Sunaina thinks absurd

Hello there! It has been a long time since I uploaded a post here. I recently took a class at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp 2024, held at CMI. Here are a few problems that I discussed! My main references were Po-Shen Loh's Graph theory Problem set (2008), Adrian tang's Graph theory problem set (2012) and Warut Suksompong's Graph Cycles and Olympiad Problems Handout and AoPS. I also referred to Evan Chen's Graph theory Otis Problem set for nice problems! Text Book Problems which are decent A connected graph $G$ is said to be $k$-vertex-connected (or $k$-connected) if it has more than $k$ vertices and remains connected whenever fewer than $k$ vertices are removed. Show that every $k$-connected graph of order atleast $2k$ contains a cycle of length at least $2k$. We begin with a lemma. Prove that a graph $G$ of order $n \geq 2k$ is $k$ connected then every 2 disjoint set $V_1$ and $V_2$ of $k$ distinct vertices each, there exist $k$...

  Today we shall try IMO Shortlist $2022$ C1. A $\pm 1$-sequence is a sequence of $2022$ numbers $a_1, \ldots, a_{2022},$ each equal to either $+1$ or $-1$. Determine the largest $C$ so that, for any $\pm 1$-sequence, there exists an integer $k$ and indices $1 \le t_1 < \ldots < t_k \le 2022$ so that $t_{i+1} - t_i \le 2$ for all $i$, and$$\left| \sum_{i = 1}^{k} a_{t_i} \right| \ge C.$$ We claim that the answer is $\boxed{506}$. $506$ is the upper bound. Just consider the sequence $$+1,-1,-1,+1,+1,-1,-1,+1\dots,-1,-1,+1,+1,-1.$$ Here $1, -1, -1, 1$ is repeated $505$ times and $1,-1$ is concatted to it. Now,our sequence would be $a_1,a_3,a_4,a_5,a_7,\dots$ which on summing would give $506$. And clearly, this would give the upper bound. Now, we show that $506$ is attainable by every sequence. WLOG there are at least $1011$ positive numbers in the sequence. Then we choose $+1$ whenever we can. Let the sequence be $c_1,b_1,\dots, c_n,b_n$ where $c_i$ are ...

 I am planning to do at least one ISL every day so that I do not lose my Olympiad touch (and also they are fun to think about!). Today, I tried the 2021 IMO shortlist C1.  (2021 ISL C1) Let $S$ be an infinite set of positive integers, such that there exist four pairwise distinct $a,b,c,d \in S$ with $\gcd(a,b) \neq \gcd(c,d)$. Prove that there exist three pairwise distinct $x,y,z \in S$ such that $\gcd(x,y)=\gcd(y,z) \neq \gcd(z,x)$. Suppose not. Then any $3$ elements $x,y,z\in S$ will be $(x,y)=(y,z)=(x,z)$ or $(x,y)\ne (y,z)\ne (x,z)$. There exists an infinite set $T$ such that $\forall x,y\in T,(x,y)=d,$ where $d$ is constant. Fix a random element $a$. Note that $(x,a)|a$. So $(x,a)\le a$.Since there are infinite elements and finite many possibilities for the gcd (atmost $a$). So $\exists$ set $T$ which is infinite such that $\forall b_1,b_2\in T$ $$(a,b_1)=(a,b_2)=d.$$ Note that if $(b_1,b_2)\ne d$ then we get a contradiction as we get a set satisfying the proble...

This post is mainly for Rohan Bhaiya. He gave me/EGMO contestants a lot and lots of problems. Here are solutions to a very few of them.  To Rohan Bhaiya: I just wrote the sketch/proofs here cause why not :P. I did a few more extra problems so yeah.  I sort of sorted the problems into different sub-areas, but it's just better to try all of them! I did try some more combo problems outside this but I tried them in my tablet and worked there itself. So latexing was tough. Algorithms  "Just find the algorithm" they said and they died.  References:  Algorithms Pset by Abhay Bestrapalli Algorithms by Cody Johnson Problem1: Suppose the positive integer $n$ is odd. First Al writes the numbers $1, 2,\dots, 2n$ on the blackboard. Then he picks any two numbers $a, b$ erases them, and writes, instead, $|a - b|$. Prove that an odd number will remain at the end.  Proof: Well, we go $\mod 2$. Note that $$|a-b|\equiv a+b\mod 2\implies \text{ the final number is }1+2+\dots ...

Yeah, I did some problems and here are a few of them! I hope you guys try them! Putnam, 2018 B3 Find all positive integers $n < 10^{100}$ for which simultaneously $n$ divides $2^n$, $n-1$ divides $2^n - 1$, and $n-2$ divides $2^n - 2$. Proof We have $$n|2^n\implies n=2^a\implies 2^a-1|2^n-1\implies a|n\implies a=2^b$$ $$\implies 2^{2^b}-2|2^{2^a}-2\implies 2^b-1|2^a-1\implies b|a\implies b=2^c.$$ Then simply bounding. USAMO 1987 Determine all solutions in non-zero integers $a$ and $b$ of the equation $$(a^2+b)(a+b^2) = (a-b)^3.$$ Proof We get $$ 2b^2+(a^2-3a)b+(a+3a^2)=0\implies b = \frac{3a-a^2\pm\sqrt{a^4-6a^3-15a^2-8a}}{4}$$ $$\implies a^4-6a^3-15a^2-8a=a(a-8)(a+1)^2\text{ a perfect square}$$ $$\implies a(a-8)=k^2\implies a^2-8a-k^2=0\implies \implies a=\frac{8\pm\sqrt{64+4k^2}}{2}=4\pm\sqrt{16+k^2}. $$ $$ 16+k^2=m^2\implies (m-k)(m+k)=16.$$ Now just bash. USAMO 1988 Suppose that the set $\{1,2,\cdots, 1998\}$ has been partitioned into disjoint pairs $\{a_i,b_i\}$ ($1...

Yeyy finally! I got time! I am so happy that I am finally going to read the analytic theory! However, I have added some CS stuff. Not sure if they are accurate. I have taken up CS in school so hopefully, it's correct!  Big $O$ notation:  We say $f(x)=O(g(x))$ if there exists $c$ such that $|f(x)|< c(g(x)$ for all $x\ge x_0$. Arithmetic of Big $O$ notation: $O(f(x))+O(g(x))= O(f(x)+g(x))$. Moreover, if $f(x)=O(g(x))\implies O(f(x)+g(x))=O(g(x)) $ $O(f(x))\times O(g(x))= O(f(x)\cdot g(x))$ $O(f(x)) - O(g(x))= O(f(x) +g(x))$ ( Yes, it is "+") $O(\int f(x) dx)=\int O(f(x) dx$ I want to dive into the CS part; it looks pretty nice and attractive :p. Introduction In CS, it is important to measure the efficiency of the algorithm before applying it on a big size of data. The "performance" depends on internal and external factors. Internal factors ( which we care more) specify the algorithm's efficiency in terms of: Time required to run and Space required to run....

So it's been 1 month since the INMO results were out! So here's my past 1 month's journey into problem-solving.  There hasn't been much in my life, although the Sharygin correspondence round results came out! And I qualified for the final round. I just made the cutoff though. I got 85 marks and the (unofficial) cutoff was 84 marks. I am one of the seven students selected for the final round and the only kid from India in my grade! They, however, are not inviting Indian students in the final round and have asked us to conduct the final round in India if an organization agrees. Monthly reflection: Till May 16, I tried the Awesome Math Application ( which I got accepted into woohoo! And I am taking courses in the second and third season hehe) Then I was completing 108 algebra problems along with MBL problems till June 1 June 1- June 10: Since I was feeling very guilty for not doing enough problems from the Sophie psets, I did a few Sophie psets problems. BTW Thankyou so mu...