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Combinatorics Difficulty 9.0 IMO level Prove it Romania

For every integer n2n \ge 2, let BnB_n denote the set of all binary nn-tuples of zeroes and ones, and split BnB_n into equivalence classes by letting two nn-tuples be equivalent if one is obtained from the other by a cyclic permutation of the entries. Determine the integers n2n \ge 2 for which BnB_n splits into an odd number of equivalence classes.

Solution

Only B2B_2 splits into an odd number of equivalence classes, namely, three: {(0,0)}\{(0,0)\}, {(0,1),(1,0)}\{(0,1), (1,0)\} and {(1,1)}\{(1,1)\}. If n>2n > 2, then BnB_n always splits into an even number of classes, as we are presently going to show.

Call two nn-tuples of BnB_n conjugate if one is obtained from the other by replacing its zeroes by ones and its ones by zeroes. With each class in BnB_n we may associate the class of conjugate nn-tuples. Thus, if there are no self-conjugate classes, the number of classes is even. This is clearly the case if nn is odd, for the nn-tuples in a self-conjugate class must have the same number of zeroes and ones, so the total number of entries is even.

Write n=2mnn = 2^m n', where mm and nn' are both non-negative integers, and nn' is odd, and induct on mm. The base case, m=0m=0, is clear by the preceding, so let m1m \ge 1.

Let nkn_k be the number of kk-element classes in BnB_n. Clearly, if nk0n_k \neq 0, then kk divides nn, so 2n=Bn=knknk=kn/2knk+2mkknk=kn/2knk+dn2mdn2md2^n = |B_n| = \sum_{k|n} k n_k = \sum_{k|n/2} k n_k + \sum_{2^m|k} k n_k = \sum_{k|n/2} k n_k + \sum_{d|n'} 2^m d n_{2^m d}.

If kk divides n/2n/2, then an nn-tuple belonging to a kk-element class in BnB_n can be obtained only by iterating an n/2n/2-tuple in Bn/2B_{n/2}, so the first sum in the last expression above is 2n/22^{n/2}.

Consequently, dndn2md=2n/2m(2n/21)\sum_{d|n'} d n_{2^m d} = 2^{n/2-m}(2^{n/2}-1). Notice that n/2m=2m1nmn/2-m = 2^{m-1}n' - m is positive, unless m=1m=1 or m=2m=2, and n=1n'=1, to infer that, with these exceptions, dndn2md\sum_{d|n'} d n_{2^m d} is even. Since nn' is odd, so are all its divisors, and it follows that dnn2md\sum_{d|n'} n_{2^m d} is even, showing that the total number of kk-element classes in BnB_n is even, whenever kk is divisible by 2m2^m.

If kk is not divisible by 2m2^m, then the total number of kk-element classes in BnB_n is the same as the total number of classes in Bn/2B_{n/2} which is even by the induction hypothesis, save when n=4n=4. This corresponds to an exceptional case above; the other exceptional case is n=2n=2, when the number of classes is clearly three.

Finally, the case n=4n=4 is dealt with by explicit construction of the (six) classes B4B_4 splits into: There are two singleton classes, represented by (0,0,0,0)(0,0,0,0) and (1,1,1,1)(1,1,1,1), respectively; there is only one doubleton class, represented by (0,1,0,1)(0,1,0,1); and there are three 4-element classes, represented by (0,0,0,1)(0,0,0,1), (0,0,1,1)(0,0,1,1) and (0,1,1,1)(0,1,1,1), respectively.

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