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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Switzerland

Problem:
Let GG be a graph whose vertices are the integers. Assume that any two integers are connected by a finite path in GG. For two integers xx and yy, we denote by d(x,y)d(x, y) the length of the shortest path from xx to yy, where the length of a path is the number of edges in it. Assume that d(x,y)xyd(x, y) \mid x-y for all x,yZx, y \in \mathbb{Z} and define S(G)={d(x,y)x,yZ}S(G)=\{d(x, y) \mid x, y \in \mathbb{Z}\}. Find all possible sets S(G)S(G).

Solution

Solution:
The possible sets are {0,1},{0,1,2},{0,1,2,3}\{0,1\},\{0,1,2\},\{0,1,2,3\} and Z0\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}.
Since dd is defined as a distance, we also have the triangle inequality, stating that
d(x,y)d(x,z)+d(z,y) d(x, y) \leq d(x, z)+d(z, y)
for all x,y,zZx, y, z \in \mathbb{Z}. Now note that for all xZx \in \mathbb{Z} we must have d(x,x+1)1d(x, x+1) \mid 1 and thus d(x,x+1)=1d(x, x+1)=1. Iterating this result with the triangle inequality we find that d(x,y)xyd(x, y) \leq |x-y| for all x,yZx, y \in \mathbb{Z}. If we consider the graph on Z\mathbb{Z} where x,yx, y are connected if and only if xy=1|x-y|=1, then we have d(x,y)=xyd(x, y)=|x-y| which satisfies the condition. Excluding this case, we can assume without loss of generality that d(0,a)<ad(0, a)<a for some positive integer aa, after shifting dd accordingly. Moreover, we can assume that aa is the smallest positive integer with this property. If d(0,a)<a2d(0, a)<a-2, then we would have
d(0,a1)d(0,a)+d(a,a1)<(a2)+1<a1 d(0, a-1) \leq d(0, a)+d(a, a-1)<(a-2)+1<a-1
contradicting minimality of aa. Hence, a2d(0,a)<aa-2 \leq d(0, a)<a. But we must also have d(0,a)ad(0, a) \mid a, which together with d(0,a)<ad(0, a)<a implies that 2d(0,a)a2 \cdot d(0, a) \leq a. Putting the two inequalities together we find that 2(a2)2d(0,a)a2(a-2) \leq 2 \cdot d(0, a) \leq a, which is equivalent to a4a \leq 4. In particular, we have
d(0,5)d(0,a)+d(a,5)<a+(5a)=5 d(0,5) \leq d(0, a)+d(a, 5)<a+(5-a)=5
and hence d(0,5)=1d(0,5)=1. Since for all integers kk we have
d(k+1,k+6)d(k+1,k)+d(k,k+5)+d(k+5,k+6)=d(k,k+5)+2 d(k+1, k+6) \leq d(k+1, k)+d(k, k+5)+d(k+5, k+6)=d(k, k+5)+2
and similarly d(k,k+5)d(k+1,k+6)+2d(k, k+5) \leq d(k+1, k+6)+2, it follows that d(k,k+5)=1d(k, k+5)=1 for all kZk \in \mathbb{Z}. Now note that for all k,tk, t we have
d(k,t+6)d(k,t)+d(t,t+5)+d(t+5,t+6)=d(k,t)+2 d(k, t+6) \leq d(k, t)+d(t, t+5)+d(t+5, t+6)=d(k, t)+2
and similarly d(k,t)d(k,t+6)+2d(k, t) \leq d(k, t+6)+2. It follows by induction that d(k,k+6t±1)=1d(k, k+6 t \pm 1)=1, where the base case t=0t=0 is trivial and we use the fact that 6t±16 t \pm 1 is coprime to 2 and 3. Now since each integer is at most distance 2 from an integer of the form 6t±16 t \pm 1, it follows that d(x,y)3d(x, y) \leq 3 for all x,yZx, y \in \mathbb{Z}.
Now set S={d(x,y)x,yZ}S=\{d(x, y) \mid x, y \in \mathbb{Z}\} and note that certainly 0,1S0,1 \in S. If 3S3 \in S, then we must also have 2S2 \in S since any shortest path of length 3 can be shortened to a shortest path of length 2. The only remaining possibilities for SS are
{0,1},{0,1,2}and{0,1,2,3} \{0,1\}, \quad\{0,1,2\} \quad \text{and} \quad\{0,1,2,3\}
Now consider the graph where xx and yy are connected if and only if
xy±1(mod6) x-y \equiv \pm 1 \quad(\bmod 6)
and a quick check shows that this graph satisfies the condition and S={0,1,2,3}S=\{0,1,2,3\}. Considering instead the graph where xx and yy are connected if they are of different parity, we also check that the condition is met and S={0,1,2}S=\{0,1,2\}. Finally considering the complete graph on Z\mathbb{Z} also shows that S={0,1}S=\{0,1\} is possible.

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