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The 66th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Saturday, December 3, 2005

The document contains 6 problems labeled A1 through A6 and 6 problems labeled B1 through B6. The problems cover a range of mathematical topics including number theory, combinatorics, complex analysis, linear algebra, calculus, probability, and polynomials. Many of the problems involve proving mathematical statements or properties about functions, matrices, permutations, or geometric objects.

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Ciprian Timofte
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115 views1 page

The 66th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Saturday, December 3, 2005

The document contains 6 problems labeled A1 through A6 and 6 problems labeled B1 through B6. The problems cover a range of mathematical topics including number theory, combinatorics, complex analysis, linear algebra, calculus, probability, and polynomials. Many of the problems involve proving mathematical statements or properties about functions, matrices, permutations, or geometric objects.

Uploaded by

Ciprian Timofte
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The 66th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Saturday, December 3, 2005

A1 Show that every positive integer is a sum of one or more numbers of the form 2r 3s , where r and s are nonnegative integers and no summand divides another. (For example, 23 = 9 + 8 + 6.) A2 Let S = {(a, b)|a = 1, 2, . . . , n, b = 1, 2, 3}. A rook tour of S is a polygonal path made up of line segments connecting points p1 , p2 , . . . , p3n in sequence such that (i) pi S, (ii) pi and pi+1 are a unit distance apart, for 1 i < 3n, (iii) for each p S there is a unique i such that pi = p. How many rook tours are there that begin at (1, 1) and end at (n, 1)? (An example of such a rook tour for n = 5 was depicted in the original.) A3 Let p(z) be a polynomial of degree n, all of whose zeros have absolute value 1 in the complex plane. Put g(z) = p(z)/z n/2 . Show that all zeros of g (z) = 0 have absolute value 1. A4 Let H be an n n matrix all of whose entries are 1 and whose rows are mutually orthogonal. Suppose H has an a b submatrix whose entries are all 1. Show that ab n. A5 Evaluate
1 0

B2 Find all positive integers n, k1 , . . . , kn such that k1 + + kn = 5n 4 and 1 1 + + = 1. k1 kn B3 Find all differentiable functions f : (0, ) (0, ) for which there is a positive real number a such that f a x = x f (x)

for all x > 0. B4 For positive integers m and n, let f (m, n) denote the number of n-tuples (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) of integers such that |x1 | + |x2 | + + |xn | m. Show that f (m, n) = f (n, m). B5 Let P (x1 , . . . , xn ) denote a polynomial with real coefcients in the variables x1 , . . . , xn , and suppose that 2 2 + + 2 x2 xn 1 and that x2 + + x2 divides P (x1 , . . . , xn ). 1 n Show that P = 0 identically. B6 Let Sn denote the set of all permutations of the numbers 1, 2, . . . , n. For Sn , let () = 1 if is an even permutation and () = 1 if is an odd permutation. Also, let () denote the number of xed points of . Show that () n = (1)n+1 . () + 1 n+1 P (x1 , . . . , xn ) = 0 (identically)

ln(x + 1) dx. x2 + 1

A6 Let n be given, n 4, and suppose that P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn are n randomly, independently and uniformly, chosen points on a circle. Consider the convex n-gon whose vertices are Pi . What is the probability that at least one of the vertex angles of this polygon is acute? B1 Find a nonzero polynomial P (x, y) such that P ( a , 2a ) = 0 for all real numbers a. (Note: is the greatest integer less than or equal to .)

Sn

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