Consider all the subsets of {1,2,3,…,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 M be the average that we are computing. First, there are (1002019) ways to choose a 100-element subset. Next, if x is the largest element, then x≥100, and there are (99x−1) subsets having x as the largest element. Hence M=(1002019)∑x=1002019x(99x−1) But note that x(99x−1)=100(100x) Using this fact and the hockey stick identity, we have M=(1002019)100∑x=1002019(100x)=(1002019)100(1012020)=101100⋅2020=2000
Solution 2
Solution:
As in Solution 1, the required average M can be written as M=(1002019)∑x=1002019x(99x−1)=(1002019)100(9999)+101(99100)+⋯+2019(992018)
Way 2.1: Note that (1002019)M=====100(9999)+101(99100)+⋯+2019(992018)2020[(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992018)]−[1920(9999)+1919(99100)+⋯+(992018)]2020[(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992018)]−[(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992018)]−[(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992017)]−⋯−(9999)2020(1002019)−(1002019)−(1002018)−⋯−(100100)2020(1002019)−(1012020). where the last two lines follow from the hockey stick identity. Hence, M=2020−(1002019)(1012020)=2020−1012020=2000.
Way 2.2: Let X:=(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992018)=(1002019) Then (1002019)M===100(9999)+101(99100)+⋯+2019(992018)100[(9999)+(99100)+⋯+(992018)]+[(99100)+⋯+(992018)]+[(99101)+⋯+(992018)]+⋯+(992018)100X+[X−(100100)]+[X−(100101)]+⋯+[X−(1002018)] Thus, MX=100X+1919X−[(100100)+(100101)+⋯+(1002018)]=2019X−(1012019) which gives M=2019−(1002019)(1012019)=2020−1012020=2000
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