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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Iran

Let n,kn, k be positive integers such that nkn \ge k. Find the maximum number of binary sequences of length nn such that by fixing any arbitrary kk bits, the achieved sequences do not produce all binary sequences of length kk. For example if k=1k = 1, we can only have one sequence, otherwise they will differ in at least one bit which means that fixing that bit produces all binary sequences of length 1.

Solution

Let the answer be f(n,k)f(n,k). We will prove by induction on n+kn+k that
f(n,k)=i=0k1(ni). f(n,k) = \sum_{i=0}^{k-1} \binom{n}{i}.
Case n=k=1n=k=1 is obvious.

Assume that SS is the maximum set of the desired sequences and let TT be the set of all binary sequences of length n1n-1. Define the sets A,B,CA, B, C as follows:
A={aTthere exists bS with b=0a, but there is no cS with c=1a}B={aTthere exists bS with b=1a, but there is no cS with c=0a}C={aTthere exists b,cS with b=0a,c=1a}. \begin{align*} A &= \{a \in T \mid \text{there exists } b \in S \text{ with } b = \overline{0a}, \text{ but there is no } c \in S \text{ with } c = \overline{1a}\} \\ B &= \{a \in T \mid \text{there exists } b \in S \text{ with } b = \overline{1a}, \text{ but there is no } c \in S \text{ with } c = \overline{0a}\} \\ C &= \{a \in T \mid \text{there exists } b, c \in S \text{ with } b = \overline{0a}, c = \overline{1a}\}. \end{align*}
Clearly, f(n,k)=A+B+2Cf(n,k) = |A| + |B| + 2|C|. Because we can't choose kk bits from the last n1n-1 bits of the sequences that produce all the binary sequences of length kk, we have A+B+Cf(n1,k)|A| + |B| + |C| \le f(n-1,k). Now consider the set CC. If Cf(n1,k1)|C| \ge f(n-1,k-1), we can fix k1k-1 bits from the last n1n-1 bits to produce all sequences of length k1k-1. So because of the definition of CC, by fixing these k1k-1 bits and the first bit, all sequences of length kk are produced, which is a contradiction. So we have
f(n,k)=A+B+2Cf(n1,k)+f(n1,k1). f(n,k) = |A| + |B| + 2|C| \le f(n-1,k) + f(n-1,k-1).
By induction and using Pascal's identity we get
f(n,k)i=0k1(n1i)+i=0k2(n1i)=1+i=1k1(n1i)+i=0k2(n1i)=1+i=1k1((n1i)+(n1i1))=(n0)+i=1k1(ni)=i=0k1(ni). \begin{align*} f(n,k) &\le \sum_{i=0}^{k-1} \binom{n-1}{i} + \sum_{i=0}^{k-2} \binom{n-1}{i} \\ &= 1 + \sum_{i=1}^{k-1} \binom{n-1}{i} + \sum_{i=0}^{k-2} \binom{n-1}{i} \\ &= 1 + \sum_{i=1}^{k-1} \left( \binom{n-1}{i} + \binom{n-1}{i-1} \right) \\ &= \binom{n}{0} + \sum_{i=1}^{k-1} \binom{n}{i} = \sum_{i=0}^{k-1} \binom{n}{i}. \end{align*}
For the equality example, simply choose all binary sequences with at most k1k-1 zeros. This way, by fixing any kk bits, the sequence with kk zeros will never be produced and we're done. ■

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