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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Hong Kong

There are n3n \ge 3 cities in a country and between any two cities AA and BB, there is either a one way road from AA to BB, or a one way road from BB to AA (but never both). Assume the roads are built such that it is possible to get from any city to any other city through these roads, and define d(A,B)d(A, B) to be the minimum number of roads you must go through to go from city AA to BB. Consider all possible ways to build the roads. Find the minimum possible average value of d(A,B)d(A, B) over all possible ordered pairs of distinct cities in the country.

Solution

The answer is 32\frac{3}{2} for n4n \neq 4 and 1912\frac{19}{12} for n=4n = 4.

Note that for any distinct cities AA and BB, exactly one of d(A,B)d(A, B) and d(B,A)d(B, A) is 11, while the other is at least 22. Thus it follows that d(A,B)+d(B,A)3d(A, B) + d(B, A) \geq 3. The average for this pair is at least 32\frac{3}{2}. Therefore, by considering all pairs of distinct cities, the average must be at least 32\frac{3}{2}. Equality holds if and only if d(A,B)+d(B,A)=3d(A, B) + d(B, A) = 3 for all pairs of cities AA and BB.

Now we show that this average is attainable for n4n \neq 4 by induction.

First of all, when n=3n = 3, the average is attainable if there is a road from AA to BB, BB to CC, CC to AA.

For n=6n = 6, consider the map given by the following table:

ABCDEF
A011100
B001011
C000111
D010001
E100100
F100010

(Here a ‘1’ in the ABAB-entry indicates a road from AA to BB, etc., while a ‘0’ in the AEAE-entry indicates no direct road from AA to EE, etc.). Using the table, we get the distance table:
ABCDEF
A011122
B201211
C220111
D212021
E122102
F122210

So d(X,Y)+d(Y,X)=3d(X, Y) + d(Y, X) = 3 for each pair of distinct cities XX and YY.

Assume when n=kn = k, the average 32\frac{3}{2} is attainable. Now, consider the case n=k+2n = k+2. Label the k+2k+2 cities by A1,A2,,An,X,YA_1, A_2, \dots, A_n, X, Y. By our assumption, there exists a way to build roads between A1,A2,,AnA_1, A_2, \dots, A_n such that d(Ai,Aj)+d(Aj,Ai)=3d(A_i, A_j) + d(A_j, A_i) = 3 for all 1i<jk1 \le i < j \le k. We build a road from AiA_i to XX for all ii, a road from YY to AiA_i for all ii, and a road from XX to YY. Thus,
d(X,Y)=1,d(Y,X)=2(YAiX),d(Ai,X)=1,d(X,Ai)=2(XYAi),d(Ai,Y)=2(AiXY),d(Y,Ai)=1. \begin{aligned} d(X, Y) &= 1, \\ d(Y, X) &= 2 \quad (Y \to A_i \to X), \\ d(A_i, X) &= 1, \\ d(X, A_i) &= 2 \quad (X \to Y \to A_i), \\ d(A_i, Y) &= 2 \quad (A_i \to X \to Y), \\ d(Y, A_i) &= 1. \end{aligned}
Therefore, we see this road map produces an average distance of 32\frac{3}{2} between any two cities.

By induction, the minimum average is attainable for all n3n \ge 3 except n=4n = 4.

We first show that the average of 32\frac{3}{2} is unattainable. Suppose on the contrary that this average is attainable. Let the four cities be A1,A2,A3,A4A_1, A_2, A_3, A_4. Without loss of generality, assume there is a road from A1A_1 to A2A_2 and a road from A1A_1 to A3A_3. Since the distance from A2A_2 to A1A_1 is 22, there must be a road from A2A_2 to A4A_4, and a road from A4A_4 to A1A_1. Similarly, there must be a road from A3A_3 to A4A_4. We may assume there is a road from A2A_2 to A3A_3. But then the distance from A3A_3 to A2A_2 is 33. This is a contradiction.

The next smallest possible average is 3×C24+14×3=1912\frac{3 \times C_2^4 + 1}{4 \times 3} = \frac{19}{12}. The above construction actually attains an average of 1912\frac{19}{12}. Thus the minimum average of d(A,B)d(A, B) is 1912\frac{19}{12} for n=4n = 4. This completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.