IMO 1966 · Problem 1

In a mathematical contest, three problems, \(A, B, C\) were posed. Among the participants there were 25 students who solved at least one problem each. Of all the contestants who did not solve problem \(A\), the number who solved \(B\) was twice the number who solved \(C\). The number of students who solved only problem \(A\) was one more than the number of students who solved \(A\) and at least one other problem. Of all students who solved just one problem, half did not solve problem \(A\). How many students solved only problem \(B\)?

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Answer

\(\boxed{6}\) students.

Solution

Let \(a,b,c\) be the numbers of students who solved only \(A\), only \(B\), and only \(C\), respectively. Let \(d\) be the number who solved both \(B\) and \(C\), but not \(A\). These are nonnegative integers.

Half of those who solved exactly one problem did not solve \(A\), so \[ a=b+c. \] Among those who did not solve \(A\), exactly \(b+d\) solved \(B\) and exactly \(c+d\) solved \(C\). Hence \[ b+d=2(c+d), \qquad\text{so}\qquad d=b-2c. \] The number who solved \(A\) and at least one other problem is \(a-1\). Partitioning the 25 students who solved at least one problem therefore gives \[ 25=a+b+c+d+(a-1). \] Substituting \(a=b+c\) and \(d=b-2c\), we obtain \[ 4b+c=26. \]

Since \(c\ge0\), we have \(b\le26/4<7\), so \(b\le6\). Since \(d=b-2c\ge0\), we also have \(c\le b/2\), and consequently \[ 26=4b+c\le\frac92b. \] Thus \(b\ge52/9>5\), so \(b\ge6\). Therefore \(b=6\), as required.

The solution was checked against John Scholes' IMO solution archive (Kalva).