Problems

Age
Difficulty
Found: 60

Suppose that \(n \geq 3\). Are there n points that do not lie on one line, whose pairwise distances are irrational, and the areas of all of the triangles with vertices in them are rational?

Do there exist three points \(A\), \(B\) and \(C\) on the plane such that for any point \(X\) the length of at least one of the segments \(XA\), \(XB\) and \(XC\) is irrational?

Find the sums of the following series:

a) \({\frac {1} {1 \times 2}} + {\frac {1} {2 \times 3}} + {\frac {1} {3 \times 4}} + {\frac {1} {4 \times 5}} + \dots\);

b) \({\frac {1} {1 \times 2 \times 3}} + {\frac {1} {2 \times 3 \times 4}} + {\frac {1} {3 \times 4 \times 5}} + {\frac {1} {4 \times 5 \times 6}} + \dots\);

c) \({\frac {0!} {r!}} + {\frac {1!} {(r-1)!}} + {\frac {2!} {(r-2) !}} + {\frac {3!} {(r-3)!}} + \dots\) for \(r \geq 2\).

For what values of \(n\) does the polynomial \((x+1)^n - x^n - 1\) divide by:

a) \(x^2 + x + 1\); b) \((x^2 + x + 1)^2\); c) \((x^2 + x + 1)^3\)?

Old calculator I.

a) Suppose that we want to find \(\sqrt[3]{x}\) (\(x> 0\)) on a calculator that can find \(\sqrt{x}\) in addition to four ordinary arithmetic operations. Consider the following algorithm. A sequence of numbers \(\{y_n\}\) is constructed, in which \(y_0\) is an arbitrary positive number, for example, \(y_0 = \sqrt{\sqrt{x}}\), and the remaining elements are defined by \(y_{n + 1} = \sqrt{\sqrt{x y_n}}\) (\(n \geq 0\)).

Prove that \(\lim\limits_{n\to\infty} y_n = \sqrt[3]{x}\).

b) Construct a similar algorithm to calculate the fifth root.

The sequence of numbers \(a_1, a_2, a_3, \dots\) is given by the following conditions \(a_1 = 1\), \(a_{n + 1} = a_n + \frac {1} {a_n^2}\) (\(n \geq 0\)).

Prove that

a) this sequence is unbounded;

b) \(a_{9000} > 30\);

c) find the limit \(\lim \limits_ {n \to \infty} \frac {a_n} {\sqrt [3] n}\).

The point \(O\), lying inside the triangle \(ABC\), is connected by segments with the vertices of the triangle. Prove that the variance of the set of angles \(AOB\), \(AOC\) and \(BOC\) is less than a) \(10\pi ^2/27\); b) \(2\pi ^2/9\).