School Math Problems (Russian)
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ScribdTranslationsSchool Math Problems (Russian)
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ScribdTranslationsTHE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!
A brief overview of some of the problems of Russian school
competitions
Francisco Bellot Rosado
[email protected]
XI Congress of Mathematics Education of Castilla y
LeónBurgos, November 10, 2012
• The title, deliberately chosen following the advice of Claudi
Alsina, provocative, to attract attention, is that of a 1965 film,
in which a Russian submarine runs aground in a small village
on the East Coast of the United States.
• I intend to briefly present some problems from the Russian
mathematical Olympiads and competitions, which are very
numerous and of every imaginable level of difficulty, and
which I hope are not known to the audience. These problems
are now more easily accessible because several English
versions of these competitions have been published, as we
will see below.
A bibliographical selection
• Shklarski-Chentzov-Yaglom: The USSR Olympiad problem
book, 1962, WHFreeman.
• Shklarski-Chentzov-Yaglom: Selected problems and
theorems in Elementary Mathematics (Arithmetic and
Algebra), 1976, Mir Publishers, Moscow.
• Fomin-Genkin-Itenberg: Mathematical Circles (Russian
Experience), American Mathematical Society, 1996 (There is
a Spanish version from 2012, from the RSME)
• Vavilov et al.: Russian Mathematical Olympiads (selected
problems), Olympic Network, Buenos Aires 1995
• Slinko: USSR Mathematical Olympiads 1989-1992, AMT
1997
• Fomin-Kirichenko: Leningrad Mathematical Olympiads -
1987-1991, Math Pro Press 1994
• Shifman (Ed.): you failed your math test, Comrade Einstein,
World Scientific, 2005
• Cherney-Liu: Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad -
19611968, Intuitive Mathematics Press, Canada 2003
• The AMS (American Mathematical Society) has recently
published two volumes on the Moscow Olympiad and a third
on the Moscow Mathematical Circles (the latter by Sergei
Dorichenko).
FOUR CIRCUMCENTERS IN A CIRCLEA
problem of T. Emelyanova, from the 2011 Russian Olympiad,
Republics Phase, Grade 10, Problem 2
• On side AC of triangle ABC, two points M and K are
taken, such that angles ABM and CBK are equal.
• Show that the circumcenters of the four triangles
ABM, ABK, CBM and CBK lie on a circle
The numbering of the figure is that of a curious book by Arsenyi Akopyan,
Geometry in Figures, where there is no text of the problems, only the figure.
Discontinuous
entry, what needs to be tested.
4.8.30)
4 X 21)
Solution
(Translated from the Russian website http://mceem.ru )
To fix ideas,
we will assume that point M
is between A and K.
Let O1, O2, O3, O4 be the
respective circumcenters of
triangles ABM, ABK, CBM
and CBK.
The lines O1O3 and O1O2
are the mediatrices of the
segments BM and AB,
respectively. Then the
marked angles are equal,
because their sides are
included between
perpendiculars.
Similarly, it is demonstrated that angles O_2 O_4 O_3 and CBK are equal, and
since BM and BK are isogonal, we have the equality sought between the angles
from which segment O_2 O_3 is seen, as was intended to be proven.
As you can see, it is essential that BM and BK are isogonal to the triangle.
Observation
The intersection point of
O1O2 and O3O4 is the
circumcenter O of triangle
ABC; points O2 and O3 belong
respectively to segments OO1
and OO4.
Problem 2
1978 Russian
Olympiad
(Lecture 9,
Problem 1)
• We designate with an the integer closest to √n.
Calculate the sum
11 1
++ -+
a1 a2
a1980
To facilitate the analysis of the problem, I present some
approximate values of the roots of the first 20 natural
numbers.
• √1= 1.0 √2= 1. 4142 √3= 1. 7321 √4= 2.0 √5=
2. 2361 √6= 2. 4495 √7= 2. 6458 √8= 2. 8284
√9= 3.0 √(10)= 3. 1623 √(11)= 3. 3166 √(12)=
3. 4641 √(13)= 3. 6056 √(14)= 3. 7417 √(15)=
3. 8730 √(16)= 4.0 √(17)= 4. 1231 √(18)= 4.
2426 √(19)= 4. 3589 √(20)= 4. 4721
• Formally, k is the integer closest to √n if and
only if the inequalities k-(1/2)<√n≤k+(1/2)
hold.
• This can be written as k²-k<√n≤k²+k.
It is had
a₁ = a₂=1
a₇ = ⋯=a₁₂=3
a₃ = a₄=a₅=a₆=2
a₁₃ = ⋯=a₂₀=4
• So since we are asked to calculate the sum
11 1
++ ... +
a1980
a1
• We write it in the form
111)
— —+— +...
+
C5
• In the first parenthesis there are 2⋅1 addends, each of which equals
1; in the second there are 2⋅2 addends, each of which equals (1/2);
in the third, there are 2⋅3 addends, each of which equals (1/3); and
so on. In general, in each parenthesis there are 2k addends, each of
which equals (1/k), so the value of each parenthesis is 2.
• The last term of the sum is (1/(a₁₉₈₀)). Since 44⋅45= 1980, and
√(1980)= 44,497, the closest integer to √(1980) is 44; as well as
√(1981)= 44,508 its closest integer is 45, so (1/(a₁₉₈₀)) is the last
summand of the group whose elements take the value (1/(44)), the
first of which is the one with subscript 44⋅43+1= 1893, since, in
effect, √(1893)= 43,509, whose closest integer is 44. In conclusion,
the sum requested will be 44⋅2=88.
A PROBLEM OF THE 1990 RUSSIAN OLYMPIAD,
REPUBLIC PHASE
Author: Igor Voronovich
The figures are scanned from the semi-manuscript brochure of the
Russian Olympiad of that year. Hence fragments are mixed with
Cyrillic letters.
Four circles are located in the plane, as follows: C1 is externally tangent to C2
and C4; C2 is externally tangent to C3; C3 is externally tangent to C4. Circles C1
and C2; C2 and C3; C3 and C4; C4
and C1 have common
exterior tangents, which
form a quadrilateral with
an inscribed circle. Show
that two of the circles have
the same radius.
A preliminary observation, simple but important: in the situation in the
following figure, the distance AB between the points of tangency of the
circles with the common exterior tangent is equal to the square root of the
product of the radii. To see this, it is enough to apply the Pythagorean
theorem.
• The fact that, in the first
figure, the
quadrilateral ABCD has
an inscribed circle
translates (Pitot's
theorem) into the
equality
• AB+CD = BC + DA.
• On the other hand, the tangent segments drawn to a circle
from an external point are equal in length; this means,
The equalities AK1=AN2;
BK2=BL1; CL2=CM1 and
DM2= DN1 are verified.
These, together with AB+CD =
BC + DA, result in the equality
K1K2+M1M2 = L1L2 + N1N2,
which in turn, by the initial
observation, can be written in
terms of the radii of the
circles Ci, as follows
The two equivalent
equalities below finish the
problem.
2(
Jr1r2 + Jr3r4-r2r3-
/r4r1) =0
((r1-r3)(
)
(r2-r4 =0
• If we have time we can see one more problem,
from the book You failed your mathematical test,
Comrade Einstein.
Problem 4
• A circle is inscribed on one face of a cube.
• Another circle is circumscribed around an adjacent
face.
• Calculate the minimum distance between the points
of both circles.
Let's look at a figure to better understand the
problemInscribed in red, circumscribed in blue
• The problem has a standard solution,
conveniently parameterizing the two circles in a
coordinate system with origin at the center of the
cube, and then finding the minimum value of the
function of two variables (the parameters of the
points of each circle) that gives the distance
sought.
• But a more basic solution can be given…
An
elementary solution
To fix ideas, suppose that
the edge of the cube is 2a .
So, the radius of the circle
inscribed in the face is a.
And the radius of the circle
circumscribed to the
adjacent face will be
multiplied by the square
root of 2.
If we call O the center of
the cube, we see in the
figure two concentric
spheres, the outer one
yellow and the inner one
green, each of which
contains the respective
circumferences.
It is clear that the distance d sought cannot be less than the
difference in the radii of
the spheres.
≥ ( 3-
d a
2)
In the figure you can see a half-line (light green), coming out of
the center of the cube
and cutting the circle
inscribed in A and the
one circumscribed in B.
If we show that such a
green ray exists, we will
have proven that AB
gives the minimum
distance sought.
In
the
figure above, we have
TO
12 ,XO OA = 45º
1,
α
KBOO2 = =arctan 2, 45º< <90º α
• Each of these angles is less than the sum of the other two,
and the sum of all three is less than 360º. These are
necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a
trihedron with vertex O, whose face angles are the three
marked angles. This means that points O, A and B are
effectively aligned (on the edge common to the last two
angles of the triangle).
• Then the distance AB is equal to
a( /3- 2 )
• And if we take two other points, M and N, on the two
circumferences, considering the triangle OMN, the
triangular inequality guarantees that the distance MN is
greater than the difference OM – ON, which equals,
precisely
( )
a V3-2
• So we end the problem.
Thank you very much for your attention
