Each year a committee appointed by the Unione Matematica Italiana, called “Pro-

getto Olimpiadi della Matematica”, organizes the selection process of the Italian
team for the International Mathematical Olympiad. The program is sponsored by
the Italian Ministry of Education and is actively supported by a large number of
mathematics teachers throughout the country. The selection process consists of four
steps:
1. Giochi di Archimede: this is a popular competition (with about 200,000 par-
ticipants) held in November. The students take the test in their own schools.
It consists of 16 to 20 multiple choice questions, which are meant to be suit-
able for a large number of students and mainly require ingenuity rather than
technical ability. This competition has two levels: junior (ages 14-16) and
senior (ages 16-19).
2. Gara di secondo livello: this competition is held in February in about one hun-
dred locations in Italy. Only the best students from “I giochi di Archimede”
are admitted. The test consists of three kinds of problems: multiple choice
questions, problems that require a numerical answer, and problems that re-
quire a mathematical proof.
3. Olimpiadi Italiane di Matematica: this competition is held at the beginning of
May in Cesenatico, a town on the Adriatic coast, among the 300 best students
of step 2. Students are invited for a three day event, but the competition
itself is held on just one day. The test consists of 6 problems that require a
mathematical proof, to be solved in 4 hours and a half. At the end there is an
award ceremony in the style of the IMO.
4. Practice for the Team Selection: for the best students from the Olimpiadi Ital-
iane di Matematica three one-week-long practice stages are held, in September,
January and May. The last stage ends with the Team Selection Test, a two-day
competition in the style of the Olympiads.
This booklet collects all the problems given during the selection process for the
2019 I.M.O. in Bath. For the problems in the first two sections we only include the
answers and some sketches of the required proofs. We provide full solutions for all
the problems from the “Olimpiadi Italiane di Matematica”.

Pavia, 13 June 2019 Ludovico Pernazza

chairman of the Committee
Progetto Olimpiadi della Matematica
I Giochi di Archimede
22 November 2018
Problems for junior students
1 Which of these fractions is the smallest?
2016 2015 2017 2019 2018
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
2015 2014 2016 2018 2017
2 Which of the following numbers can be obtained by adding the squares of two
integer multiples of 3? (A) 450 (B) 300 (C) 270 (D) 483 (E) 189
3 Carla builds a cube by gluing together 1000 smaller cubes, each of the same
size, with 10 smaller cubes along each edge. She then paints all the faces of the
finished cube red. How many of the smaller cubes will end up with exactly two red
faces? (A) 60 (B) 120 (C) 104 (D) 90 (E) 96
4 Luca and Claudia are holding a red card and a black card each. Luca picks a
card at random from Claudia’s cards and adds it to his own. Then Claudia picks a
card at random from Luca’s. What is the probability that both Luca and Claudia
will end up holding two cards of the same color (one with two red cards, the other
with two black ones)? (A) 3/4 (B) 1/4 (C) 1/3 (D) 1/2 (E) 1/6
B
F
5 The figure to the side shows the D
47◦ 48◦
amplitude of the vertex angles in A, B, D,
◦ 50◦
F , G. The vertex angles in C and E have 60 57◦
A G
the same amplitude x. What is x?
x
(A) 41◦ (B) 39◦ (C) 40◦
x
(D) 37◦ (E) 38◦ C
E
6 Cesare owns a large number of toy soldiers, between 2000 and 2500. He tries to
arrange them in rows of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, but every time there is one left over. If he
wants to arrange them in equal rows (with more than 1 toy soldier each), how
many toy soldier much each row hold, at least? (A) 19 (B) 23 (C) 11
(D) 17 (E) 13
7 Teodoro is drawing a sequence of right triangles, as A10 A11
shown in the figure. The first is the isosceles triangle
A1 A2 A3 , with the right triangle in A1 and 1 cm legs. A8 A9
The second is A2 A3 A4 , where A2 is a right angle and
A6 A7
A2 A4 has length 1 cm. The third is A3 A4 A5 , where
A3 is a right angle and A3 A5 has length 1 cm. And A4 A5
so on: each triangle An An+1 An+2 , has a right angle in
A2 A3
An , and the leg An An+2 has length 1 cm. What is the
length of A100 A101 in cm?
A1
(A) 20 (B) 50 (C) 25 (D) 10 (E) 16
2

8 Three girls and a boy must sit around a table with five chairs, numbered from 1
to 5. To choose their seat, each of the four draws one of five pieces of paper
numbered from 1 to 5. What is the probability that the empty chair will be
between two girls? (A) 3/5 (B) 2/5 (C) 2/3 (D) 3/4 (E) 1/2

9 The longer side of a picture frame is 5/4 of the shorter one.

The thickess of the frame is the same on all four sides. The
picture inside the frame (the gray rectangle in the figure) has
32 cm and 24 cm sides. What is the area in cm2 of the rectangle
delimitated by the external border of the frame?
(A) 1440 (B) 1200 (C) 1280 (D) 1600 (E) 1500

10 A cell phone with a dead battery must charge for 2 hours to reach full charge,
as long as it is not in use. If the cell phone is in use while charging, half the energy
obtained is immediately consumed and only the remaining part is stored in the
battery. It took 2 hours and a half to fully recharge the battery. For how many
minutes was the cell phone in use while recharging? (We assume, being the cell
phone in use or not, that the energy stored in any interval of time is proportional
to its duration.) (A) 75 (B) 60 (C) 54 (D) 70 (E) 72

11 How many different isosceles triangles with sides of integer length and a side of
length 2018 that is longer than the other two are there? (A) 1007 (B) 1006
(C) 1010 (D) 1008 (E) 1011

12 Mario writes the positive integers in a grid with 7

columns, as shown in the figure. Since he dislikes the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
number 11, he skips all multiples of 11. Let (m; n) be 8 9 10 12 13 14 15
the square in row m (from the top) and column n 16 17 18 19 20 21 23
(from the left): for example, square (2; 4) contains 24 25 ... ... ... ... ...
the number 12. Which square contains the number ... ... ... ...
1500? (A) (195; 6) (B) (215; 2) (C) (214; 2) ...
(D) (194; 3) (E) (193; 6)

13 Chiara places 8 coins in a row. Some are heads, other tails, in this order:
HHHHHTTT. She plays this game: each move, she picks two consecutive coins and
flips them both. Chiara would like to obtain the sequence TTTTTTHH. Which of
the following statements is true? (A) She can do this in a minimum of 3 moves.
(B) She can do this in a minimum of 5 moves.
(C) She can do this in a minimum of 7 moves.
(D) She can do this in an even number of moves.
(E) It is impossible to do this.
 3

14 The point P inside a convex quadrilateral is connected 23

by line segments to the midpoints of the sides, dividing the 19
quadrilateral into four regions. The figure shows the areas of P
three of these regions. What is the area of the fourth? ?
(A) 32 (B) 33 (C) 29 (D) 31 (E) 30 28

15 Michela draws a rectangular 2 × 100 grid. She wants to place 99 coins, each on
a square of the grid, so that no two coins lie on squares with a side in common. In
how many different ways can Michela place the 99 coins? (A) 200 (B) 396
(C) 402 (D) 400 (E) 202
16 In the isosceles triangle ABC, AB = BC = 5cm, AC = 6cm, and the altitude
from C with foot D on AB. What is the area in cm2 of the triangle BCD?
(A) 10
3 (B) 5615 (C) 17
5 (D) 84
25 (E) 24
7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
D A E C A C D E C B D A E A B D
4

Problems for senior students

1 Which of these fractions is the greatest?
2018 2016 2020 2019 2025
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
2011 2009 2013 2012 2018
2 Luca and Claudia are holding two red cards and two black cards each. Claudia
picks a card at random from Luca’s cards and adds it to her own. Then Luca picks
a card at random from Claudia’s. What is the probability that both Luca and
Claudia will end up holding two red cards and two black cards?
(A) 2/3 (B) 2/5 (C) 3/5 (D) 3/4 (E) 1/2
3 Piero builds a cube by gluing together 1000 smaller cubes, each of the same
size, with 10 smaller cubes along each edge. He then paints all the faces of the
finished cube green. How many of the smaller cubes will with at least one green
face? (A) 600 (B) 384 (C) 504 (D) 488 (E) 592
4 Which of the following numbers can be obtained by adding the squares of two
integer multiples of 3?
(A) 459 (B) 363 (C) 633 (D) 495 (E) 549
5 A cell phone with a dead battery must charge for 2 hours to reach full charge,
as long as it is not in use. If the cell phone is in use while charging, 40% of the
energy obtained is immediately consumed and only the remaining part is stored in
the battery. It took 2 hours and a half to fully recharge the battery. For how many
minutes was the cell phone in use while recharging? (We assume, being the cell
phone in use or not, that the energy stored in any interval of time is proportional
to its duration.) (A) 72 (B) 90 (C) 60 (D) 87 (E) 75
6 Teodoro is drawing a sequence of right triangles, as A10 A11
shown in the figure. The first is the isosceles triangle
A1 A2 A3 , with the right triangle in A1 and 1 cm legs. A8 A9
The second is A2 A3 A4 , with the right triangle in A2
A6 A7
and A2 A4 has length 1 cm. The third is A3 A4 A5 , with
the right triangle in A3 and A3 A5 has length 1 cm. And A4 A5
so on: each triangle An An+1 An+2 , has a right angle in
A2 A3
An , and the leg An An+2 has length 1 cm. What is the
length of A900 A901 in cm?
A1
(A) 60 (B) 300 (C) 30 (D) 45 (E) 150
7 To prepare for the Giochi di Archimede, Costanza is trying to solve a collection
of problems from previous competitions. She skips 14 probelms and answers 2/3 of
the remaining ones correctly (her other answers are incorrect). She then notices
that, if she calculates her score as in the Giochi di Archimede, she got exactly one
point less she would have got if she had answered all questions and got exactly half
wrong. We can conclude that the number of problems in the collection is...
(A) less than 30 (B) between 30 and 33 (inclusive)
 5

(C) between 34 and 36 (inclusive) (D) between 37 and 40 (inclusive)

(E) greater than 40

8 If you write out the integer (102018 + 2018)2 you will use 4037 digits. What is
the sum of all those digits? (A) 36 (B) 31 (C) 42 (D) 51 (E) 43

9 The longer side of a picture frame is 8/5 of the the shorter

one. The thickness of the frame is the same on all four sides.
The longer side of the picture inside the frame (the gray
rectangle in the figure), is twice the length of its shorter side.
What is the ratio of the area of the rectangle delimitated by
the external border of the frame to the area of the picture
inside the frame?
(A) 7/3 (B) 20/9 (C) 8/5 (D) 12/5 (E) 64/25

10 A confectioner stocks 12 different types of chocolates and wants to sell

chocolate boxes containing 3 chocolates each, not necessarily of different type.
How many different boxes can he sell, at most? (Two boxes can be considered
equal if they contain chocolates of the same type and in the same quantities.)
(A) 364 (B) 320 (C) 324 (D) 360 (E) 348

11 The figure shows a rectangle divided into two equal

squares of side length 6 cm. What is the total area, in
cm2 , of the shaded region?
(A) 33 (B) 30 (C) 24 (D) 27 (E) 21

12 Anna wrote down a two-digit integer three times, one after the other, obtaining
a six-digit number S. S is necessarily divisible by...

(A) 1111 (B) 101 (C) 11 (D) 111 (E) 1001

13 Let β be a circle centered in B with radius of length 40. The circles α and γ,
centered in A and C respectively, have the same radius r and are both externally
tangent to β. The three centers A, B, C lie on the same line. The lines passing
through A and tangent to β are also tangent to γ. Which of the following
statements regarding r are true? (A) r < 72 (B) 72 ≤ r < 75
(C) 75 ≤ r < 78 (D) 78 ≤ r < 81 (E) r ≥ 81

14 Three boys and two girls must sit around a table with six chairs, numbered
from 1 to 6. To choose their seat, each of the five draws one of six pieces of paper
numbered from 1 to 6. What is the probability that the empty chair will be
between a boy and a girl? (A) 2/5 (B) 1/2 (C) 3/5 (D) 1/3 (E) 3/4
6

15 Giulia writes the positive integers in a grid with 7

columns, as shown in the figure. Since she dislikes the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
number 11, she skips all multiples of 11. Let (m; n) the 8 9 10 12 13 14 15
square in row m (from the top) and column n (from 16 17 18 19 20 21 23
the left): for example, square (2; 4) contains the 24 25 ... ... ... ... ...
number 12. Which square contains the number 2018? ... ... ... ...
(A) (289; 2) (B) (263; 1) (C) (278; 5) ...
(D) (262; 4) (E) (288; 2)
16 In the isosceles triangle ABC, AB = AC = 5cm, BC = 8 cm, and the median
from B and the angle bisector from C intersect in D. What is the area of the
triangle BCD in cm2 ? (A) 32 7 (B) 21
5 (C) 174 (D) 4 (E) 14 3

17 Consider the equation ax2 − bx + a = 0 in x, where a and b are positive real

numbers. Of the following five statements, how many are true?
• If b > 2a, then there are two distinct real solutions.
• If there are two distinct real solutions, then they are positive.
• If one of the solutions is 9 times the other, then b > 3a.
• No matter the values of a and b, there cannot be two distinct integer solutions.
• If there are two real solutions, then their product is 1.
(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5

18 The point P inside a convex quadrilateral is connected by

line segments to the midpoints of the sides, dividing the 22 ?
quadrilateral into four regions. The figure shows the areas of P
three of these regions. What is the area of the fourth? 33
(A) 32 (B) 30 (C) 27 (D) 31 (E) 29 24

19 Giovanna places 9 coins in a row. Some are heads, other tails, in this order:
TTHHTHHTT. She plays this game: each move, she picks two consecutive coins and
flips them both. Giovanna would like to obtain the sequence HTHTHTHTH. Which
of the following statements is true?
(A) It is impossible to do this.
(B) She can do this in a minimum of 4 moves.
(C) She can do this in a minimum of 6 moves.
(D) She can do this in a minimum of 8 moves.
(E) She can do this in an odd number of moves.
20 Cleopatra plays with n2 toy soldiers in a line (where n is an integer greater
than 30). First of all, Cleopatra removes all soldiers whose position corresponds to
a square (i.e. the first soldier, the fourth, the ninth, and so on). After doing this,
Cleopatra forms a new line with the remaining soldiers and repeats the operation,
removing all soldiers whose positions in the new line corresponds to a square. She
goes on like this, repeating this operation. How many soldiers might be left after
 7

Cleopatra, having carried out this operation several times, grows bored and stops
playing? (A) 126 (B) 132 (C) 125 (D) 140 (E) 120

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
B C D E E C D A B A C D D C B A E D A B
8
Gara di secondo livello
19 February 2019
1 Luigi draws a triangle ABC with AB = AC on a page of his notebook; after
drawing the internal angle bisector of ABC
’ and looking at the point P where it
intersects the side AC, he notices that the circle through B, P , C passes through
the midpoint of AB. What is the value of BAC?
’
(A) 30◦ (B) 45◦ (C) 60◦ (D) 90◦ (E) 105◦
2 Alessandra takes Luigi’s notebook and writes in it all natural numbers n that have
both these properties: n has exactly 4 positive divisors (including 1 and n itself),
and the sum of all positive divisors of n is 42. What is the sum of all numbers
written by Alessandra?
(A) 0 (B) 12 (C) 20 (D) 26 (E) 42
3 Alice’s drawer contains 30 socks of 5 colours: 6 white, 6 yellow, 6 red, 6 green,
and 6 blue. Her pesky little brother takes 10 black bags and fills each one with
three socks of different colours chosen from the drawer. Alice is about to leave for
Cesenatico and she needs to pack at least three pairs of socks of different colours (the
two socks in each pair must be of the same colour). What is the minimum number
of black bags she needs to take with her in order to be sure (without opening them
to check) that she has all the socks she needs?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6
4 We are given a sequence of 2019 numbers a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . , a2019 such that the sum of
any 4 consecutive terms is the same. Similarly, we know that for any two consecutive
terms in the sequence the absolute value of their difference is the same (i.e. |a1 −
a2 | = |a2 − a3 | = |a3 − a4 | = . . .). Finally, we know that a1 < a2 < a3 and that
a2 = 6. What is the sum of all terms in the sequence?
(A) 2019 (B) 2020 (C) 4038 (D) 12114
(E) It cannot be determined with the information given
5 At the Scuola Normale, this year’s science freshmen are of four kinds: Mathemati-
cians, Physicists, Chemists, and Biologists. One day at the canteen they happen to
be all seated at a round table; each of them has exactly one person seated opposite,
and moreover for each student the set containing the student themselves, the one
sitting immediately to their right, the one to their left, and the one sitting opposite
contains all four kinds of students. Knowing that there are at least 30 and at most
50 science freshmen this year, how many can there actually be? Answer with the
sum of all possible values for the number of science freshmen.
(A) 40 (B) 80 (C) 120 (D) 200 (E) 440
6 Pierino’s pocket calculator has a display, which initially shows the number 0, and
two buttons: the +1 button, which adds 1 to the number shown on the display,
and the ×3 button, which multiplies the number on the display by 3. If the +1
button is pressed twice in a row, the calculator explodes. If the calculator’s display
10

holds at most 5 digits, how many numbers can Pierino obtain with some sequence
of key presses (without making the calculator explode)?
(A) 2048 (B) 2187 (C) 4096 (D) 6561 (E) 66666
7 Let ABCD be a trapezium with bases AB and CD inscribed into a circle Γ such
that its diagonals AC and BD are orthogonal to each other. Let P be the point
of intersection of AC and BD; what is the ratio of the area of Γ to the sum of the
areas of triangles AP B and CP D?
(A) 1 (B) π/2 (C) π (D) 2π
(E) It cannot be determined with the information given
8 Alberto, Barbara, and Carlo play a game. The game consists of k rounds, each
of which ends with the player in first place receiving a1 points, the one in second
place receiving a2 points, and the one in third place receiving a3 points, where
a1 > a2 > a3 > 0 are three integers. The final scores of Alberto, Barbara, and
Carlo are 22, 9, 9 respectively. Knowing that Barbara won the first round, who
came in second in the second round?
(A) Alberto (B) Barbara (C) Carlo
(D) both Alberto and Barbara could have been second
(E) both Carlo and Barbara could have been second
9 Marcella, while playing, happens upon two polynomials p(x) and q(x), both
non-constant and with integer coefficients, such that:

p(q(x + 1)) = p(x3 )q(x + 1)5 .

Which of the following statements regarding Marcella’s polynomials is necessarily

true?
(A) The leading coefficient of p(x)q(x) is positive
(B) The polynomial q(x) does not have any integer roots
(C) The degree of q(x) is not greater than the degree of p(x)
(D) The sum of the coefficients of p(x) is odd
(E) The degree of p(x)q(x) is a multiple of 8
10 Jacopo wants to use 6 colours (one of which is white) to paint all integers
according to the following rules: n and n + 5 must be the same colour for all
integers n; moreover, if ab is white, then at least one among a and b needs to also
be white. How many ways are there for Jacopo to paint the integers?
(A) 156 (B) 656 (C) 3181 (D) 3906 (E) 3936
11 The floor plan of a castle can be described as follows: consider a circle whose
perimeter is 2019 metres and a regular polygon with 2019 vertices inscribed in the
circle. Number the vertices of the polygon clockwise, from 1 to 2019, and draw
circles of length 2019m centred at every vertex labelled with a square number. The
floor plan of the castle is given by the union of the regions within each drawn circle;
what is its perimeter (in metres)?
 11

29370
(A) 2692 (B) 4038 (C) 4627 (D) 2π (E) 2019π
12 Two schools challenge each other to a chess tournament where each competes
with 75 students: the tournament will consist of 75 chess matches where all par-
ticipating students will compete one on one (a student of the first school against
a student of the second school) under the watchful eye of an external judge. Each
school numbers its students from 1 to 75 and the judge decrees that two students
cannot play against each other if the difference between their numbers is a multiple
of 3. If n is the number of all possible ways the students can be matched according
to the rules, how many trailing zeroes does n have?
(A) 6 (B) 12 (C) 15 (D) 18 (E) 21
13 On the Isle of Knights and Knaves, knights always tell the truth, except when
they are mistaken, and knaves always lie. During a meeting, 40 islanders sit at a
large round table and each declares, “I am sitting next to a knight and a knave.”
Exactly 3 knights are mistaken. How many knights are there at the meeting?
14 How many ordered pairs (x, y) of positive integers less than or equal to 2019
are such that both x + y and xy + 1 are powers of 2?
15 There are 4037 light bulbs arranged in a line, numbered 1 to 4037. Initially,
each light can be on or off. A move consists of choosing two light bulbs numbered
a, b such that a/b or b/a is a prime number, and changing the status of both. Show
that it is possible to make light bulbs 1 through 2019 all light up, whatever the
initial configuration.
16 Let ABC be an isosceles triangle with basis BC and let D, E be points lying
on the sides AB, BC respectively, such that the lines DE and AC are parallel.
Consider the point F on the line DE, on the opposite side of D with respect to E,
such that F E = AD.
If O is the circumcenter of triangle BDE, show that O, F, A, D lie on a circle.
17 A positive integer with an even number of digits is “truthful” if, when reading
its digits aloud one by one, we get a correct description of the number itself; more
specifically, if every digit in odd position indicates how many times the digit following
it appears in the whole number.
For example, 1210 is truthful, because it has “one 2, one 0”; 2121 is also truthful,
because it has “two 1, two 1”. The number 1031 is not truthful, because it claims
to have “one 0, three 1”, when in reality it only has two digits equal to 1.
1. Show that there are at least 2019 truthful numbers.
2. Show that there are finitely many truthful numbers.
3. Find the number of digits of the largest possible truthful number.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
C D C D B A C C E E B D 27 37
12
Sketch of proof of 15: After possibly
switching bulb 2019 on using a = 2019 and
b = 673, for 1 ≤ k ≤ 2018 use a = 2k and
b = k to switch bulb k on if need be.
Sketch of proof of 16: The triangle BDE
is isosceles, and the triangles OED and ADB
are equal. Since F EO and ADO are equal, it
follows that DF‘O = DAO.
‘ 98 . . . 98 . . . 90 . . . 90
Sketch of proof of 17: The number
1213141516171819
is truthful as any permutations of the appro-
priate pairs of digits. So there are at least
8! = 40320 truthful numbers.
Each of the 10 digits can be dezcribed at most 9
times, but if a digit appears more than 9 times
it cannot be described. So a truthful number
has at most 9 · 9 · 2 = 162 digits, and
| {z } | {z }
9 times 9 times
is the largest.
XXXV Olimpiadi Italiane della Matematica
Cesenatico, 3 May 2019
1 Let ABCDEF be a hexagon inscribed in a circle and let AB = BC, CD = DE,
and EF = AF . Show that the lines AD, BE and CF are concurrent (i.e. they
intersect in a common point).
2 Let p and q be prime numbers. Show that if p + q 2 is a perfect square then for
any positive integer n the number p2 + q n is not a perfect square.
3 Let n be an integer greater than 2. We want to color red exactly n + 1 of
the numbers 1, 2, · · · , 2n − 1, 2n in such a way that there are no three distinct red
numbers x, y, z such that x + y = z.
Show that there exists exactly one way of coloring n + 1 numbers that satisfies this
condition.
4 We denote by bxc the largest integer less than or equal to x. Let λ ≥ 1 be a real
number and n a positive integer such that bλn+1 c, bλn+2 c, . . . , bλ4n c are all perfect
squares,
Show that bλc is a perfect square.
5 Let ABC be an acute-angled triangle. Let D be the foot of the internal angle
bisector from A and M be the midpoint of the line segment AD. Finally, let X be
a point on the line segment BM such that ∠M XA = ∠DAC .
Show that the lines AX and XC are perpendicular.
6 Alberto and Barbara are sitting at a table on which there are 15 chocolates in a
row, from left to right. Some of them are milk chocolates and some are dark.
They play the following game: each turn, starting with Alberto, one must eat a
strictly positive number of consecutive chocolates in the row, starting from the first
one on the left, in such a way that the number of chocolates they eat of the same
type as the first is odd. For instance, if at a certain time the sequence of chocolates
remaining on the table is MMDMD (where M means milk and D means dark), then
the player can choose to eat, starting from the first chocolate on the left, 1, 4, or 5
chocolates.
The player who eats the last chocolate on the table wins.
For how many of the 215 possible initial configurations of chocolates does Barbara
have a winning strategy?
14

Solution to 1: Since AB = BC and the inscribed angles defined by two con-

gruent chords are themselves congruent, we have that ∠AEB = ∠BEC. Similarly
∠CAD = ∠DAE and ∠ACF = ∠F CE.
Therefore AD, EB, and CF are the three angle bisectors of ACE and as such
intersect in its incenter.

Solution to 2: Let p + q 2 = a2 where a is a positive integer. Then p = a2 − q 2 =

(a − q)(a + q), and since p is prime the factors a − q and a + q must be equal to ±1
or ±p. Since a + q is positive then so must a − q, and since a + q > a − q it must
be that a + q = p, a − q = 1. It follows that a = q + 1 and p = a2 − q 2 = 2q + 1.
Suppose by contradiction that p2 + q n is square and let p2 + q n = b2 where b is a
positive integer. We have that q n = b2 − p2 = (b − p)(b + p), and therefore, since
the only divisors q n are of the form ±q i where 0 ≤ i ≤ n, it follows that b − p = q i ,
b + p = q j (as before it is easy to show that both factors are positive) and that
q i · q j = q n , which means that i + j = n; furthermore, since b − p < b + p, we have
that q i < q j . by subtracting the members of b + p = q j andb − p = q i we find that
2p = q j − q i = q i (q j−i − 1). We have two cases: i = 0 and i > 0. If i = 0 we have
that b − p = 1 and b + p = q n : then q n = b + p = 2p + 1 = 4q + 3, and therefore
3 = q n −4q = q(q n−1 −4). It follows that q divides 3, therefore q = 3, and simplifying
by 3 we find that 3n−1 − 4 = 1 ⇒ 3n−1 = 5, which has no integer solutions. If i > 0,
then from 2p = q i (q j−i − 1) we find that q | 2p = 2(2q + 1) ⇒ q | 2, and therefore
q = 2, p = 2q + 1 = 5, and 2p = q i (q j−1 − 1) ⇒ 10 = 2i (2j−i − 1). It follows that
i is equal to 1 (since 2i divides 10) and that 5 = 2j−1 − 1, which has no integer
solutions.

Solution to 3: Let A be the set of red numbers. If A = {n, n + 1, . . . 2n} then

there are no three distinct elements such that x + y = z, since for every x, y ∈ A
such that x 6= y we have that x + y > 2n.
We must now show that this is the only possible possible choice of A.
We will show this by induction on n, with n = 3 as the base case. Assume, by
contradiction, that 1 ∈ A; then A cannot contain two consecutive numbers greater
than 1, so it must be that A = {1, 2, 4, 6}. But since 2+4 = 6 this is a contradiction.
If 1 6∈ A but 2 ∈ A, then A would contain at least one of the pairs {3, 5} or {4, 6},
which contradicts the hypothesis that there are no numbers x + y = z such that
x, y, z ∈ A.
Suppose now we have shown the uniqueness of A for n; we will now prove it for
n + 1.
First note that A must contain at least one of 2n+1, 2n+2, since otherwise A would
contain n+2 numbers between 1 and 2n, which contradicts the inductive hypothesis
that only n + 1 number between 1 and 2n belong to A). We will also that A must
contain both 2n + 1 and 2n + 2: otherwise, A would contain n + 1 elements of
{1, . . . , 2n} and, by the inductive hypothesis, would contain {n, n + 1 . . . , 2n}. But
this means that A contains neither n + (n + 1) = 2n + 1 nor n + (n + 2) = 2n + 2.
 15

Since 2n + 1 ∈ A, A can only contain one of the numbers in each of the pairs
{1, 2n}, {2, 2n − 1}, . . . , {n, n + 1}. It is immediately clear that 1 6∈ A since
1 + (2n + 1) = 2n + 2, and therefore 2n ∈ A. Similarly, 2 6∈ A, since 2 + 2n ∈ A
and therefore 2n − 1 ∈ A. By induction, we find that for each (a, b) such that
a + b = 2n + 1 the greater of the two elements must belong to A, and therefore
A = {n + 1, n + 2, . . . , 2n + 2}.
Solution to 4: We will start with the case n = 1. Knowing that bλ2 c, bλ3 c,
and bλ4 c are perfect squares, we want to show that bλc is a perfect square. Let
a2 = bλ2 c. We have that:
a2 ≤ λ2 < a2 + 1
from which follows that λ2 < (a + 1)2 , therefore a ≤ λ < a + 1 e bλc = a. Squaring
the previous inequalities, we find that

a4 ≤ λ4 < (a2 + 1)2

and, since a4 and (a2 + 1)2 are consecutive perfect squares, bλ4 c = a4 . It follows
that λ4 − a4 < 1. Since λ ≥ 1, we find that

λ3 − a3 = (λ − a)(λ2 + λa + a2 ) ≤ (λ − a)(λ(λ2 + λa + a2 ) + a3 ) = λ4 − a4

and therefore

a3 ≤ λ3 = a3 + λ3 − a3 ≤ a3 + λ4 − a4 < a3 + 1

which means that bλ3 c = a3 . By hypothesis, a3 is a perfect square, and then so is

a = bλc.
We will now show the general case by induction on n. We have established the base
case n = 1. For the inductive step, suppose t that if bλn+1 c, bλn+2 c, . . . , bλ4n c
are all perfect squares, then bλc is a perfect square. From the fact that bλ(n+1)+1 c,
bλ(n+1)+2 c, . . . , bλ4(n+1) c are all perfect squares we want to show that bλc is a
perfect square. If we knew that bλn+1 c is a perfect square, we could apply the
inductive hypothesis to complete the proof. Now let λ̄ = λn+1 . Specifically, bλ̄2 c,
bλ̄3 c, and bλ̄4 c are three of our perfect squares. From the case n = 1 applied to λ̄ it
follows that bλn+1 c is a perfect square.
Solution to 5: Since by hypothesis ∠M XA = ∠DAC = ∠M AB, the triangles
M XA and M AB are similar. Therefore
XM AM
= .
AM BM
Let H be the foot of the perpendicular line from A on BC. From now on we will
assume that H lies between B and D. The other case, D between B and H, is
16

handled similarly. Since M is the midpoint of the hypothenuse of the right triangle
AHD, we have that AM = HM . Therefore the previous equation becomes
XM HM
= ,
HM BM
from which follows that XM H and HM B are similar. From this we find that
∠HXM = ∠BHM , but ∠BHM = 180◦ − ∠M HD = 180◦ − ∠M DH = β + α2 ,
where in the second equation we use the fact that M HD is isosceles, since AHD is
a right angle and M è the midpoint of the hypothenuse, and in the third we use the
fact that the sum of the angles of ABD is 180◦ .

Therefore ∠AXH = ∠M XH + ∠AXM = β + α2 + α2 = β + α since ∠AXM =
∠DAC = α2 by hypothesis. Therefore ∠AXH + ∠ACH = β + α + γ = 180◦ , and
so AXHC is cyclic, from which follows that ∠AXC = ∠AHC = 90◦ .
Second solution: Let A0 be the intersection point other than A of the circum-
scribed circle of AM X with the line segment AB. We have

∠AA0 M = ∠AXM = ∠DAC = ∠M AA0 ,

where the first equation is true because AA0 XM is cyclic, the second by hypothesis,
and the third because AD is an angle bisector. The triangle AA0 M is therefore
isosceles. Let M 0 be the midpoint of AA0 . Since AA0 M is isosceles, M M 0 ⊥ AB.
Furthermore, by the intercept theorem, M M 0 k DA0 and therefore DA0 ⊥ AB.
Let H be the foot of the height from A on BC. From now on we will assume
that H lies between B and D. The other case, D between B and H, is handled
similarly. Since DA0 ⊥ AB we have that ∠DA0 A = ∠DHA = 90◦ and therefore
the quadrilateral AA0 HD is cyclic.
We will show that A0 BHX is also cyclic, since ∠BXA0 = 180◦ − ∠A0 XM =
∠A0 AD, where the latter equation is true because AA0 XM is cyclic; ∠BHA0 =
90◦ − ∠A0 HA = 90◦ − ∠A0 DA = ∠A0 AD, where the second equation is true be-
cause AA0 HD is cyclic and the third because AA0 D is a right triangle. A0 BHX is
therefore cyclic, as we have shown that

∠BXA0 = ∠A0 AD = ∠BHA0 .

We will finally show that M XHD is cyclic.

∠XM D = 180◦ − ∠XM A = ∠AA0 X = 180◦ − ∠XA0 B = ∠XHB,

where the second equation is true because AA0 XM is cyclic and the fourth because
A0 BHX is cyclic.
Since M XHD is cyclic, it follows that ∠M XH = 180◦ − ∠M DH. In the triangle
ABD we have that ∠M DH = 180◦ − β − α2 using standard
notation. Therefore
∠M XH = β + α2 and ∠AXH = ∠M XH + ∠AXM = β + α2 + α2 = β + α since
∠AXM = ∠DAC = α2 by hypothesis. Therefore ∠AXH + ∠ACH = β + α + γ =
 17

180◦ and therefore AXHC is cyclic, from which follows that ∠AXC = ∠AHC =
90◦ .
Solution to 6: Suppose that, more generally, a player must make a move with
a row of n chocolates numbered from 1 to n; we will denote by move k the act of
eating chocolates {1, . . . , k}. We will call move k è legal if 1 ≤ k ≤ n and if among
the chocolates {1, . . . , k} there are an odd number of chocolates of the same type as
chocolate 1. We will call a sequence of n flavors winning if the current player has a
winning strategy; we will call it losing otherwise. We must therefore determine the
number of losing sequences of length 15.
We begin with two simple observations:
Observation 1. If a sequence contains an odd number of chocolates of type 1, then
it is a winning sequence (move L, where L is the length of the sequence, is legal and
wins the game).
Observation 2. Given a sequence of length 2n + 1 with an even number of choco-
lates of type 1. If this is a winning sequence, then any winning sequence for the
current player must begin with a move of the form 2k, where 0 < k ≤ n is such that
flavor 2k + 1 is different from flavor 1. If the current player were to make a legal
move of the form 2h + 1, they would leave an odd number of chocolates of either
type, and therefore the opponent would win by eating all the remaining chocolates.
On the other hand, since the number of chocolates of type 1 left by the current
player is always odd, in order for the sequence left to the opponent to be a losing
one flavor 2k + 1 must be different from flavor 1.
It is convenient to consider for each sequence of flavors of length n a corresponding
sequence of zeroes and ones x1 x2 . . . xn , such that xi = 0 if the number of chocolates
in {1, . . . , i} of type 1 is even and xi = 1 otherwise. Note that x1 = 1 and that
each sequence x1 x2 . . . xn ∈ {1} × {0, 1}n−1 corresponds to exactly two sequences of
flavors, both winning or both losing. We will likewise call sequences of zeroes and
ones winning or losing.
The sequences that end in 1 are all winning. Suppose that a sequence of odd length
ends in 0. We will divide it into blocks as follows:

1 x2 x3 x4 x5 . . . x2n−2 x2n−1 x2n 0 .

Following observation 2, if this is a winning sequence then the current player must
make a move of type 2k such that the k-th block is of type 11 (it must be that
x2k = 1 for the move to be legal and x2k+1 = x2k for flavor 2k + 1 to be different
from flavor 1). This move will leave the next player with the sequence

1 y2 y3 y4 y5 . . . y2n−2k 0

in which, since an odd number of chocolates of each type have been eaten, yi = xi+2k
if i is odd and yi 6= xi if i is even. In other words, sequence yi is obtained from
18

sequence xi by deleting the first k blocks and in the remaining blocks replacing 00 ,
01 , 10 , 11 with 10 , 11 , 00 , 01 respectively.
Among the sequences of odd length that end in 0 we distinguish three cases:
(i) there are no 11 blocks; this is a losing sequence by Observation 2;
(ii) the last 11 block, which we will call the k-th, has no 01 blocks to its right;
this is a winning sequence: move k is legal and will leave the opponent with a
sequence of type (i) (which is also ends in 0 and is of odd length);
(iii) the last 11 clock has a 01 block to its right; this is a losing sequence, because
any choice of 11 blocks will leave the opponent with a sequence of type (ii),
which is winning.
In summary, we must count the sequences of types (i) and (iii) of length 15, or in
other words choose the contents of 7 blocks, which can be one of { 00 , 01 , 10 , 11 }
in such a way that satisfies the given conditions. There are always two options for
the last block, which is either 10 or 00 . The sequences in which neither 11
nor 01 appear, which are losing, are 27 . Among the sequences with at least one
11 or 01 and such that the last block is 10 or 00 , those of types (i) or (iii)
are exactly half: this is because a sequence is of type (i) or (iii) if and only if the
sequence obtained by replacing 11 with 01 and vice versa is not. We must then
6 7
add 2×42−2 = 212 − 26 losing sequences.
Since each losing sequence of zeroes and ones corresponds to two original losing
sequences, there are a total of 2(27 + 212 − 26 ) = 2(26 + 26 + 212 − 26 ) = 27 + 213
losing sequence.
Second solution: Since the problem involves a sequence of 15 chocolates, and
that 15 is odd, we can suppose the sequence contains n = 2k + 1 chocolates.
Note that if the flavor of the first chocolate on the appears an odd number of times
in total, then Alberto wins by eating every chocolate at once.
Suppose then that the leftmost flavor appears an even number of times, which
corresponds to 22k cases, and suppose that among those sequences Alberto has a
winning strategy ak times and Barbara has a winning strategy bk times.
It is easy to find that b0 = 0 and b1 = 4. Suppose that k ≥ 2 and therefore
n = 2k + 1 ≥ 5. First we consider the 2n−2 sequences that end with two chocolates
of the same type, either MM or DD. In this case it is clear that if the player can
eat the first n − 2 chocolates they can also eat the final two, which means there are
2bk−1 cases in which Barbara wins.
Suppose that the final two chocolates are of different types, for example MD, and
consider the flavors of the first and third to last chocolates. If they are of different
types, MD or DM, Alberto wins if he eats all chocolates save for the last 3. If they
are of the same type, for example MM, Alberto, who cannot eat all chocolates, must
leave Barbara with a non-empty sequence. If the remaining sequence begins with
M, Barbara can eat all remaining chocolates and win. If the sequence beings with
 19

D, either the remaining number of D is odd, which means that Barbara wins by
eating all remaining chocolates, or the remaining number of D is even, which means
that Barbara wins by leaving Alberto with the final 3 chocolates. The case in which
the first and third to last chocolates are DD is similar.
In conclusion, Barbara wins in all cases in which the first and third to last chocolates
are of the same type and the last two of different types. Since we are only considering
cases in which the number of chocolates of the same type as the first is even, this
gives us 2n−3 = 22k−2 sequences.
From this we find the recursive formula

bk = 2bk−1 + 22k−2

which lets us find that b7 = 8320.

Note: With classical techniques we can find the closed-form expression from the recursive
one: bk = 2k + 21 4k .
20
Italian Team Selection Test
Pisa, 24-25 May 2019

Day 1
A1 Let ABC be an acute triangle, and let D be the foot of its height from A.
The circle with center A that passes through D intersects the circumscribed circle
of ABC in two points, X and Y , where X is on the same side as B with respect to
the line AD.
Show that ∠BXD = ∠CYD.
A2 Let a0 , a1 , . . . , an , . . . b a sequence of positive integers such that for every integer
n ≥ 1, an is the least positive integer such that a0 + a1 + · · · + an is a multiple of n.
Show that there exists a positive integer m such that an = am for every n ≥ m.
A3 Consider the sequence a0 , a1 , . . . , an , . . . such that

an = 2n + 2bn/2c ∀n ≥ 0.

(a) Show that there exist infinitely many members of the sequence that can be
written as the sum of two of more distinct members of the sequence.
(b) Show that there exist infinitely many members of the sequence that cannot be
written as the sum of two of more distinct members of the sequence.

Day 2
B1 Find all pairs (a, b) of positive integers with the following property: there exists
a positive integer n such that na and nb have the same number of divisors.
B2 Let ABC be a triangle such that AB = AC, and let M be the midpoint of its
side BC. Let P be a point such that the line P A is parallel to the line BC and
P B < P C. Let X be a point on the line P B and Y a point on the line P C such that
B lies on the line segment P X, C on the line segment P Y , and ∠P XM = ∠P Y M .
Show that the quadrilateral AP XY is cyclic.
B3 Find the greatest integer k with the following property: no matter how the
squares of a 5 × 5 grid are filled using the numbers 1 to 25 exactly once each, there
always exist adjacent squares of the grid that form a larger 2 × 2 square the sum of
whose elements is greater than or equal to k.
Sources
Problem A1: short list Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2019, problem G3 (radically
simplified)
Problem A2: short list Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2019, problem A1
Problem A3: short list International Mathematical Olympiad 2019, problem N3
Problem B1: short list International Mathematical Olympiad 2018, problem N1
22

Problem B2: short list International Mathematical Olympiad 2019, problem G2

Problem B3: short list Balkan Mathematical Olympiad 2019, problem C2