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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Belarus

NN numbers are marked in the set {1,2,...,2000}\{1, 2, ..., 2000\} so that any pair of the numbers (1,2),(2,4),...,(1000,2000)(1, 2), (2, 4), ..., (1000, 2000) contains at least one marked number.
Find the least possible value of NN.

Solution

For any odd number aa, a<2000a < 2000, define the set
Sa={a2ii0, a2i2000}. S_a = \{a \cdot 2^i \mid i \ge 0,\ a \cdot 2^i \le 2000\}.
Note that {1,2,...,2000}=aSa\{1, 2, ..., 2000\} = \bigcup_a S_a, where aa varies through all odd numbers less than 20002000. Both numbers of the pair (k,2k)(k, 2k) belong to one and the same SaS_a. So we need to find the least amount mam_a of the numbers that one should mark in any SaS_a in order that any pair (k,2k)(k, 2k) from SaS_a contains at least one marked number. It is obvious that if x1<x2<...<xnx_1 < x_2 < ... < x_n are all numbers from SaS_a, then this least amount equals [n/2][n/2] (since at least one of any two neighboring numbers should be marked).

Further,
S1=11 since 210<2000<211, thus m1=5; |S_1| = 11 \text{ since } 2^{10} < 2000 < 2^{11}, \text{ thus } m_1 = 5;
S3=10 since 3292000<3210, thus m3=5; |S_3| = 10 \text{ since } 3 \cdot 2^9 \le 2000 < 3 \cdot 2^{10}, \text{ thus } m_3 = 5;
S5=S7=9 since 7282000<529, thus m5=m7=4; |S_5| = |S_7| = 9 \text{ since } 7 \cdot 2^8 \le 2000 < 5 \cdot 2^9, \text{ thus } m_5 = m_7 = 4;
Sa=8 for a=9,11,13,15 since 15272000<928, thus ma=4 for these a; |S_a| = 8 \text{ for } a = 9, 11, 13, 15 \text{ since } 15 \cdot 2^7 \le 2000 < 9 \cdot 2^8, \text{ thus } m_a = 4 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=7 for odd a,17a31 (in total, 8 values) since 31262000<1727, thus ma=3 for these a; |S_a| = 7 \text{ for odd } a, 17 \le a \le 31 \text{ (in total, 8 values) since } 31 \cdot 2^6 \le 2000 < 17 \cdot 2^7, \text{ thus } m_a = 3 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=6 for odd a,33a61 (in total, 15 values) since 61252000<3326, thus ma=3 for these a; |S_a| = 6 \text{ for odd } a, 33 \le a \le 61 \text{ (in total, 15 values) since } 61 \cdot 2^5 \le 2000 < 33 \cdot 2^6, \text{ thus } m_a = 3 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=5 for odd a,63a125 (in total, 32 values) since 125242000<6325, thus ma=2 for these a; |S_a| = 5 \text{ for odd } a, 63 \le a \le 125 \text{ (in total, 32 values) since } 125 \cdot 2^4 \le 2000 < 63 \cdot 2^5, \text{ thus } m_a = 2 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=4 for odd a,127a249 (in total, 62 values) since 249232000<12724, thus ma=2 for these a; |S_a| = 4 \text{ for odd } a, 127 \le a \le 249 \text{ (in total, 62 values) since } 249 \cdot 2^3 \le 2000 < 127 \cdot 2^4, \text{ thus } m_a = 2 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=3 for odd a,251a499 (in total, 125 values) since 499222000<25123, thus ma=1 for these a; |S_a| = 3 \text{ for odd } a, 251 \le a \le 499 \text{ (in total, 125 values) since } 499 \cdot 2^2 \le 2000 < 251 \cdot 2^3, \text{ thus } m_a = 1 \text{ for these } a;
Sa=2 for odd a,501a999 (in total, 250 values) since 999212000<50122, thus ma=1 for these a. |S_a| = 2 \text{ for odd } a, 501 \le a \le 999 \text{ (in total, 250 values) since } 999 \cdot 2^1 \le 2000 < 501 \cdot 2^2, \text{ thus } m_a = 1 \text{ for these } a.
So we need to mark at least 1(250+125)+2(62+32)+3(15+8)+4(4+2)+5(1+1)=375+188+69+24+10=6661 \cdot (250 + 125) + 2 \cdot (62 + 32) + 3 \cdot (15 + 8) + 4 \cdot (4 + 2) + 5 \cdot (1 + 1) = 375 + 188 + 69 + 24 + 10 = 666 numbers. On the other hand, one can easily mark exactly 666666 numbers to satisfy the problem condition.

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