olymmath

Putnam 2011 A1

  • Session A

Define a growing spiral in the plane to be a sequence of points with integer coordinates P0=(0,0),P1,…,PnP_0 = (0,0), P_1, \dots, P_n such that n≥2n \geq 2 and:

  • the directed line segments P0P1,P1P2,…,Pn−1PnP_0 P_1, P_1 P_2, \dots, P_{n-1} P_n are in the successive coordinate directions east (for P0P1P_0 P_1), north, west, south, east, etc.;

  • the lengths of these line segments are positive and strictly increasing.

[Picture omitted.] How many of the points (x,y)(x,y) with integer coordinates 0≤x≤2011,0≤y≤20110\leq x\leq 2011, 0\leq y\leq 2011 cannot be the last point, PnP_n of any growing spiral?

Curated text Kedlaya Putnam archive. Quoted with source.

Solutions

Human solution Solution 1 by Kiran Kedlaya and Lenny Ng

The terms of the source let olymmath link to this solution but not copy it. Read the solution (Kedlaya Putnam archive).

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