1977 USAMO Problems

Problem 1

Determine all pairs of positive integers $(m,n)$ such that $(1\plus{}x^n\plus{}x^{2n}\plus{}\cdots\plus{}x^{mn})$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg) is divisible by $(1\plus{}x\plus{}x^2\plus{}\cdots\plus{}x^{m})$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg).

Problem 2

$ABC$ and $A'B'C'$ are two triangles in the same plane such that the lines $AA',BB',CC'$ are mutually parallel. Let $[ABC]$ denotes the area of triangle $ABC$ with an appropriate $\pm$ sign, etc.; prove that

\[3([ABC] \plus{} [A'B'C']) \equal{} [AB'C'] \plus{} [BC'A'] \plus{} [CA'B'] \plus{} [A'BC] \plus{} [B'CA] \plus{} [C'AB].\] (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)

Problem 3

If $a$ and $b$ are two of the roots of $x^4\plus{}x^3\minus{}1\equal{}0$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg), prove that $ab$ is a root of $x^6\plus{}x^4\plus{}x^3\minus{}x^2\minus{}1\equal{}0$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg).

Problem 4

Prove that if the opposite sides of a skew (non-planar) quadrilateral are congruent, then the line joining the midpoints of the two diagonals is perpendicular to these diagonals, and conversely, if the line joining the midpoints of the two diagonals of a skew quadrilateral is perpendicular to these diagonals, then the opposite sides of the quadrilateral are congruent.

Problem 5

If $a,b,c,d,e$ are positive numbers bounded by $p$ and $q$ , i.e, if they lie in $[p,q], 0 < p$ , prove that $(a + b + c + d + e)(\frac {1}{a} + \frac {1}{b} + \frac {1}{c} + \frac {1}{d} + \frac {1}{e}) \le 25 + 6\left(\sqrt {\frac {p}{q}} - \sqrt {\frac {q}{p}}\right)^2$ and determine when there is equality.

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