JBMO 2022

Find all pairs $(a, b)$ of positive integers such that

$$11 a b \leq a^{3}-b^{3} \leq 12 a b$$

Let $A B C$ be an acute triangle such that $A H=H D$, where $H$ is the orthocenter of $A B C$ and $D \in B C$ is the foot of the altitude from the vertex $A$. Let $\ell$ denote the line through $H$ which is tangent to the circumcircle of the triangle $B H C$. Let $S$ and $T$ be the intersection points of $\ell$ with $A B$ and $A C$, respectively. Denote the midpoints of $B H$ and $C H$ by $M$ and $N$, respectively. Prove that the lines $S M$ and $T N$ are parallel.

Find all quadruples of positive integers $(p, q, a, b)$, where $p$ and $q$ are prime numbers and $a>1$, such that

$$p^{a}=1+5 q^{b}$$

We call an even positive integer $n$ nice if the set $\{1,2, \ldots, n\}$ can be partitioned into $\frac{n}{2}$ two-element subsets, such that the sum of the elements in each subset is a power of 3 . For example, 6 is nice, because the set $\{1,2,3,4,5,6\}$ can be partitioned into subsets $\{1,2\},\{3,6\},\{4,5\}$. Find the number of nice positive integers which are smaller than $3^{2022}$.