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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it North Macedonia

The contestants of this year's MMO are "well" distributed in nn columns (a distribution in columns is "well" if no two contestants in the same column are acquaintances), but the same cannot be obtained in less than nn columns. Show that there exist contestants M1,M2,,MnM_1, M_2, \dots, M_n for which the following hold:
(1) MiM_i is in the ii-th column, for each i=1,2,,ni=1,2,\dots,n;
(2) MiM_i and Mi+1M_{i+1} are acquaintances, for each i=1,2,,n1i=1,2,\dots,n-1.

Solution

We will perform a rearrangement with respect to columns. First we move to the first column each contestant from the second column who doesn't have an acquaintance in the first column. (1 point) The new arrangement is “well”, and therefore at least one contestant remains in the second column. Now we move to the second column each contestant from the third column who doesn't have an acquaintance among the remaining contestants in the second column. The new arrangement is “well”, and therefore there is at least one contestant remaining in the third column. We continue this procedure. (3 points) In the end we move to the (n1)(n-1)-th column each contestant from the nn-th column who doesn't have an acquaintance among the remaining ones in the (n1)(n-1)-th column. The new arrangement is again “well” and therefore at least one contestant remains in the nn-th column. We denote such a contestant by MnM_n. (1 point) He must have an acquaintance Mn1M_{n-1} in the (n1)(n-1)-th column. Let us notice that Mn1M_{n-1} has not been moved (otherwise the initial arrangement is not “well”). Therefore Mn1M_{n-1} has an acquaintance Mn2M_{n-2} in the (n2)(n-2)-th column. We conclude analogously that Mn2M_{n-2} has not been moved. We proceed in this way and therefore we find contestants M1,M2,,MnM_1, M_2, \dots, M_n for which (1) and (2) hold. (3 points)

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