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Version: English

Second day
Mar del Plata, Argentina - July 25, 1997

4

An n x n matrix (square array) whose entries come from the set S = {1, 2, ... , 2n - 1}, is called a silver matrix if, for each i = 1, ... , n, the ith row and the ith column together contain all elements of S. Show that

(a) there is no silver matrix for n = 1997;

(b) silver matrices exist for infinitely many values of n.

5

Find all pairs (a,b) of integers a 1, b 1 that satisfy the equation

a^(b2) = b^a.

6

For each positive integer n , let f(n) denote the number of ways of representing n as a sum of powers of 2 with nonnegative integer exponents.

Representations which differ only in the ordering of their summands are considered to be the same. For instance, f(4)=4, because the number 4 can be represented in the following four ways:

4; 2+2; 2+1+1; 1+1+1+1.

Prove that, for any integer n 3:

2^n2/4 < f(2ⁿ) < 2^n2/2.