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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.0 National Olympiad Prove it South Korea

Let MM be the set of positive integers which is not divisible by any prime number greater than 33. For arbitrary chosen subsets A1,A2,A3,A_1, A_2, A_3, \dots of MM, prove that there exist two distinct positive integers ii and jj such that:
For each xx in AiA_i, AjA_j has a divisor of xx.

Solution

Regard AnA_n as a set of lattice points by
2x3y(x,y)N02, 2^x 3^y \mapsto (x, y) \in \mathbb{N}_0^2,
where N0\mathbb{N}_0 is the set of nonnegative integers. For two elements (a,b),(c,d)N02(a, b), (c, d) \in \mathbb{N}_0^2, we denote (a,b)(c,d)(a, b) \le (c, d) if aca \le c and bdb \le d. Also we denote (a,b)<(c,d)(a, b) < (c, d) if (a,b)(c,d)(a, b) \le (c, d) and (a,b)(c,d)(a, b) \ne (c, d). Then the problem can be interpreted as:

for any A1,A2,N02A_1, A_2, \dots \subset \mathbb{N}_0^2, there exist i,jNi, j \in \mathbb{N} satisfying xAi,yAj\forall x \in A_i, \exists y \in A_j s.t. yxy \le x.

In this case we will say that the collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots is "nice".

A reduced set AA is a subset of N02\mathbb{N}_0^2 satisfying x,yA\notin x, y \in A s.t. x<yx < y. Since a reduced set may have at most one point in x=ax = a (resp. y=by = b), it is a finite set. Moreover, if a reduced set AA has (a,b)N02(a, b) \in \mathbb{N}_0^2 then Aa+b+1|A| \le a + b + 1 holds. Obviously, we may assume that each AiA_i is a reduced set.

Lemma 1. Given a collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots, suppose that there are no points pp in N02\mathbb{N}_0^2 which are contained in infinitely many AiA_i's. Then the collection is nice.

Before proving the Main lemma, we introduce a result for a special case.

Corollary 2. Given a collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots, if there exists NNN \in \mathbb{N} such that AiN|A_i| \le N for all ii, then the collection is nice.

Proof. (mathematical induction) In case N=1N=1, it is easy. Assume N2N \ge 2. If the collection satisfies the condition in Lemma 1 then it is done. If the collection does not satisfy the condition, i.e., p\exists p which is contained in infinitely many AiA_i's. Set {BiiN}\{B_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} be the collection of AiA_i's containing pp. From the induction hypothesis, {Bi{p}iN}\{B_i - \{p\} \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} is nice, which induces easily that {BiiN}\{B_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} is nice. Thus the collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots is also nice. \square

Let us go back to the original problem. If A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots satisfies the condition in Lemma 1 then it is done. Otherwise p\exists p s.t. p=(a,b)p = (a, b) is contained in infinitely many AiA_i's, then each cardinality of AipA_i \ni p is bounded by Aia+b+1|A_i| \le a + b + 1 (recall that AiA_i's are reduced sets). Thus from the corollary 2, the collection of AiA_i's containing pp is nice, and so does the original collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots, which completes the proof.

Now we only left the proof of Lemma 1.

Proof. (Lemma 1) For nonnegative integer hh, define Vh:=Ai{(h,y)yN0}V_h := \bigcup A_i \cap \{(h, y) \mid y \in \mathbb{N}_0\}. If VhV_h is a finite set then by the hypothesis of Lemma 1, only finitely many AiA_i's contribute to VhV_h. So we may delete this finitely many AiA_i's.

1. Suppose VhV_h is finite for all hN0h \in \mathbb{N}_0. Among the points in Ai\bigcup A_i take (a0,b0)(a_0, b_0), where b0b_0 is the smallest yy coordinate of points in Ai\bigcup A_i and a0a_0 is the smallest xx coordinate of points with yy coordinate are all b0b_0. By relabeling, set (a0,b0)A1(a_0, b_0) \in A_1. From the collection A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots, remove all the AiA_i's (except A1A_1) which contribute to V0,V1,,Va01V_0, V_1, \dots, V_{a_0-1}. Note that only the finite number of AiA_i's are removed. Thus the collection of remaining elements (including A1A_1) is nice (by taking (a0,b0)A1(a_0, b_0) \in A_1 as xAix \in A_i).

2. Suppose there exists hN0h \in \mathbb{N}_0 such that VhV_h is infinite. Among these hh, let tt be the smallest element. Since each AiA_i is finite, infinitely many AiA_i's contribute to VtV_t. Set {CiiN}\{C_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} be the infinitely many collection for VtV_t. Define Hk:={(x,k)(x,k)Ci}H_k := \{(x, k) \mid (x, k) \in \bigcup C_i\}. If all the HkH_k are finite, then {CiiN}\{C_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} is nice. So assume there exists kN0k \in \mathbb{N}_0 such that HkH_k is infinite. Among these kk, let ss be the smallest element. Since each CiC_i is finite, infinitely many CiC_i's contribute to HsH_s. Set {DiiN}\{D_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} be the infinitely many collection for HsH_s. Note that DiVtD_i \cap V_t \neq \emptyset, DiHsD_i \cap H_s \neq \emptyset. Thus if (t,d)D1(t, d) \in D_1 and (c,s)D1(c, s) \in D_1 then the number of set DiD_i's which contribute to [t,c)×[s,d)[t, c) \times [s, d) is finite. So removing these DiD_i's (except D1D_1) from the collection {DiiN}\{D_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} yields an infinite subcollection {D1}{EiiN}\{D_1\} \cup \{E_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} — of A1,A2,A_1, A_2, \dots. By taking (t,d)D1(t, d) \in D_1 or (c,s)D1(c, s) \in D_1 as xAix \in A_i, we can prove that {D1}{EiiN}\{D_1\} \cup \{E_i \mid i \in \mathbb{N}\} is nice.

\square

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