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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Ukraine

For which greatest value of nn, there exist integers a1,a2,...,ana_1, a_2, ..., a_n and b1,b2,...,bnb_1, b_2, ..., b_n such that:
* all numbers b1,b2,...,bnb_1, b_2, ..., b_n are different and lie in the range [0;99][0; 99];
* 1a1<a2<...<an1001 \le a_1 < a_2 < ... < a_n \le 100;
* for all i:1ini: 1 \le i \le n, bi=aiib_i = a_i - i or bi=aii+nb_i = a_i - i + n holds?

Solution

We denote ci=aiic_i = a_i - i, then 0c1c2...cn100n0 \le c_1 \le c_2 \le ... \le c_n \le 100 - n, bi=cib_i = c_i or bi=ci+nb_i = c_i + n for all i=1,ni = 1, n. Then, ci+ncn+n=an100c_i + n \le c_n + n = a_n \le 100. Note that among the three consecutive numbers ci,ci+1c_i, c_{i+1} and ci+2c_{i+2}, at least two are different, because otherwise, at least two out of three numbers bi,bi+1b_i, b_{i+1} and bi+2b_{i+2} would be the same, which contradicts problem statement. Hence, ci+2ci+1c_{i+2} \ge c_i + 1.

Thus, cncn2+112(n1)c_n \ge c_{n-2} + 1 \ge \dots \ge \frac{1}{2}(n-1). On the other hand, cn100nc_n \le 100 - n. Thus, 12(n1)cn100nn67\frac{1}{2}(n-1) \le c_n \le 100 - n \Rightarrow n \le 67. Now we show an example for n=67n=67:

c1=c2=0, c3=c4=1, , c65=c66=32  and  c67=33, c_1 = c_2 = 0,\ c_3 = c_4 = 1,\ \dots,\ c_{65} = c_{66} = 32\ \text{ and }\ c_{67} = 33,
b1=0, b2=67, b3=1, b4=68, , b65=32, b66=99  and  b67=33, b_1 = 0,\ b_2 = 67,\ b_3 = 1,\ b_4 = 68,\ \dots,\ b_{65} = 32,\ b_{66} = 99\ \text{ and }\ b_{67} = 33,
therefore, ai=ci+ia_i = c_i + i.

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