19th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

June 24-29, 2015, Belgrade, Serbia

Problem 1. Find all prime numbers a, b, c and positive integers k which satisfy the
equation
a 2  b 2  16  c 2  9  k 2  1.
Solution:
The relation 9  k 2  1  1 mod 3 implies
a 2  b 2  16  c 2  1 mod 3  a 2  b 2  c 2  1 mod 3 .
Since a 2  0, 1 (mod 3), b 2  0, 1 (mod 3), c 2  0, 1 (mod 3) , we have:

a2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
b2 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
c2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
a2  b2  c2 0 1 1 2 1 2 2 0

From the previous table it follows that two of three prime numbers a, b, c are equal to 3.
Case 1. a  b  3
We have
a 2  b 2  16  c 2  9  k 2  1  9  k 2  16  c 2  17  3k  4c   3k  4c   17,
3k  4c  1, c  2,
  and (a, b, c, k )  (3,3,2,3).
3k  4c  17, k  3,
Case 2. c  3
If (3, b0 , c, k ) is a solution of the given equation, then (b0 ,3, c, k ) is a solution too.
Let a  3. We have
a 2  b 2  16  c 2  9  k 2  1  9  k 2  b 2  152  3k  b  3k  b  152 .
Both factors shall have the same parity and we obtain only 2 cases:
3k  b  2, b  37,
   and (a, b, c, k )  (3,37,3,13);
3k  b  76, k  13,
3k  b  4, b  17,
   and (a, b, c, k )  (3,17,3,7).
3k  b  38, k  7,

So, the given equation has 5 solutions:

Problem 2. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers such that a  b  c  3 . Find the minimum
value of the expression
2  a 3 2  b3 2  c 3
A   .
a b c
 19th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad
June 24-29, 2015, Belgrade, Serbia

Solution:
We can rewrite A as follows:
2  a3 2  b3 2  c3  1 1 1
A    2     a 2  b 2  c 2 
a b c a b c
 ab  bc  ca   ab  bc  ca 
2   (a  b  c )  2   ((a  b  c)  2(ab  bc  ca )) 
2 2 2 2

 abc   abc 
 ab  bc  ca   ab  bc  ca 
2   (9  2(ab  bc  ca ))  2   2(ab  bc  ca )  9 
 abc   abc 
 1 
2(ab  bc  ca )  1  9.
 abc 
Recall now the well-known inequality ( x  y  z) 2  3( xy  yz  zx) and set
x  ab, y  bc, z  ca , to obtain (ab  bc  ca)  3abc(a  b  c)  9abc, where we have
2

used a  b  c  3 . By taking the square roots on both sides of the last one we obtain:
ab  bc  ca  3 abc . (1)
Also by using AM-GM inequality we get that
1 1
1  2 . (2)
abc abc
Multiplication of (1) and (2) gives:
 1  1
(ab  bc  ca )  1  3 abc  2  6.
 abc  abc
So A  2  6  9  3 and the equality holds if and only if a  b  c  1 , so the minimum value is
3.

Problem 3. Let ABC be an acute triangle. The lines l1, l2 are perpendicular to AB at the
points A, B respectively. The perpendicular lines from the midpoint M of AB to the sides of
the triangle AC, BC intersect the lines l1, l2 at the points E, F, respectively. If D is the
intersection point of EF and MC, prove that
ADB  EMF .

Solution:
Let H, G be the points of intersection of ME, MF with AC, BC respectively. From the
MH MA
similarity of triangles MHA and MAE we get  , thus
MA ME
MA2  MH  ME. (1)
MB MG
Similarly, from the similarity of triangles MBG and MFB we get  , thus
MF MB
MB 2  MF  MG. (2)
Since MA  MB , from (1), (2), we conclude that the points E, H, G, F are concyclic.
 19th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad
June 24-29, 2015, Belgrade, Serbia

C
l1 F

l2
D

G
E
H

A B
M

Therefore, we get that FEH  FEM  HGM . Also, the quadrilateral CHMG is
cyclic, so CMH  HGC . We have
FEH  CMH  HGM  HGC  90 ,
thus CM  EF . Now, from the cyclic quadrilaterals FDMB and EAMD , we get that
DFM  DBM and DEM  DAM . Therefore, the triangles EMF and ADB are
similar, so ADB  EMF .

Problem 4.
An -figure is one of the following four pieces, each consisting of three unit squares:

A 5×5 board, consisting of 25 unit squares, a positive integer k ≤ 25 and an unlimited supply
L-figures are given. Two players, A and B, play the following game: starting with A they
alternatively mark a previously unmarked unit square until they marked a total of k unit
squares.
We say that a placement of L-figures on unmarked unit squares is called good if the L-figure
do not overlap and each of them covers exactly three unmarked unit squares of the board.
B wins if every good placement of L-figures leaves uncovered at least three unmarked unit
squares. Determine the minimum value of k for which B has a winning strategy.

Solution:
We will show that player A wins if k = 1, 2, 3, but player B wins if k  4 . Thus the smallest
k for which B has a winning strategy exists and is equal to 4.
If k  1 , player A marks the upper left corner of the square and then fills it as follows.
 19th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad
June 24-29, 2015, Belgrade, Serbia

If k  2 , player A marks the upper left corner of the square. Whatever square player B marks,
then player A can fill in the square in exactly the same pattern as above except that he doesn't
put the L-figure which covers the marked square of B. Player A wins because he has left only
two unmarked squares uncovered.
For k  3 , player A wins by following the same strategy. When he has to mark a square for
the second time, he marks any yet unmarked square of the L-figure that covers the marked
square of B.
Let us now show that for k  4 player B has a winning strategy. Since there will be 21
unmarked squares, player A will need to cover all of them with seven L-figures. We can
assume that in his first move, player A does not mark any square in the bottom two rows of
the chessboard (otherwise just rotate the chessboard). In his first move player B marks the
square labeled 1 in the following figure.

If player A in his next move does not mark any of the squares labeled 2, 3 and 4 then player B
marks the square labeled 3. Player B wins as the square labeled 2 is left unmarked but cannot
be covered with an L-figure.
If player A in his next move marks the square labeled 2, then player B marks the square
labeled 5. Player B wins as the square labeled 3 is left unmarked but cannot be covered with
an L-figure.
Finally, if player A in his next move marks one of the squares labeled 3 or 4, player B marks
the other of these two squares. Player B wins as the square labeled 2 is left unmarked but
cannot be covered with an L-figure.
Since we have covered all possible cases, player B wins when k  4 .