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The 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Saturday, December 4, 2010

The document is the description of problems A1 through A6 and B1 through B6 for the 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It includes problems related to distributing objects into boxes, properties of functions, matrices, and integrals. The problems cover a range of mathematical topics including number theory, calculus, linear algebra, and group theory.

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108 views1 page

The 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition Saturday, December 4, 2010

The document is the description of problems A1 through A6 and B1 through B6 for the 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It includes problems related to distributing objects into boxes, properties of functions, matrices, and integrals. The problems cover a range of mathematical topics including number theory, calculus, linear algebra, and group theory.

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matrix d
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The 71st William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

Saturday, December 4, 2010

A1 Given a positive integer n, what is the largest k such that B1 Is there an infinite sequence of real numbers
the numbers 1, 2, . . . , n can be put into k boxes so that a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . such that
the sum of the numbers in each box is the same? [When
n = 8, the example {1, 2, 3, 6}, {4, 8}, {5, 7} shows that am m m
1 + a2 + a3 + · · · = m
the largest k is at least 3.]
for every positive integer m?
A2 Find all differentiable functions f : R → R such that
B2 Given that A, B, and C are noncollinear points in the
f (x + n) − f (x) plane with integer coordinates such that the distances
f 0 (x) = AB, AC, and BC are integers, what is the smallest possi-
n
ble value of AB?
for all real numbers x and all positive integers n.
B3 There are 2010 boxes labeled B1 , B2 , . . . , B2010 , and
A3 Suppose that the function h : R2 → R has continuous 2010n balls have been distributed among them, for
partial derivatives and satisfies the equation some positive integer n. You may redistribute the balls
by a sequence of moves, each of which consists of
∂h ∂h choosing an i and moving exactly i balls from box Bi
h(x, y) = a (x, y) + b (x, y)
∂x ∂y into any one other box. For which values of n is it possi-
ble to reach the distribution with exactly n balls in each
for some constants a, b. Prove that if there is a constant
box, regardless of the initial distribution of balls?
M such that |h(x, y)| ≤ M for all (x, y) ∈ R2 , then h is
identically zero. B4 Find all pairs of polynomials p(x) and q(x) with real
coefficients for which
A4 Prove that for each positive integer n, the number
10n n
1010 + 1010 + 10n − 1 is not prime. p(x)q(x + 1) − p(x + 1)q(x) = 1.
A5 Let G be a group, with operation ∗. Suppose that
B5 Is there a strictly increasing function f : R → R such
(i) G is a subset of R3 (but ∗ need not be related to that f 0 (x) = f ( f (x)) for all x?
addition of vectors);
B6 Let A be an n × n matrix of real numbers for some n ≥
(ii) For each a, b ∈ G, either a × b = a ∗ b or a × b = 0 1. For each positive integer k, let A[k] be the matrix
(or both), where × is the usual cross product in obtained by raising each entry to the kth power. Show
R3 . that if Ak = A[k] for k = 1, 2, . . . , n + 1, then Ak = A[k] for
Prove that a × b = 0 for all a, b ∈ G. all k ≥ 1.

A6 Let f : [0, ∞) → R be a strictly decreasing continu-


ous function such that limx→∞ f (x) = 0. Prove that
R ∞ f (x)− f (x+1)
0 f (x) dx diverges.

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