Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 40 views

    Tartar 11

    Uploaded by

    TrungNguyễnChí
    This document contains solutions to 5 problems from Putnam mathematics competitions between 1968-2001, covering topics such as solving congruences, determining the number of solutions to a cubic equation, evaluating an integral, summing a series, and proving the existence of elements that are contained in a large number of subsets. Detailed step-by-step working is shown for each problem solving technique.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Tartar 11

    Uploaded by

    TrungNguyễnChí
    40 views1 page
    This document contains solutions to 5 problems from Putnam mathematics competitions between 1968-2001, covering topics such as solving congruences, determining the number of solutions to a cubic equation, evaluating an integral, summing a series, and proving the existence of elements that are contained in a large number of subsets. Detailed step-by-step working is shown for each problem solving technique.

    Original Description:

    math

    Original Title

    tartar_11

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document contains solutions to 5 problems from Putnam mathematics competitions between 1968-2001, covering topics such as solving congruences, determining the number of solutions to a cubic equation, evaluating an integral, summing a series, and proving the existence of elements that are contained in a large number of subsets. Detailed step-by-step working is shown for each problem solving technique.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    40 views1 page

    Tartar 11

    Uploaded by

    TrungNguyễnChí
    This document contains solutions to 5 problems from Putnam mathematics competitions between 1968-2001, covering topics such as solving congruences, determining the number of solutions to a cubic equation, evaluating an integral, summing a series, and proving the existence of elements that are contained in a large number of subsets. Detailed step-by-step working is shown for each problem solving technique.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 1

    Luc TARTAR to John MACKEY, November 6, 2009

    Your Putnam set 11.


    Your problem 1: 3n = 6 (mod 10) means n = 2 (mod 10), so that 3n = 3(10m + 2) = 30m + 6, and it is a
    five digit if and only if 10 000 ≤ 30m + 6 < 99 999, so that 10 000 ≤ 30m < 100 000, or 1 000 ≤ 3m < 10 000,
    which is equivalent to 1 002 ≤ 3m ≤ 9 999, or 334 ≤ m ≤ 3 333. There are 3 000 such numbers.
    Your problem 2: The equation of the tangent at the curve y = x3 at the point (a, a3 ) is y − a3 = 3a2 (x − a),
    i.e. 2a3 − 3a2 x + y = 0. A cubic equation which has only two solutions is such that one solution satisfies the
    derived equation, 6a2 − 6a x = 0, so that either a = 0 or a = x. The case a = 0 gives y = 0, i.e. the x axis,
    but one must exclude x = 0, because a = 0 is then a triple root, and there is only one solution. The case
    a = x gives y = x3 , i.e. the given curve, but one must also exclude x = 0.
    Your problem 3 (Putnam 1968-A1): Prove

    1
    x4 (1 − x)4
    Z
    22
    −π = dx.
    7 0 1 + x2

    Hint: One applies the usual method for integrating rational fractions. x4 (1−x)4 = x8 −4x7 +6x6 −4x5 +x4 =
    R1 R1
    (x2 + 1) (x6 − 4x5 + 5x4 − 4x2 + 4) − 4, so that the integral is 0 (x6 − 4x5 + 5x4 − 4x2 + 4) dx − 4 0 x2dx
    +1 =
    1 = 22 − π.
    1 4 5 4

    7 − 6 + 5 − 3 + 4 − 4 arctan x 0 7
    √
    Your problem 4 (Putnam 2001-B3): For any positive integer n, let hni denote the closest integer to n.
    Evaluate
    ∞
    X 2hni + 2−hni
    .
    n=1
    2n
    √
    I had not written a solution before: hni = m means m − 12 < n < m + 21 , or after taking the squares
    m2 − m + 14 < n < m2 + m + 41 , and since n is a integer, it is equivalent to m2 − m + 1 ≤ n ≤ m2 + m. For
    Pn=m2 +m Pn=b
    m ≥ 0, one then has a group of terms (2m + 2−m ) n=m2 −m+1 21n , and since for a < b the sum n=a 21n is
    1 1
    is (2m + 2−m ) 2m21−m − 2m21+m = 2m21−2m − 2m21+2m . One then has a telescopic
    
    2a−1 − 2b , the group of terms
    1 1 1 1 1 1 1
       
    sum: (1 − 1) + 2−1·1 − 21·3 + 1 − 22·4 + 21·3 − 23·5 + 22·4 − 24·6 + . . . so that the sum for m even is 1
    1
    and the sum for m odd is 2−1·1 = 2, so that the total sum is 3.
    Your problem 5 (Putnam 1980-B4): Let A1 , A2 , . . . , A1066 be subsets of a finite set X such that |Ai | > 12 |X|
    for 1 ≤ i ≤ 1066. Prove there exist ten elements x1 , . . . , x10 of X such that every Ai contains one of
    x1 , . . . , x10 .
    [Here |S| means the number of elements in the set S.] P
    Hint: Suppose |X| = n, and one considers 2m + 2 set Aj , then because j |Aj | > (m + 1)n one deduces by
    the pigeon hole principle that there exists z belonging to m + 2 of the Aj ,P which one puts aside and one is
    left with m sets Aj ; similarly, if one considers 2m + 1 set Aj , then because j |Aj | > m + 12 n one deduces
    

    that there exists z belonging to m + 1 of the Aj , which one puts aside and one is left with m sets Aj .
    One starts with 1066 sets and one finds x1 belonging to 534 of them, and one is left with 532 sets; there
    exists x2 belonging to 267 of them (and it does not matter if x2 coincides with x1 ) and one is left with 265
    sets; there exists x3 belonging to 133 of them and one is left with 132 sets; there exists x4 belonging to 67
    of them and one is left with 65 sets; there exists x5 belonging to 33 of them and one is left with 32 sets;
    there exists x6 belonging to 17 of them and one is left with 15 sets; there exists x7 belonging to 8 of them
    and one is left with 7 sets; there exists x8 belonging to 4 of them and one is left with 3 sets; there exists x9
    belonging to 2 of them and one is left with 1 set, in which one picks x10 .
    Actually, 1066 could be replaced by N with 766 < N ≤ 1534, and more precisely, if 3.2k−2 − 2 < N ≤
    3.2k−1 − 2, and one has N sets with |Ai | > 12 |X|, then one can finds x1 , . . . , xk of X such that every Ai
    contains one of x1 , . . . , xk ; this comes from the fact that if 2m + 2 = 3.2k−1 − 2, then m = 3.2k−2 − 2, and
    that k = 1 corresponds to N = 1.

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy