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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it China

Let nn be an integer greater than 33. The points V1,V2,,VnV_1, V_2, \dots, V_n, with no three collinear, lie on the plane. Some of the segments ViVjV_iV_j, with 1i<jn1 \le i < j \le n, are constructed. The points ViV_i and VjV_j are neighbors if ViVjV_iV_j is constructed. Initially, the chess pieces C1,C2,,CnC_1, C_2, \dots, C_n are placed at the points V1,V2,,VnV_1, V_2, \dots, V_n (not necessarily in that order), with exactly one piece at each point. In a move, one can choose some of the nn chess pieces, and simultaneously relocate each of the chosen piece from its current position to one of its neighboring positions such that after the move, exactly one chess piece is at each point and no two chess pieces have exchanged their positions. A set of constructed segments is called harmonic if for any initial positions of the chess pieces each chess piece CiC_i (1in1 \le i \le n) is at the point ViV_i after a finite number of moves.

Determine the minimum number of segments in a harmonic set.

Solution

The answer is n+1n+1.

For a harmonic set, we consider a graph GG with V1,V2,,VnV_1, V_2, \dots, V_n as its vertices and with the segments in the harmonic set as its edges.

First, we show that there are at least nn edges in GG. Note that GG must be connected. Also note that each vertex must have degree at least 22, because when a chess piece is moved from ViV_i to VjV_j there is another piece moved from VkV_k (with kjk \neq j) to ViV_i. Hence, the total degree is at least 2n2n, from which it follows that there are at least 2n=2=n2n = 2 = n edges.

Second, we show that there are at least n+1n+1 edges. Assume that there are only nn edges. In this connected graph, each vertex has exactly degree 22, and hence it must be a complete cycle. Without loss of generality, we may assume that the cycle V1V2VnV1V_1 \to V_2 \to \dots \to V_n \to V_1 consists of all the edges. In this case, if C1C_1 and C2C_2 are placed at V2V_2 and V1V_1 initially, we cannot put them back to V1V_1 and V2V_2 simultaneously. This is because we can only rotate all the pieces along the cycle and cannot change their relative positions along the cycle.

Third, we show that n+1n+1 edges is enough. We consider the graph GG with the cycle C1:V1V2VnV1C_1: V_1 \to V_2 \to \dots \to V_n \to V_1 and one additional edge, V2VnV_2V_n. (This graph GG now has the second cycle C2:V2V3VnV2C_2: V_2 \to V_3 \to \dots \to V_n \to V_2.) With this additional edge, we can switch the relative positions of the chess pieces along the cycle C1C_1. Indeed, without loss of generality, we may assume that CiC_i is at V1V_1 and CjC_j is at V2V_2 initially. Applying rotations on the cycle C2C_2, we can place CjC_j at VnV_n, i.e. the relative positions of CiC_i and CjC_j, along C1C_1, are switched. Because we can switch the positions of any two neighboring pieces in a finite amount of moves, we can place C1,C2,,CnC_1, C_2, \dots, C_n in that order on the cycle C1C_1. We can then move each CiC_i to ViV_i by applying rotations along the cycle C1C_1.

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