AoPS Community 2023 Balkan MO Shortlist

Balkan MO Shortlist 2023

www.artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3820555
by oVlad, cretanman, a 507 bc

– Algebra

A1 Find all functions f : R → R such that for all x, y ∈ R,

xf (x + f (y)) = (y − x)f (f (x)).

Proposed by Nikola Velov, Macedonia

A2 Let a, b, c, d be non-negative reals such that a+3 1 1

+ b+3 + 1
c+3 + 1
d+3 = 1. Show that there exists
a permutation (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) of (a, b, c, d), such that

x1 x2 + x2 x3 + x3 x4 + x4 x1 ≥ 4.

A3 Find all functions f : R → R, such that

f (xy + f (x2 )) = xf (x + y)

for all reals x, y.

A4 Prove that there exists a real c < 43 , such that for each sequence x1 , x2 , . . . satisfying 0 ≤ xi ≤ 1
for all i, there exist infinitely many (m, n) with m > n, such that
c
|xm − xn | ≤ .
m

A5 Are there polynomials P, Q with real coefficients, such that P (P (x)) · Q(Q(x)) has exactly 2023
distinct real roots and P (Q(x)) · Q(P (x)) has exactly 2024 distinct real roots?

A6 Find all functions f : R+ → R+ , such that

f (x2023 + f (x)f (y)) = x2023 + yf (x)

for all x, y > 0.

– Combinatorics

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AoPS Community 2023 Balkan MO Shortlist

C1 Joe and Penny play a game. Initially there are 5000 stones in a pile, and the two players remove
stones from the pile by making a sequence of moves. On the k-th move, any number of stones
between 1 and k inclusive may be removed. Joe makes the odd-numbered moves and Penny
makes the even-numbered moves. The player who removes the very last stone is the winner.
Who wins if both players play perfectly?

C2 For an integer n > 2, the tuple (1, 2, . . . , n) is written on a blackboard. On each turn, one can
choose two numbers from the tuple such that their sum is a perfect square and swap them to
obtain a new tuple. Find all integers n > 2 for which all permutations of {1, 2, . . . , n} can appear
on the blackboard in this way.

C3 In a given community of people, each person has at least two friends within the community.
Whenever some people from this community sit on a round table such that each adjacent pair
of people are friends, it happens that no non-adjacent pair of people are friends. Prove that there
exist two people in this community such that each has exactly two friends and they have at least
one common friend.

C4 Once upon a time there are n pairs of princes and princesses who are in love with each other.
One day a witch comes along and turns all the princes into frogs; the frogs can be distinguished
by sight but the princesses cannot tell which frog corresponds to which prince. The witch tells
the princesses that if any of them kisses the frog that corresponds to the prince very that she
loves then that frog will immediately transform back into a prince. If each princess can stand
kissing at most k frogs, what is the maximum number of princes they can be sure to save?
(The princesses may take turns kissing in any order, communicate with each other and vary
their strategy for future kisses depending on information gained from past kisses.)

C5 Find the greatest integer k ≤ 2023 for which the following holds: whenever Alice colours exactly
k numbers of the set {1, 2, . . . , 2023} in red, Bob can colour some of the remaining uncoloured
numbers in blue, such that the sum of the red numbers is the same as the sum of the blue
numbers.
Romania

– Geometry

G1 Let ABCD be a circumscribed quadrilateral and let X be the intersection point of its diago-
nals AC and BD. Let I1 , I2 , I3 , I4 be the incenters of △DXC, △BXC, △AXB, and △DXA,
respectively. The circumcircle of △CI1 I2 intersects the sides CB and CD at points P and Q,
respectively. The circumcircle of △AI3 I4 intersects the sides AB and AD at points M and N ,
respectively. Prove that AM + CQ = AN + CP

G2 Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral with circumcenter O lying in the interior. Let E and F be the
midpoints of the segments BC and AD, respectively. Let X be the point lying on the same side

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AoPS Community 2023 Balkan MO Shortlist

of the line EF as the vertex C such that △EXF and △BOA are similar. Prove that XC = XD.

G3 In triangle ABC, the incircle touches sides BC, CA, AB at D, E, F respectively. Assume there
exists a point X on the line EF such that

∠XBC = ∠XCB = 45◦ .

Let M be the midpoint of the arc BC on the circumcircle of ABC not containing A. Prove that
the line M D passes through E or F .
United Kingdom

G4 Let O and H be the circumcenter and orthocenter of a scalene triangle ABC, respectively. Let
D be the intersection point of the lines AH and BC. Suppose the line OH meets the side BC at
X. Let P and Q be the second intersection points of the circumcircles of △BDH and △CDH
with the circumcircle of △ABC, respectively. Show that the four points P, D, Q and X lie on a
circle.

G5 Let ABC be a triangle with circumcenter O. Point X is the intersection of the parallel line from
O to AB with the perpendicular line to AC from C. Let Y be the point where the external bisec-
tor of ∠BXC intersects with AC. Let K be the projection of X onto BY . Prove that the lines
AK, XO, BC have a common point.

G6 Let ABC be an acute triangle (AB < BC < AC) with circumcircle Γ. Assume there exists
X ∈ AC satisfying AB = BX and AX = BC. Points D, E ∈ Γ are taken such that ∠ADB < 90◦ ,
DA = DB and BC = CE. Let P be the intersection point of AE with the tangent line to Γ at B,
and let Q be the intersection point of AB with tangent line to Γ at C. Show that the projection
of D onto P Q lies on the circumcircle of △P AB.

– Number Theory

N1 For positive integers a, b, c (not necessarily distinct), suppose that a + bc, b + ac, c + ab are all
perfect squares. Show that

a2 (b + c) + b2 (a + c) + c2 (a + b) + 2abc

can be written as sum of two squares.

N2 Find all positive integers, such that there exist positive integers a, b, c, satisfying gcd(a, b, c) = 1
and n = gcd(ab + c, ac − b) = a + b + c.

N3 For each positive integer n, denote by ω(n) the number of distinct prime divisors of n (for ex-
ample, ω(1) = 0 and ω(12) = 2). Find all polynomials P (x) with integer coefficients, such that

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AoPS Community 2023 Balkan MO Shortlist

whenever n is a positive integer satisfying ω(n) > 20232023 , then P (n) is also a positive integer
with
ω(n) ≥ ω(P (n)).

Greece (Minos Margaritis - Iasonas Prodromidis)

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