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Combinatorics Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let nn be a positive integer, and let AA be a subset of {1,,n}\{1, \ldots, n\}. An AA-partition of nn into kk parts is a representation of nn as a sum n=a1++akn=a_{1}+\cdots+a_{k}, where the parts a1,,aka_{1}, \ldots, a_{k} belong to AA and are not necessarily distinct. The number of different parts in such a partition is the number of (distinct) elements in the set {a1,a2,,ak}\left\{a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{k}\right\}.
We say that an AA-partition of nn into kk parts is optimal if there is no AA-partition of nn into rr parts with r<kr<k. Prove that any optimal AA-partition of nn contains at most 6n3\sqrt[3]{6 n} different parts.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

If there are no AA-partitions of nn, the result is vacuously true. Otherwise, let kmink_{\text{min}} be the minimum number of parts in an AA-partition of nn, and let n=a1++akminn=a_{1}+\cdots+a_{k_{\min}} be an optimal partition. Denote by ss the number of different parts in this partition, so we can write S={a1,,akmin}={b1,,bs}S=\left\{a_{1}, \ldots, a_{k_{\text{min}}}\right\}=\left\{b_{1}, \ldots, b_{s}\right\} for some pairwise different numbers b1<<bsb_{1}<\cdots<b_{s} in AA.
If s>6n3s>\sqrt[3]{6 n}, we will prove that there exist subsets XX and YY of SS such that X<Y|X|<|Y| and xXx=yYy\sum_{x \in X} x=\sum_{y \in Y} y. Then, deleting the elements of YY from our partition and adding the elements of XX to it, we obtain an AA-partition of nn into less than kmink_{\text{min}} parts, which is the desired contradiction.
For each positive integer ksk \leqslant s, we consider the kk-element subset
S1,0k:={b1,,bk} S_{1,0}^{k}:=\left\{b_{1}, \ldots, b_{k}\right\}
as well as the following kk-element subsets Si,jkS_{i, j}^{k} of SS :
Si,jk:={b1,,bki,bki+j+1,bsi+2,,bs},i=1,,k,j=1,,sk S_{i, j}^{k}:=\left\{b_{1}, \ldots, b_{k-i}, b_{k-i+j+1}, b_{s-i+2}, \ldots, b_{s}\right\}, \quad i=1, \ldots, k, \quad j=1, \ldots, s-k
Pictorially, if we represent the elements of SS by a sequence of dots in increasing order, and represent a subset of SS by shading in the appropriate dots, we have:
Figure 1
Denote by Σi,jk\Sigma_{i, j}^{k} the sum of elements in Si,jkS_{i, j}^{k}. Clearly, Σ1,0k\Sigma_{1,0}^{k} is the minimum sum of a kk-element subset of SS. Next, for all appropriate indices ii and jj we have
Σi,jk=Σi,j+1k+bki+j+1bki+j+2<Σi,j+1k and Σi,skk=Σi+1,1k+bkibki+1<Σi+1,1k. \Sigma_{i, j}^{k}=\Sigma_{i, j+1}^{k}+b_{k-i+j+1}-b_{k-i+j+2}<\Sigma_{i, j+1}^{k} \quad \text{ and } \quad \Sigma_{i, s-k}^{k}=\Sigma_{i+1,1}^{k}+b_{k-i}-b_{k-i+1}<\Sigma_{i+1,1}^{k} .
Therefore
1Σ1,0k<Σ1,1k<Σ1,2k<<Σ1,skk<Σ2,1k<<Σ2,skk<Σ3,1k<<Σk,skkn. 1 \leqslant \Sigma_{1,0}^{k}<\Sigma_{1,1}^{k}<\Sigma_{1,2}^{k}<\cdots<\Sigma_{1, s-k}^{k}<\Sigma_{2,1}^{k}<\cdots<\Sigma_{2, s-k}^{k}<\Sigma_{3,1}^{k}<\cdots<\Sigma_{k, s-k}^{k} \leqslant n .
To see this in the picture, we start with the kk leftmost points marked. At each step, we look for the rightmost point which can move to the right, and move it one unit to the right. We continue until the kk rightmost points are marked. As we do this, the corresponding sums clearly increase.
For each kk we have found k(sk)+1k(s-k)+1 different integers of the form i,jk\sum_{i, j}^{k} between 1 and nn. As we vary kk, the total number of integers we are considering is
k=1s(k(sk)+1)=ss(s+1)2s(s+1)(2s+1)6+s=s(s2+5)6>s36>n. \sum_{k=1}^{s}(k(s-k)+1)=s \cdot \frac{s(s+1)}{2}-\frac{s(s+1)(2 s+1)}{6}+s=\frac{s\left(s^{2}+5\right)}{6}>\frac{s^{3}}{6}>n .
Since they are between 1 and nn, at least two of these integers are equal. Consequently, there exist 1k<ks1 \leqslant k<k^{\prime} \leqslant s and X=Si,jkX=S_{i, j}^{k} as well as Y=Si,jkY=S_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}}^{k^{\prime}} such that
xXx=yYy, but X=k<k=Y \sum_{x \in X} x=\sum_{y \in Y} y, \quad \text{ but } \quad|X|=k<k^{\prime}=|Y|
as required. The result follows.

Solution 2

Assume, to the contrary, that the statement is false, and choose the minimum number nn for which it fails. So there exists a set A{1,,n}A \subseteq\{1, \ldots, n\} together with an optimal AA partition n=a1++akminn=a_{1}+\cdots+a_{k_{\text{min}}} of nn refuting our statement, where, of course, kmink_{\text{min}} is the minimum number of parts in an AA-partition of nn. Again, we define S={a1,,akmin}={b1,,bs}S=\left\{a_{1}, \ldots, a_{k_{\text{min}}}\right\}=\left\{b_{1}, \ldots, b_{s}\right\} with b1<<bsb_{1}<\cdots<b_{s}; by our assumption we have s>6n3>1s>\sqrt[3]{6 n}>1. Without loss of generality we assume that akmin=bsa_{k_{\min}}=b_{s}. Let us distinguish two cases.

Case 1. bss(s1)2+1b_{s} \geqslant \frac{s(s-1)}{2}+1.
Consider the partition nbs=a1++akmin1n-b_{s}=a_{1}+\cdots+a_{k_{\text{min}}-1}, which is clearly a minimum AA-partition of nbsn-b_{s} with at least s11s-1 \geqslant 1 different parts. Now, from n<s36n<\frac{s^{3}}{6} we obtain
nbsns(s1)21<s36s(s1)21<(s1)36 n-b_{s} \leqslant n-\frac{s(s-1)}{2}-1<\frac{s^{3}}{6}-\frac{s(s-1)}{2}-1<\frac{(s-1)^{3}}{6}
so s1>6(nbs)3s-1>\sqrt[3]{6\left(n-b_{s}\right)}, which contradicts the choice of nn.

Case 2. bss(s1)2b_{s} \leqslant \frac{s(s-1)}{2}.
Set b0=0,Σ0,0=0b_{0}=0, \Sigma_{0,0}=0, and Σi,j=b1++bi1+bj\Sigma_{i, j}=b_{1}+\cdots+b_{i-1}+b_{j} for 1ij<s1 \leqslant i \leqslant j<s. There are s(s1)2+1>bs\frac{s(s-1)}{2}+1>b_{s} such sums; so at least two of them, say Σi,j\Sigma_{i, j} and Σi,j\Sigma_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}}, are congruent modulo bsb_{s} (where (i,j)(i,j)(i, j) \neq\left(i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}\right) ). This means that Σi,jΣi,j=rbs\Sigma_{i, j}-\Sigma_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}}=r b_{s} for some integer rr. Notice that for ij<k<si \leqslant j<k<s we have
0<Σi,kΣi,j=bkbj<bs, 0<\Sigma_{i, k}-\Sigma_{i, j}=b_{k}-b_{j}<b_{s},
so the indices ii and ii^{\prime} are distinct, and we may assume that i>ii>i^{\prime}. Next, we observe that Σi,jΣi,j=(bibj)+bj+bi+1++bi1\Sigma_{i, j}-\Sigma_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}}=\left(b_{i^{\prime}}-b_{j^{\prime}}\right)+b_{j}+b_{i^{\prime}+1}+\cdots+b_{i-1} and bibjb_{i^{\prime}} \leqslant b_{j^{\prime}} imply
bs<bj<Σi,jΣi,j<(ii)bs -b_{s}<-b_{j^{\prime}}<\Sigma_{i, j}-\Sigma_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}}<\left(i-i^{\prime}\right) b_{s}
so 0rii10 \leqslant r \leqslant i-i^{\prime}-1.
Thus, we may remove the ii terms of Σi,j\Sigma_{i, j} in our AA-partition, and replace them by the ii^{\prime} terms of Σi,j\Sigma_{i^{\prime}, j^{\prime}} and rr terms equal to bsb_{s}, for a total of r+i<ir+i^{\prime}<i terms. The result is an AA-partition of nn into a smaller number of parts, a contradiction.

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