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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Argentina

There are given 10001000 distinct points on a circle. We have to select kk of them so that no two chosen points are adjacent. In how many ways can this be done?

Solution

Label the points clockwisely A1,A2,,A1000A_1, A_2, \dots, A_{1000} starting at any desired position. To every selection of several points AjA_j there corresponds bijectively a sequence a1a2a1000a_1a_2 \dots a_{1000} of zeros and ones in which aj=1a_j = 1 or aj=0a_j = 0 according as AjA_j is selected or not. So we may argue about 00-11 sequences instead of selections. Such a sequence α=a1a2a1000\alpha = a_1a_2 \dots a_{1000} is admissible if it contains exactly kk ones, if no two ones in it are adjacent, and if at least one of a1a_1 and a1000a_{1000} is zero. We distinguish between two types of admissible sequences: type 1 with a1=0a_1 = 0 and type 2 with a1=1a_1 = 1.

Let α\alpha be a type 1 admissible sequence. Since a1=0a_1 = 0, every term 11 in it is preceded by at least one 00. Delete one zero in front of each 11. A 00-11 sequence α\alpha' of length 1000k1000 - k is obtained, with kk terms 11. Call the latter a sequence of type 1'; there are (1000kk)\binom{1000-k}{k} of these. Writing a 00 in front of every 11 in α\alpha' restores back the original α\alpha. It follows that αα\alpha \mapsto \alpha' is an injection from the set of type 1 admissible sequences into the set of type 1' sequences. Now take a type 1' sequence and write a zero in front of each of the kk terms 11. The result is an admissible type 1 sequence: it contains kk ones, no two of them adjacent due to the added zeros, and the first term is a zero. Thus αα\alpha \mapsto \alpha' is a bijection, implying that there are (1000kk)\binom{1000-k}{k} type 1 admissible sequences.

Let α\alpha be a type 2 admissible sequence. Here a1=1a_1 = 1, therefore a1000=a2=0a_{1000} = a_2 = 0. Thus each term aj=1a_j = 1 with j>1j > 1 is preceded by at least one 00. Delete one zero in front of every such term, also delete a1=1a_1 = 1 and a1000=0a_{1000} = 0. The obtained 00-11 sequence α\alpha' has length 999k999 - k and k1k-1 terms 11. Call the latter a sequence of type 2'; there are (999kk1)\binom{999-k}{k-1} of these. Like in the previous case αα\alpha \mapsto \alpha' is a bijection, hence there are (999kk1)\binom{999-k}{k-1} type 2 admissible sequences.

In summary there are (1000kk)+(999kk1)\binom{1000-k}{k} + \binom{999-k}{k-1} admissible selections.

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