41ST UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDERGRADUATE
MATHEMATICS COMPETITION
1pm-4pm, April 6, 2024
Problem 1. Determine the value of the following limit or prove that it does not exist:
√ √ √
n + n + 3 n + ··· + n n
lim .
n→∞ n
Problem 2. Consider a configuration of n ≥ 2 distinct lines in R2 . Assume that no three
lines meet in a single point, while there are x ≥ 1 intersection points of pairs of lines. Suppose
the lines cut the plane into b bounded regions (and some number of unbounded regions). For
example, in the diagram below we have n = 4, x = 5, and b = 2. Prove that b = x − n + 1.
Problem 3. Suppose f : Z \ {0} → Z \ {0} is a function from the nonzero integers to the
nonzero integers satisfying
a c
f (a) − f (b) = f (c) − f (d) whenever = .
b d
Prove that f is not surjective.
Problem 4. Call a quadrilateral elegant if at most one of its four sides has irrational length.
Prove or disprove: any quadrilateral can be cut into finitely many pieces, each of which is
an elegant quadrilateral.
Problem 5. Let n ≥ 3 and let P1 , . . . , Pn be the vertices of a regular n-gon with sides of
length 1. Define an n-by-n matrix M (n) by letting M (n)ij be the distance between Pi and
Pj as one walks around the perimeter of the n-gon (in whichever direction is shorter). Here
are the first two such matrices as examples:
0 1 2 1
0 1 1 1 0 1 2
M (3) = 1 0 1 ,
M (4) = 2 1 0 1 .
1 1 0
1 2 1 0
What is the rank of M (2024)?
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Problem 6. Place 2024 particles around a circle, equally spaced. For each particle, flip
a coin to choose either clockwise or counterclockwise. At time t = 0, each particle starts
moving in the chosen direction at a speed of one full revolution around the circle per unit
time. Whenever two particles collide, they each reverse direction and continue moving at
the same speed. What is the probability that each particle is in the same position at time
t = 506 as at time t = 0? (The particles are not identical - you can tell the difference
between them.)
Problem 7. For any function g : R → R, let Per(g) be the set of periods of g, i.e. Per(g) =
{p ∈ R | g(x + p) = g(x) for all x ∈ R}. Now suppose f : R → R is a C ∞ function (i.e.
can be differentiated arbitrarily many times). Prove that the infinite sequence of periods of
derivatives of f ,
Per(f ), Per(f ′ ), Per(f ′′ ), Per(f (3) ), . . .
must eventually stabilize to a single set Per(f (n) ) = Per(f (n+1) ) = Per(f (n+2) ) = · · · (for
some sufficiently large n depending on f ).
Problem 8. Let Sym6 be the group of permutations of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}. For each 1 ≤ i ≤ 6,
let Gi be the subgroup of Sym6 consisting of the permutations σ with σ(i) = i. Suppose H
is a subgroup of Sym6 that has order 120 but is not equal to any of the Gi . Prove that for
any i, the subgroup H ∩ Gi has order 20 and is nonabelian.
Problem 9. Let X be a nonempty finite topological space (i.e. it is a finite set with a
topology). Recall that X is connected if it cannot be expressed as the disjoint union of
two nonempty open subsets, and X is path-connected if given any x, y ∈ X there exists a
continuous function f : [0, 1] → X with f (0) = x, f (1) = y. Prove that X is connected if
and only if X is path-connected.
Problem 10. Let n ≥ 2 and let x1 , . . . , xn be real numbers.
P For any subset A of {1, 2, . . . , n},
let |A| be the number of elements in A and let xA = i∈A xi be the sum of the corresponding
xi . Prove the identity
|A|−1 |B|−1
X
xA xB = (n − 1)(x1 + · · · + xn )n−2 ,
A⊔B={1,...,n}
where the sum runs over all ways of writing {1, . . . , n} as the disjoint union of two nonempty
subsets. For example, when n = 3 this says (x1 + x2 ) + (x1 + x3 ) + (x2 + x3 ) = 2(x1 + x2 + x3 ).
Contributors: Ben Baily, Hyman Bass, Sean Cotner, Zach Deiman, Robert Griess, Mel Hochster, Hyunsuk
Kim, Aaron Pixton, Jennifer Wilson.
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