Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2020

Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:
Let nn be a fixed positive integer, and choose nn positive integers a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n}. Given a permutation π\pi on the first nn positive integers, let Sπ={iaiπ(i)S_{\pi}=\left\{i \left\lvert\, \frac{a_{i}}{\pi(i)}\right.\right. is an integer }\}. Let NN denote the number of distinct sets SπS_{\pi} as π\pi ranges over all such permutations. Determine, in terms of nn, the maximum value of NN over all possible values of a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n}.

Solution

Solution:
The answer is 2nn2^{n}-n.

Let D=(dij)D=\left(d_{i j}\right) be the matrix where dijd_{i j} is 11 if ii is a divisor of aja_{j} and 00 otherwise. For a subset SS of [n][n], let DSD_{S} be the matrix obtained from DD by flipping (01)(0 \leftrightarrow 1) every entry dijd_{i j} where jSj \notin S. Observe that S=SπS=S_{\pi} if and only if (DS)π(i)i=1\left(D_{S}\right)_{\pi(i) i}=1 for all ii.

To show that N2nnN \leq 2^{n}-n we consider two cases. If all the rows of DD are distinct, then there exist nn different possibilities for SS that set a row equal to zero. In this case, there is clearly no π\pi so that Sπ=SS_{\pi}=S. Thus there are at most 2nn2^{n}-n possible SπS_{\pi}. Otherwise, if two rows in DD are the same, then choose an S0S_{0} such that DS0D_{S_{0}} has two zero rows. Then, the n+1n+1 sets SS that are at most "one element away" from S0S_{0} are such that DSD_{S} only has one column with nonzero entries in those two rows. This makes it impossible for Sπ=SS_{\pi}=S as well, so N2nn1N \leq 2^{n}-n-1.

Now we construct N=2nnN=2^{n}-n by setting aj=ja_{j}=j. By Hall's marriage theorem, it suffices to prove the following:

Assuming that DSD_{S} has no completely-zero rows, given a set I={i1,i2,,ik}I=\left\{i_{1}, i_{2}, \ldots, i_{k}\right\} there exist at least kk values of jj so that there exists an iIi \in I so that (DS)ij=1\left(D_{S}\right)_{i j}=1. Call such jj admissible.

Without loss of generality assume i1<i2<<iki_{1}<i_{2}<\cdots<i_{k}.

Note that if {dijiI}={0,1}\left\{d_{i j} \mid i \in I\right\}=\{0,1\}, then jj is admissible. Therefore the k1k-1 numbers i1,i2,,ik1i_{1}, i_{2}, \ldots, i_{k-1} are admissible, since for α<k,iα\alpha<k, i_{\alpha} divides iαi_{\alpha} but iki_{k} does not. So we only need to find one more admissible jj. Assume that iki_{k} is not admissible; now it must be the case that all the iαi_{\alpha} are divisors of iki_{k}.

At this point we note that the k=1k=1 case is easy, since no row of DSD_{S} is zero. Moreover, if k=2k=2, {(DS)i1i1,(DS)i2i1}={0,1}\left\{\left(D_{S}\right)_{i_{1} i_{1}},\left(D_{S}\right)_{i_{2} i_{1}}\right\}=\{0,1\}, so in the row with the zero there must be 11 somewhere, yielding a second admissible column.

In the case where k3k \geq 3, note that i1ik/3i_{1} \leq i_{k} / 3. Therefore iki1Ii_{k}-i_{1} \notin I, but i1i_{1} divides iki1i_{k}-i_{1} and iki_{k} does not. Thus we have found the last admissible column. Having exhausted all cases, we are done.

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