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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Romania

Let nNn \in \mathbb{N}, n2n \ge 2, and three sets of real numbers A,B,CA, B, C, pairwise disjoint, each of them having nn elements.
Let aa be the number of triples (x,y,z)A×B×C(x, y, z) \in A \times B \times C for which x<y<zx < y < z and bb be the number of triples (x,y,z)A×B×C(x, y, z) \in A \times B \times C for which x>y>zx > y > z. Prove that aba - b is divisible by nn.

Solution

Consider yBy \in B, arbitrarily chosen. Denote by AyA_y the number of pairs (x,z)A×C(x, z) \in A \times C for which x<y<zx < y < z, and by ByB_y the number of pairs (x,z)A×C(x, z) \in A \times C for which x>y>zx > y > z.

Let A={a1<a2<<an}A = \{a_1 < a_2 < \dots < a_n\} and C={c1<c2<<cn}C = \{c_1 < c_2 < \dots < c_n\}.
On the real axis, yy separates the numbers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n into kk numbers smaller than yy and nkn-k numbers greater than yy, where kk is some number from {0,1,2,,n}\{0, 1, 2, \dots, n\}. Likewise, c1,c2,,cnc_1, c_2, \dots, c_n are separated by yy into pp numbers smaller than yy and npn-p numbers greater than yy, where p{0,1,2,,n}p \in \{0, 1, 2, \dots, n\}. It follows that Ay=k(np)A_y = k(n-p) and By=p(nk)B_y = p(n-k), so AyBy=n(kp)A_y - B_y = n(k-p).

Summing over all yBy \in B, we get ab=yB(AyBy)=nyB(kp)a - b = \sum_{y \in B} (A_y - B_y) = n \sum_{y \in B} (k-p). Since kk and pp depend on yy, but for each yy the difference kpk-p is an integer, and the sum is multiplied by nn, it follows that aba - b is divisible by nn.

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