical and
Physical Society (of Hungary) in honor of its founder and president, the
distinguished physicist Baron L o r h d Eotvos, who became minister of
education that year. To commemorate the event, the contests are given
every fall and are open to high school graduates of that year. The con-
testants work in classrooms under supervision; the Society selects the
two best papers, and the awards-a first and second Eiitvos Prize-are
given to the winners by the president himself at the next session of the
Society.
The present volume, appearing on the tenth anniversary of Eotvos’
death, contains the contests held to date. While it utilizes the winners’
work, the solutions are in general not those found by the students. . ..
The names of the winners are listed; their papers appeared in full in
Matematikai ds Fizikai Lupok, the Journal of the Society; here, however,
the solutions were changed to suit the didactic aim of the book.
Some of my notes give definitions and proofs of theorems used in the
solutions. Others serve to point out the connection between problems
and famous results in literature. In some instances I was able to give a
glimpse of the essence of an entire subject matter; in others the mere
statement of a general theorem had to suffice. ...
There are few prerequisites. A person who has learned to solve quad-
ratic equations and knows plane geometry can solve many of the prob-
lems. If he also knows trigonometry, he can solve most of them. So little
of the material taught in the last two years of high school (in Hungary)
is needed here that a younger student can easily learn it from books.

3
4 HUNGARIAN PROBLEM BOOK

However, this book is meant not only for students and teachers. Any-
one who retained an interest in mathematics in his adult life can find
things of note and value here and will be gratified to see how much can
be achieved with the elementary material to which high schools must
restrict themselves.
How should the reader use this book? All I can say is: without frenzy.
With a serious interest and perseverence, everyone will find the way best
suited to him in order to benefit from the varied material contained in
it ....
J6zsef Kurschilk
Budapest, April 9th, 1929

Problems of the Mathematics Contests, edited by J6zsef Kurschhk, was

published originally in 1929. The first edition was quickly sold out and
the Ministry of Education commissioned a new edition. We are under-
taking this work with pleasure and in the hope of contributing to the
attainment of KurschAk’s goal. This volume will soon be followed by
another containing a similar treatment of the contests held since.
The new edition required certain changes. By and large, KurschWs
approach was retained, especially his notes which were meant to widen
the reader’s horizon. We augmented these notes here and there, changing
them only to conform to present-day high school curricula. For example,
we added permutations, the binomial theorem, half-angle formulas, etc.
We added a few new notes. We included some new solutions that seemed
strikingly simple or ingenious, and so we deviated from the contestants’
work more than the first edition did....
We made a few technical changes to facilitate handling. Thus, we
repeated the problems before giving the solution and we unified the
notation, thereby necessitating alterations in and additions to the
figures. . ..
We sincerely hope to have come up to expectation and that this work
will give pleasure and profit to many.
Gyijrgy Hajb
Gyula Neukomm
J h o s Surhyi
Budapest, September, 1955
 Preface to the American Edition

I n recent times much effort has been devoted to the improvement of

mathematics teaching on all levels. Thus it is only natural that we search
for further stimulants and improvements in this direction, as well as for
new means of discovering and developing the dormant abilities which
may exist in our society. The Monograph Project of the School Mathe-
matics Study Group has such a purpose. The present translation of the
Hungarian problem collection of the Eotvijs Competition serves this goal.
Since I am one of the few still existing links between the present mathe-
matical generation and an older one that witnessed the first phase of the
interesting development of this competition, I was asked to write a few
introductory words to the English version of this collection.
The EZitvGs Competition was organized in Hungary in 1894 and
played a remarkable role in the development of mathematics in that
small c0untry.t The competition was open to all freshmen entering the
university; the publication of the problems and the names of the winners
was from the beginning a public event of first class interest. Among the
winners durifig the period of the first decade of the competition were
such men as FejBr, von KBrmBn, Haar, Riesz, and numerous others who
later became internationally known. With some short interruptions due
to wars and related conditions the competition has been carried on to
the present day, though the name was changed, and the organization
and scope of the competition have become much broader in recent years.
The essence however has remained the same. The problems are almost all

t Before the first world war Hungary had 19 million inhabitants;at present it has
about 10 million.

5
 6 H U N G A R I A N P R O B L E M BOOK

from high school material (no calculus is included), they are of an ele-
mentary character, but rather difficult, and their solution requires a
certain degree of insight and creative ability. Any amount of aid in the
form of books or notes is permitted.
Mathematics is a human activity almost as diverse as the human mind
itself. Therefore it seems impossible to design absolutely certain and
effective means and methods for the stimulation of mathematics on a
large scale. While the competitive idea seems to be a powerful stimulant,
it is interesting to observe that it was and is still almost completely
absent from academic life in Germany although mathematics has flour-
ished in that country throughout the last two hundred years. The or-
ganization of the Eotvos Competition in Hungary was probably suggested
by British and French examples that had existed in those countries for
a long time. We mention in particular the “Mathematical Tripos” in
Cambridge, England and the “Concours” examination problems for
admission to the “Grandes Ecoles” in France. These early examples
suggest also that some sort of preparation is essential to arouse public
interest, to attract the best competitors and to give them proper recogni-
tion. In England the participation in the Tripos is preceded by systematic
coaching, and in France the public schools offer facilities to prepare for
the “Concours” examinations. In Hungary a similar objective was
achieved by a Journal published primarily for high school students as
another natural stimulant to the student’s preparation for participation
in the competition upon entering the university. t
The Journal was organized almost simultaneously with the competi-
tion, i.e. in 1894, by DBniel Arany; for many years it was edited by the
able high school teacher LAszl6 RBczS and later by various other teachers
of high quality. The articles were supplied partly by teachers and partly
by mathematicians affiliated with the university, mostly younger persons.
The Journal carried articles primarily from elementary mathematics,
much triangle geometry, some projective and descriptive geometry,
algebra and occasionally some number theory, later also some ventures
into calculus. But the most important and most fertile part was the

t A good account of the Eotvos Competition and of the Journal is given in an article
by Tibor Rad6: “On mathematical life in Hungary”, American Mathematical Monthly,
vol. 39 (1932), pp. 85-90. (One slight correction has to be made on p. 87, line 6:
There w m a girl winner, first prize, 1908.)
1His name will go down in history for a second reason: RBcz was the teacher of J.
von Neumann in high school. Cf. the Obituary Note by S. Ulam, Bulletin of &heA m e d
can Mathematical Society, vol. 64 (1958), pp. 1-49; on p. 2 the name Ucz appears in
distorted spelling.
 P R E F A C E TO T H E A M E R I C A N E D I T I O N 7

problem section; it occupied a large part of the content and was essep-
tially written for the students and by the students. The best solution
sent in was printed with the name and school of the author, and a list
of the others who sent in correct solutions was given.
I remember vividly the time when I participated in this phase of the
Journal (in the years between 1908 and 1912) ; I would wait eagerly for
the arrival of the monthly issue and my first concern was to look at the
problem section, almost breathlessly, and to start grappling with the
problems without delay. The names of the others who were in the same
business were quickly known to me and frequently I read with con-
siderable envy how they had succeeded with some problems which I
could not handle with complete success, or how they had found a better
solution (that is, simpler, more elegant or wittier) than the one I had
sent in. The following story may not be accurate in all details but it is
certainly revealing:
“The time is about 1940, the scene is one of the infamous labor camps
of fascist Hungary just at the beginning of its pathetic transformation
from semi-dictatorship to the cannibalism of the Nazi pattern. These
camps were populated mostly by Jewish youth forced to carry out some
perfectly useless tasks. One young man (at present one of the leading
mathematicians of Hungary) was in the camp; let us call him Mr. X.
He was panting under the load of a heavy beam when the sergeant
shouted at him in a not too complimentary manner, addressing him by
his last name. The supervising officer stood nearby, just a few steps
away, and said: ‘Say, did I hear right, your name is X?’ ‘Yes,’ was the
answer. ‘Are you by chance the same X who worked years ago in the
High School Journal?’ ‘Yes,’ was again the answer. ‘You know, you
solved more, and more difficult problems than any one of us and we were
very envious of you.’ The end of the story is that Mr. X received more
lenient treatment in the camp and later even had some mathematical
contact with the all-powerful officer.”
The profound interest which these young men took in the Journal was
decisive in many of their lives. The intensive preoccupation with inter-
esting problems of simple and elementary character and the effort of
finding clear and complete answers gave them a new experience, the
taste of creative intellectual adventure. Thus they were bound finally
and unalterably to the jealous mistress that mathematics is. There re-
mained still the question of what special studies to undertake, whether
it should be mathematics or physics or engineering; but this was after
all a secondary matter; the main road was charted for life. We may think
8 HUNGARIAN PROBLEM BOOK

of the adage of Kronecker who compares mathematicians with lotus

eaters: “Wer einmal von dieser Kost etwas zu sich genommen hat, kann
nie mehr davon lassen.” (He who has once tasted of this fruit can never
more forswear it.)
And a final observation. We should not forget that the solution of any
worth-while problem very rarely comes to us easily and without hard
work; it is rather the result of intellectual effort of days or weeks or
months. Why should the young mind be willing to make this supreme
effort? The explanation is probably the instinctive preference for certain
values, that is, the attitude which rates intellectual effort and spiritual
achievement higher than material advantage. Such a valuation can only
be the result of a long cultural development of environment and public
spirit which is difficult to accelerate by governmental aid or even by
more intensive training in mathematics. The most effective means may
consist of transmitting to the young mind the beauty of intellectual work
and the feeling of satisfaction following a great and successful mental
effort. The hope is justified that the present book might aid exactly in
this respect and that it represents a good step in the right direction.

GAbor Szeg6
Stanford University, February, 1961
 List of Explanatory Notes

The pigeonhole principle 24

Equations with integral coefficients 25
Fermat’s conjecture 31
The inequality between the arithmetic and harmonic means of two
positive numbers 34
On nomography 39
A theorem on trigonometric polynomials 46
Classification of a set of objects according to several properties 48
Inequalities in triangles 54
Two theorems on the greatest common divisor 58
Markov’s theorem on Chebyshev Polynomials 60
Laguerre’s theorem 67
Comparison of arithmetic and geometric means 70
Jensen’s theorem 73
Eisenstein’s theorem 86
The power of a point with respect to a circle 97
The locus of points whose powers with respect to two circles are
equal 98
The exponents in the prime factorization of m! 101
Moves of the knight on an infinite chess board 104

118
 List of Biographical Notes

Descartes, R. 40
d’Ocagne, M. 43
Markov, A. 61
Laguerre, E. 67
Cauchy, A. L. 72
Jensen, J. L. V. W. 73
Pythagoras 80
Schoenemann, T. 86
Eisenstein, F. G. M. 86
Legendre, A. M. 102
Dirichlet, L. 111
Kronecker, L. 111

119
 List of Winners

1906 Vilmos Erd8s Istvin Gotlhb

1907 Jen6 Tolnai Gyorgy Domokos
1908 Etelka Orphanides Lajos Kudlik
1909 Liszlb Raj Ferenc Lukics
1910 Odon Sebestykn
1911 Kiroly Hlucsil Gibor Klein
1912 Gibor Szeg6 Pi1 Nemknyi
1913 Tibor Radb Lajos Fulep
1914 Ferenc Ziginy Jenb Prbnai
1915 Alfred Boskovitz Ferenc Krbek
1916 Albert Kornfeld KilmAn Hajnal
1917 Celesztin Z. Pom6zi Lajos Sirospataky
1918 Endre Reuss Liszlb Rkdei
1922 Lisz16 Kalmir Vilmos Schmidt
1923 Gyorgy Liindler Miklbs I z d k
1924 Endre Korner
1925 Rudolf Fuchs Ede Teller Liszlb Tisza
1926 Tibor Bakos J6zsef Winkler
1927 Gyula Beke Mikl6s Shg
1928 Gyorgy Schossberger Endre Schliissler

120
AMS / MAA ANNELI LAX NEW MATHEMATICAL LIBRARY

The Eötvös Contests in elemen- JÓZSEF KÜRSCHÁK (1864-1933) was

tary mathematics have been open to born and educated in Hungary. He
Hungarian students in their last year of was professor of mathematics at the
high school ever since 1894. They are Polytechnic Univer sity in Budapest,
famous for the simplicity of the concepts member of the Hungarian Academy and
employed, the mathematical depth permanent member of the Examination
reached, and the diversity of elemen- Board for prospective high school
tary mathematical fields touched. But teachers of mathematics.
perhaps their most remarkable feature His many contributions to math-
is the influence that they, together with ematics include work in the calculus of
a mathematics journal for students, variations, in algebra and in number
seem to have had on the young people theory. He used his great pedagog-
of that small country. Among the ical skill in developing and teaching an
winners of the first eleven contests exceptionally good mathematics course
(i.e. those contained in the present for beginning engineering students. He
volume) many turned into scientists of also gave courses for future high school
international fame; e.g. L. Fejér, T. von teachers, mainly in elementary geom-
Kármán, D. Ko " nig, M. Riesz. Among the etry and in geometrical constructions.
winners of the next twenty contests Several of his papers deal with the
(i.e. those contained in volume 12) are teaching and popularization of math-
G. Szego " , T. Radó, E. Teller; all three ematics. His devotion to intelligently
are well known in the United States, guided problem solving is illustrated by
where they now reside. This transla- the famous problem book which forms
tion of the Eötvös Contest Problems the basis of the present volume.
from 1894-1928 is based on the revised
Hungarian edition of J. Kürschák's orig-
inal compilation. Kürschák combined
his excellence in mathematics with his
interest in education when he supplied
the elegant solutions and illuminating
explanations.

Cover design suggested by Arlys Stritzel