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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.9 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Baltic Way

Let tt be a non-zero real number and nn be a positive integer. Let a1,a2,,a2n1a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2n-1} be real numbers (not necessarily distinct). Prove that there exist indices i1<i2<<ini_1 < i_2 < \dots < i_n such that aikailta_{i_k} - a_{i_{l}} \neq t for any 1k,ln1 \le k, l \le n.

Solution

Let G=(V,E)G = (V, E) be a graph with vertex set V={1,2,,2n1}V = \{1, 2, \dots, 2n-1\} and edge set E={{i,j}:aiaj=t}E = \{\{i, j\} : |a_i - a_j| = t\}. Note that GG has no odd cycles. Indeed, if j1,,j2k+1j_1, \dots, j_{2k+1} is a cycle, then for all l=1,3,5,,2k1l = 1, 3, 5, \dots, 2k-1 the number ajla_{jl} differs from aj,la_{j,l} by 2t2t or 00. Hence aj1a_{j_1} differs from aj2k+1a_{j_{2k+1}} by an even multiple of tt. Therefore there is no edge between j1j_1 and j2k+1j_{2k+1} contradicting the assumption that j1,,j2k+1j_1, \dots, j_{2k+1} is a cycle.

Since GG has no odd cycles, it is bipartite. Therefore VV can be split into two disjoint sets V1,V2V_1, V_2 such that there is no edge between any two vertices of V1V_1 and there are no edges between any two vertices in V2V_2. Since VV has 2n12n-1 elements, one of the sets V1,V2V_1, V_2 has at least nn elements. Without loss of generality assume that V1V_1 has at least nn elements. Then for k=1,2,,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n simply define iki_k to be the kk-th least element of V1V_1. \square

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.