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The document is the description of problems A1 through A6 and B1 through B6 from the 75th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It provides the statements of 12 mathematical problems involving topics like Taylor series, matrices, polynomials, and functions.

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Rajat Khandelwal
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73 views

2014 PDF

The document is the description of problems A1 through A6 and B1 through B6 from the 75th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. It provides the statements of 12 mathematical problems involving topics like Taylor series, matrices, polynomials, and functions.

Uploaded by

Rajat Khandelwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The 75th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition

Saturday, December 6, 2014

A1 Prove that every nonzero coefficient of the Taylor series B2 Suppose that f is a function on the interval [1, 3] such
of that −1 ≤ f (x) ≤ 1 for all x and 13 f (x) dx = 0. How
R

large can 13 f (x)


R
(1 − x + x2 )ex x dx be?
B3 Let A be an m × n matrix with rational entries. Sup-
about x = 0 is a rational number whose numerator (in pose that there are at least m + n distinct prime numbers
lowest terms) is either 1 or a prime number. among the absolute values of the entries of A. Show that
the rank of A is at least 2.
A2 Let A be the n × n matrix whose entry in the i-th row
and j-th column is B4 Show that for each positive integer n, all the roots of the
polynomial
1
min(i, j) n
∑ 2k(n−k) xk
for 1 ≤ i, j ≤ n. Compute det(A). k=0

A3 Let a0 = 5/2 and ak = a2k−1 − 2 for k ≥ 1. Compute are real numbers.

∞   B5 In the 75th annual Putnam Games, participants compete


1 at mathematical games. Patniss and Keeta play a game
∏ 1 −
k=0 ak in which they take turns choosing an element from the
group of invertible n × n matrices with entries in the
in closed form. field Z/pZ of integers modulo p, where n is a fixed
A4 Suppose X is a random variable that takeson only non- positive integer and p is a fixed prime number. The
2 rules of the game are:
 3  integer values, with E [X] = 1, E X = 2, and
negative
E X = 5. (Here E [y] denotes the expectation of the (1) A player cannot choose an element that has been
random variable Y .) Determine the smallest possible chosen by either player on any previous turn.
value of the probability of the event X = 0.
(2) A player can only choose an element that com-
A5 Let mutes with all previously chosen elements.
(3) A player who cannot choose an element on his/her
Pn (x) = 1 + 2x + 3x2 + · · · + nxn−1 . turn loses the game.
Prove that the polynomials Pj (x) and Pk (x) are relatively Patniss takes the first turn. Which player has a winning
prime for all positive integers j and k with j 6= k. strategy? (Your answer may depend on n and p.)
A6 Let n be a positive integer. What is the largest k B6 Let f : [0, 1] → R be a function for which there exists a
for which there exist n × n matrices M1 , . . . , Mk and constant K > 0 such that | f (x) − f (y)| ≤ K |x − y| for all
N1 , . . . , Nk with real entries such that for all i and j, the x, y ∈ [0, 1]. Suppose also that for each rational number
matrix product Mi N j has a zero entry somewhere on its r ∈ [0, 1], there exist integers a and b such that f (r) =
diagonal if and only if i 6= j? a + br. Prove that there exist finitely many intervals
I1 , . . . , InSsuch that f is a linear function on each Ii and
B1 A base 10 over-expansion of a positive integer N is an [0, 1] = ni=1 Ii .
expression of the form

N = dk 10k + dk−1 10k−1 + · · · + d0 100

with dk 6= 0 and di ∈ {0, 1, 2, . . . , 10} for all i. For


instance, the integer N = 10 has two base 10 over-
expansions: 10 = 10 · 100 and the usual base 10 expan-
sion 10 = 1 · 101 + 0 · 100 . Which positive integers have
a unique base 10 over-expansion?

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