Putnam Problem Set 12

November 10th

1. Let d be any positive integer not equal to 2, 5 or 13. Show that one
can find distinct a, b in the set {2, 5, 13, d} such that ab − 1 is not a perfect
square.

2. Eotvos Let S be a point inside triangle ABC such that the areas of the
triangles ABS, BCS and CAS are all equal. Prove that S is the centroid
(the point where the three medians of the triangle intersect) of ABC.

3. (P 1978 A1) Let A be any set of 20 distinct integers chosen from the
arithmetic progression 1, 4, 7, . . . , 100. Prove that there must be two distinct
integers in A whose sum is 104.

4. (P 1978 A6) Let n distinct points in the plane be given. Prove that
fewer than 2n3/2 pairs of them are unit distance apart.

5. (P 1983 A3) Let p be in the set {3, 5, 7, 11, . . .} of odd primes and let

F (n) = 1 + 2n + 3n2 + . . . + (p − 1)np−2 .

Prove that if a and b are distinct integers in {0, 1, 2, . . . , p − 1} then F (a)

and F (b) are not congruent modulo p, that is, F (a) − F (b) is not exactly
divisible by p.