British Mathematical Olympiad

News: IMO Day 1 (25 July 2007)

The first IMO 2007 paper was sat in Hanoi on 25 July 2007; the problems and the countries submitting them are shown.

  1. Real numbers a1, a2, …, an are given. For each i (1 ≤ i ≤ n) define

    di = max { aj : 1 ≤ j ≤ i } − min { aj : i ≤ j ≤ n }

    and let

    d = max { di : 1 ≤ i ≤ n }.

    (a) Prove that, for any real numbers x1 ≤ x2 ≤ … ≤ xn,

    max { |xi − ai| : 1 ≤ i ≤ n } ≥ d / 2.    (*)

    (b) Show that there are real numbers x1 ≤ x2 ≤ … ≤ xn such that equality holds in (*).

    (New Zealand)

  2. Consider five points A, B, C, D and E such that ABCD is a parallelogram and BCED is a cyclic quadrilateral. Let ℓ be a line passing through A. Suppose that ℓ intersects the interior of the segment DC at F and intersects line BC at G. Suppose also that EF = EG = EC. Prove that ℓ is the bisector of angle DAB.

    (Luxembourg)

  3. In a mathematical competition some competitors are friends. Friendship is always mutual. Call a group of competitors a clique if each two of them are friends. (In particular, any group of fewer than two competitors is a clique.) The number of members of a clique is called its size.

    Given that, in this competition, the largest size of a clique is even, prove that the competitors can be arranged in two rooms such that the largest size of a clique contained in one room is the same as the largest size of a clique contained in the other room.

    (Russia)


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