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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Let S={1,,100}S = \{1, \dots, 100\}, and for every positive integer nn define
Tn={(a1,,an)Sna1++an0(mod100)}. T_n = \{(a_1, \dots, a_n) \in S^n \mid a_1 + \dots + a_n \equiv 0 \pmod{100}\}.
Determine which nn have the following property: if we color any 75 elements of SS red, then at least half of the nn-tuples in TnT_n have an even number of coordinates with red elements.

Solution

We claim this holds exactly for nn even.
First solution by generating functions Define
R(x)=s redxs,B(x)=s bluexs. R(x) = \sum_{s \text{ red}} x^s, \quad B(x) = \sum_{s \text{ blue}} x^s.
(Here “blue” means “not-red”, as always.) Then, the number of tuples in TnT_n with exactly kk red coordinates is exactly equal to
(nk)1100ωR(ω)kB(ω)nk \binom{n}{k} \cdot \frac{1}{100} \sum_{\omega} R(\omega)^k B(\omega)^{n-k}
where the sum is over all primitive 100th roots of unity. So, we conclude the number of tuples in TnT_n with an even (resp odd) number of red elements is exactly
X=1100ωk even(nk)R(ω)kB(ω)nkY=1100ωk odd(nk)R(ω)kB(ω)nk    XY=1100ω(B(ω)R(ω))n=1100[(B(1)R(1))n+ω1(2B(ω))n]=1100[(B(1)R(1))n(2B(1))n+2nωB(ω)n]=1100[(B(1)R(1))n(2B(1))n]+2nZ=1100[(50)n50n]+2nZ. \begin{align*} X &= \frac{1}{100} \sum_{\omega} \sum_{k \text{ even}} \binom{n}{k} R(\omega)^k B(\omega)^{n-k} \\ Y &= \frac{1}{100} \sum_{\omega} \sum_{k \text{ odd}} \binom{n}{k} R(\omega)^k B(\omega)^{n-k} \\ \implies X - Y &= \frac{1}{100} \sum_{\omega} (B(\omega) - R(\omega))^n \\ &= \frac{1}{100} \left[ (B(1) - R(1))^n + \sum_{\omega \neq 1} (2B(\omega))^n \right] \\ &= \frac{1}{100} \left[ (B(1) - R(1))^n - (2B(1))^n + 2^n \sum_{\omega} B(\omega)^n \right] \\ &= \frac{1}{100} \left[ (B(1) - R(1))^n - (2B(1))^n \right] + 2^n Z \\ &= \frac{1}{100} [(-50)^n - 50^n] + 2^n Z. \end{align*}
where
Z=def1100ωB(ω)n0 Z \stackrel{\text{def}}{=} \frac{1}{100} \sum_{\omega} B(\omega)^n \geq 0
counts the number of tuples in TnT_n which are all blue. Here we have used the fact that B(ω)+R(ω)=0B(\omega) + R(\omega) = 0 for ω1\omega \neq 1.

We wish to show XY0X - Y \geq 0 holds for nn even, but may fail when nn is odd. This follows from two remarks:
* If nn is even, then XY=2nZ0X - Y = 2^n Z \geq 0.
* If nn is odd, then if we choose the coloring for which ss is red if and only if s2(mod4)s \neq 2 \pmod 4; we thus get Z=0Z = 0. Then XY=210050n<0X - Y = -\frac{2}{100} \cdot 50^n < 0.

Second solution by strengthened induction and random coloring We again prove that nn even work. Let us define
Tn(a)={(a1,,an)Sna1++ana(mod100)}. T_n(a) = \{(a_1, \dots, a_n) \in S^n \mid a_1 + \dots + a_n \equiv a \pmod{100}\}.
Also, call an nn-tuple good if it has an even number of red elements. We claim that Tn(a)T_n(a) also has at least 50% good tuples, by induction.
This follows by induction on n2n \geq 2. Indeed, the base case n=2n = 2 can be checked by hand, since T2(a)={(x,ax)xS}T_2(a) = \{(x, a-x) \mid x \in S\}. With the stronger claim, one can check the case n=2n = 2 manually and proceed by induction to go from n2n-2 to nn, noting that
Tn(a)=b+c=aTn2(b)T2(c) T_n(a) = \bigsqcup_{b+c=a} T_{n-2}(b) \oplus T_2(c)
where \oplus denotes concatenation of tuples, applied set-wise. The concatenation of an (n2)(n-2)-tuple and 2-tuple is good if and only if the both or neither are good. Thus for each bb and cc, if the proportion of Tn2(b)T_{n-2}(b) which is good is p12p \geq \frac{1}{2} and the proportion of T2(c)T_2(c) which is good is q12q \geq \frac{1}{2}, then the proportion of Tn2(b)T2(c)T_{n-2}(b) \oplus T_2(c) which is good is

pq+(1p)(1q)12pq + (1-p)(1-q) \ge \frac{1}{2}, as desired. Since each term in the union has at least half the tuples good, all of Tn(a)T_n(a) has at least half the tuples good, as desired.
It remains to fail all odd nn. We proceed by a suggestion of Yang Liu and Ankan Bhattacharya by showing that if we pick the 75 elements randomly, then any particular tuple in SnS^n has strictly less than 50% chance of being good. This will imply (by linearity of expectation) that TnT_n (or indeed any subset of SnS^n) will, for some coloring, have less than half good tuples.
Let (a1,,an)(a_1, \dots, a_n) be such an nn-tuple. If any element appears in the tuple more than once, keep discarding pairs of that element until there are zero or one; this has no effect on the good-ness of the tuple. If we do this, we obtain an mm-tuple (b1,,bm)(b_1, \dots, b_m) with no duplicated elements where mn1(mod2)m \equiv n \equiv 1 \pmod 2. Now, the probability that any element is red is 34\frac{3}{4}, so the probability of being good is
k evenm(mk)(34)k(14)mk=12[(34+14)m(3414)m]=12[1(12)m]<12. \sum_{k \text{ even}}^{m} \binom{m}{k} \left(\frac{3}{4}\right)^k \left(-\frac{1}{4}\right)^{m-k} = \frac{1}{2} \left[ \left(\frac{3}{4} + \frac{1}{4}\right)^m - \left(\frac{3}{4} - \frac{1}{4}\right)^m \right] \\ = \frac{1}{2} \left[ 1 - \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^m \right] < \frac{1}{2}.

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