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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.2 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Ireland

It is Ann's birthday. She, her brother Jim, and 8 of her friends sit around a table in the shape of a regular decagon (a 10-sided polygon). Jim sits directly opposite Ann at the table. The 10 children play a game called throw the parcel, which works as follows. At the beginning, Ann has the parcel. The game then consists of nn moves. In each move, the person who has the parcel throws it to a person sitting immediately beside them (their neighbour), or to a person sitting immediately beside their neighbour. Whoever has the parcel at the end wins the game.

Before the game begins, Ann says to Jim, “there are over a million more ways for the parcel to travel to end up with me than with you”.

Determine, with proof, the values of nn for which Ann's claim is correct.

Solution

Ann's claim is correct for all even nn greater than or equal to 18.

Denote by An,Bn,Cn,Dn,EnA_n, B_n, C_n, D_n, E_n and FnF_n the number of ways for the parcel to end at a person at a distance (in either the clockwise or anticlockwise direction) of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from Ann, respectively, where Ann is at a distance of 0 from herself and Jim is at a distance of 5 from Ann. Then, we have A0=1,B0=C0=D0=E0=F0=0A_0 = 1, B_0 = C_0 = D_0 = E_0 = F_0 = 0 and for every n0n \ge 0 we get
An+1=2Bn+2Cn(1) A_{n+1} = 2B_n + 2C_n \quad (1)
Bn+1=An+Bn+Cn+Dn(2) B_{n+1} = A_n + B_n + C_n + D_n \quad (2)
Cn+1=An+Bn+Dn+En(3) C_{n+1} = A_n + B_n + D_n + E_n \quad (3)
Dn+1=Bn+Cn+En+Fn(4) D_{n+1} = B_n + C_n + E_n + F_n \quad (4)
En+1=Cn+Dn+En+Fn(5) E_{n+1} = C_n + D_n + E_n + F_n \quad (5)
Fn+1=2Dn+2En(6) F_{n+1} = 2D_n + 2E_n \quad (6)
Initial computations yield A1=0,B1=C1=1,D1=E1=F1=0A_1 = 0, B_1 = C_1 = 1, D_1 = E_1 = F_1 = 0 and A2=4,B2=2,C2=1,D2=2,E2=1,F2=0A_2 = 4, B_2 = 2, C_2 = 1, D_2 = 2, E_2 = 1, F_2 = 0.

Next assume that n2n \ge 2. Subtract (6) from (1) and use (2) to (5) to get
An+1Fn+1=2(Bn+Cn)2(Dn+En)=2(An1+Bn1+Cn1+Dn1)+2(An1+Bn1+Dn1+En1)2(Bn1+Cn1+En1+Fn1)2(Cn1+Dn1+En1+Fn1). \begin{aligned} A_{n+1} - F_{n+1} &= 2(B_n + C_n) - 2(D_n + E_n) \\ &= 2(A_{n-1} + B_{n-1} + C_{n-1} + D_{n-1}) + 2(A_{n-1} + B_{n-1} + D_{n-1} + E_{n-1}) \\ &\quad - 2(B_{n-1} + C_{n-1} + E_{n-1} + F_{n-1}) - 2(C_{n-1} + D_{n-1} + E_{n-1} + F_{n-1}). \end{aligned}
Cancelling terms, we obtain
An+1Fn+1=4(An1Fn1)+2(Dn1En1)+2(Bn1Cn1)=4(An1Fn1)+2(Bn2Dn2)+2(Cn2En2)=4(An1Fn1)+2(Bn2+Cn2)2(Dn2+En2)=4(An1Fn1)+An1Fn1=5(An1Fn1). \begin{aligned} A_{n+1} - F_{n+1} &= 4(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}) + 2(D_{n-1} - E_{n-1}) + 2(B_{n-1} - C_{n-1}) \\ &= 4(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}) + 2(B_{n-2} - D_{n-2}) + 2(C_{n-2} - E_{n-2}) \\ &= 4(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}) + 2(B_{n-2} + C_{n-2}) - 2(D_{n-2} + E_{n-2}) \\ &= 4(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}) + A_{n-1} - F_{n-1} \\ &= 5(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}). \end{aligned}
where we have again used equations (2) to (5). Thus, since A1F1=0A_1 - F_1 = 0 and A2F2=4A_2 - F_2 = 4 and An+1Fn+1=5(An1Fn1)A_{n+1} - F_{n+1} = 5(A_{n-1} - F_{n-1}) for every n2n \ge 2, we have
AnFn={0if n is odd45n/21if n is even. A_n - F_n = \begin{cases} 0 & \text{if } n \text{ is odd} \\ 4 \cdot 5^{n/2-1} & \text{if } n \text{ is even.} \end{cases}
Thus, for Ann's claim to be correct we need nn even and 45n/211064 \cdot 5^{n/2-1} \ge 10^6, i.e., 5n/27165^{n/2-7} \ge 16. This yields n/272n/2 - 7 \ge 2 and thus n18n \ge 18.

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