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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Philippines

Problem:

Consider all the subsets of {1,2,3,,2018,2019}\{1,2,3, \ldots, 2018,2019\} having exactly 100 elements. For each subset, take the greatest element. Find the average of all these greatest elements.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:

Let MM be the average that we are computing. First, there are (2019100)\binom{2019}{100} ways to choose a 100-element subset. Next, if xx is the largest element, then x100x \geq 100, and there are (x199)\binom{x-1}{99} subsets having xx as the largest element. Hence
M=x=1002019x(x199)(2019100) M=\frac{\sum_{x=100}^{2019} x\binom{x-1}{99}}{\binom{2019}{100}}
But note that
x(x199)=100(x100) x\binom{x-1}{99}=100\binom{x}{100}
Using this fact and the hockey stick identity, we have
M=100x=1002019(x100)(2019100)=100(2020101)(2019100)=1002020101=2000 \begin{aligned} M & =\frac{100 \sum_{x=100}^{2019}\binom{x}{100}}{\binom{2019}{100}} \\ & =\frac{100\binom{2020}{101}}{\binom{2019}{100}} \\ & =\frac{100 \cdot 2020}{101} \\ & =2000 \end{aligned}

Solution 2

Solution:

As in Solution 1, the required average MM can be written as
M=x=1002019x(x199)(2019100)=100(9999)+101(10099)++2019(201899)(2019100) \begin{aligned} M & =\frac{\sum_{x=100}^{2019} x\binom{x-1}{99}}{\binom{2019}{100}} \\ & =\frac{100\binom{99}{99}+101\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+2019\binom{2018}{99}}{\binom{2019}{100}} \end{aligned}

Way 2.1: Note that
(2019100)M=100(9999)+101(10099)++2019(201899)=2020[(9999)+(10099)++(201899)][1920(9999)+1919(10099)++(201899)]=2020[(9999)+(10099)++(201899)][(9999)+(10099)++(201899)][(9999)+(10099)++(201799)](9999)=2020(2019100)(2019100)(2018100)(100100)=2020(2019100)(2020101). \begin{aligned} \binom{2019}{100} M= & 100\binom{99}{99}+101\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+2019\binom{2018}{99} \\ = & 2020\left[\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right]-\left[1920\binom{99}{99}+1919\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ = & 2020\left[\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ & -\left[\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ & -\left[\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2017}{99}\right] \\ & -\cdots-\binom{99}{99} \\ = & 2020\binom{2019}{100}-\binom{2019}{100}-\binom{2018}{100}-\cdots-\binom{100}{100} \\ = & 2020\binom{2019}{100}-\binom{2020}{101} . \end{aligned}
where the last two lines follow from the hockey stick identity.
Hence, M=2020(2020101)(2019100)=20202020101=2000M=2020-\frac{\binom{2020}{101}}{\binom{2019}{100}}=2020-\frac{2020}{101}=2000.

Way 2.2: Let
X:=(9999)+(10099)++(201899)=(2019100) X:=\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}=\binom{2019}{100}
Then
(2019100)M=100(9999)+101(10099)++2019(201899)=100[(9999)+(10099)++(201899)]+[(10099)++(201899)]+[(10199)++(201899)]++(201899)=100X+[X(100100)]+[X(101100)]++[X(2018100)] \begin{aligned} \binom{2019}{100} M= & 100\binom{99}{99}+101\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+2019\binom{2018}{99} \\ = & 100\left[\binom{99}{99}+\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ & +\left[\binom{100}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ & +\left[\binom{101}{99}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{99}\right] \\ & +\cdots+\binom{2018}{99} \\ = & 100 X+\left[X-\binom{100}{100}\right]+\left[X-\binom{101}{100}\right]+\cdots+\left[X-\binom{2018}{100}\right] \end{aligned}
Thus,
MX=100X+1919X[(100100)+(101100)++(2018100)]=2019X(2019101) \begin{aligned} M X & =100 X+1919 X-\left[\binom{100}{100}+\binom{101}{100}+\cdots+\binom{2018}{100}\right] \\ & =2019 X-\binom{2019}{101} \end{aligned}
which gives
M=2019(2019101)(2019100)=20202020101=2000 M=2019-\frac{\binom{2019}{101}}{\binom{2019}{100}}=2020-\frac{2020}{101}=2000

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