Maths Beyond Limits 2024 Qualifying Quiz

The Qualifying Quiz (QQ) consists of five olympic problems (1-5) and three exploratory ones (6-8), and we ask you to
think about a subset of them. Only the three best solutions from olympic problems will be taken into account. If you
solve three problems and want to call it a day, that’s okay. If you want to attempt the remaining two, that’s also okay.
If you’re only able to solve one or two problems, and even if only partially, that’s fine too!

All exploratory problems are taken into account, and we consider them 1.5x more important than olympic ones. They
are also intended to be much harder and longer, so don’t feel discouraged when you don’t make as much progress as you
want – submitting solutions that are far from full can also be hugely beneficial to the application. We want to see how
you think, and the process itself is more important to us than the final solution.

Do not get upset if you find the problems difficult: they are meant to be demanding, thought-provoking,
and we expect them to be challenging for most people!

You can use books or the Internet to look up definitions or formulas, but do not try to look for the problems themselves!
In case the problem statement is unclear to you even after getting help from the aforementioned sources, please contact
us (our email address is mathsbeyondlimits@gmail.com). You may not consult or get help from anyone else. Violation
of these rules may permanently disqualify you from attending Maths Beyond Limits.

1. Let n ⩾ 2 be an integer. We roll m identical dice at the same time; each die has n sides, numbered from
1 to n. For which m is the chance of getting 1 exactly one time the highest?

2. Let a, b, c be positive integers satisfying a2 = bc + 1. Prove that 2a + b + c is a composite number.

3. Szymon coloured squares of a 2024 × 2024 chessboard in n colours. Then he placed a queen on one of the
squares. He wondered if it is possible for the queen to reach all other squares of this colour via a sequence of
moves, each ending on a square of this colour. It happened to be impossible, for any starting position of the
queen. What is the smallest possible value of n?

Remark. The queen is a chess piece which can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

4. A circle ω is tangent to the sides BC, CA, AB of triangle ABC in points D, E, F , respectively. The
segment DP is the diameter of ω. Line AP intersects ω in points P and Q. The point M is the centre of side
BC. Lines M Q and EF intersect in point R. Prove that the circumcircle of triangle P QR passes through the
centre of ω.

5. A sequence of real numbers a1 , . . . , an satisfies a41 + a42 + · · · a4n = a61 + a62 + · · · a6n . Prove that

a21 + a22 + · · · a2n ⩾ a51 + a52 + · · · a5n .

6. Due to a chain of peculiar events, you became a plumber. You were recruited to fix an old pipe in the city
park. Unfortunately, the city council lost the plans, and they do not know where the pipe is anymore. However,
in some documents they found out that the pipe goes through the park in a straight line, and that it is closer
than 100 meters from both fountains in the park (points A and B in the picture next page).

You need to dig a ditch through the park, hoping that you will find the pipe that way. The city council obviously
wants the ditch to be as short as possible, not destroying too much of the lawn. How short can you make it, in
order to make sure you find the pipe? You should assume the distance between the fountains is

a) |AB| = 100 meters,

b) |AB| = 50 meters,
c) |AB| = 150 meters.

Important note: In this problem we don’t expect you to provide proofs that your answers are the best possible.
Instead, show us your constructions, together with estimations of their length and an argument why they work.
7. Let p, q be coprime positive integers. We say an expression N = a1 + a2 + · · · + am is a captivating
decomposition of N , if numbers ai on the right hand side are pairwise distinct numbers of the form pk q l , with
k, l non-negative integers. We say a positive integer N is captivating, if it has a captivating decomposition. The
goal of this problem is to prove that every large enough number is captivating.
Example. For (p, q) = (3, 5) numbers 16 = 15 + 1 and 17 = 9 + 5 + 3 are captivating, however 11 is not a
captivating number.

a) Show that there are infinitely many numbers N which have at least two captivating decompositions.

b) Show that there is a positive integer C, such that for any positive integer n, there is at least one captivating
integer in the interval [n, n + C].
c) Assume we can find positive integers R, k, l such that for every positive integer M the number M pk q l + R
is captivating. Prove that then every integer large enough is captivating, i.e. we can find a constant D
such that every integer n ⩾ D is captivating.

d) Prove the assumption in (c), i.e. that we can find R, k, l such that for every M the number M pk q l + R
is captivating.

Note. The subtasks are independent of each other, so you do not need to solve them in the order given.

8. MBL recently acquired a puzzle consisting of an m × n rectangular board (m, n ⩾ 1), and mn colourful
tiles in the shape of a unit square, which come in k colours (1 ⩽ k ⩽ mn; there might be a different number of
tiles of different colours). The goal of the puzzle is to arrange the tiles on the board in such a way that:

• whenever a tile of colour A is directly over a tile of colour B, you like B more than A;

• whenever a tile of colour A is directly to the right from a tile of colour B, either you like B more than A,
or A = B (i.e. the tiles have the same colour).

Justyna and Daniela both have a very strong sense of aesthetics, in particular for any two colours A, B, they
will strictly prefer one over the other. However, their tastes may differ. Prove that the number of ways in which
Justyna can arrange the tiles is the same as the number of ways in which Daniela can do it.

Can you generalize this result to other board shapes?

Note. If you feel you’re stuck on this problem, you can start thinking about the case of three, and then four
colours.

(a) Example for problem 6a: the pipe (blue), two fountains, and (b) Example for problem 8:
the ditch (black). In this case you managed to find the pipe. two arrangements for two
preferences.
Top: red>green>yellow>
>orange>blue.
Bottom: orange>yellow>
>blue>red>green.