Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Baltic Way

Albert, Ben and Carla are looking at the dust in the air, and Ben says that if there are 10001000 dust grains in a 10cm×10cm×10cm10\text{cm} \times 10\text{cm} \times 10\text{cm} box, then no matter how they are situated, he can choose a point such that there are at least 1010 dust grains in a distance of at most 22 cm from the point, but Albert does not believe him. Carla says that no matter how the dust grains are situated, she can choose a point such that there are at least 1010 dust grains in a distance of at most 22 cm and at least 11 cm from the point, but Ben does not believe her. Determine who is right, Albert, Ben or Carla.

Solution

Carla is right. Take each dust grain and colour all points in a distance of at most 22 cm and at least 11 cm from the grain. Then we have coloured a volume of 100043π(2313)=280003πcm3>28000cm31000 \cdot \frac{4}{3} \cdot \pi \cdot (2^3 - 1^3) = \frac{28000}{3}\pi\text{cm}^3 > 28000\text{cm}^3 counted with multiplicity. All the coloured points are contained in a 14cm×14cm×14cm14\text{cm} \times 14\text{cm} \times 14\text{cm} box of volume 143=2744cm314^3 = 2744\text{cm}^3. Hence there is a point that is coloured at least 1010 times, and then there are at least 1010 points in a distance of at most 22 cm and at least 11 cm from this point.

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