Problem:
Let be the set of points in four-dimensional space where each coordinate is in . Let be the number of sequences of points in such that for all and . (Here .) Find the largest integer such that divides .
, 2020
Solution
Solution:
From we have to go to , and from (or any of the other similar points), we have to go to or and its cyclic shifts. If is the number of ways to go from to point of the form in steps, then we need to find . To find a recurrence relation for , note that to get to some point in , we must either come from a previous point of the form or the point . In order to go to one point of the form through from the point , we have one way of going to the origin and 16 ways to pick which point we go to after the origin.
Additionally, if the previous point we visit is another point of the form then we have 4 possible directions to go in. Therefore the recurrence relation for is . Solving the linear recurrence yields
so it suffices to find . We have for , so , and the answer is .