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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Vietnam

Given a positive integer n>1n > 1. Let TT be the set of all ordered triples (x,y,z)(x, y, z) where x,yx, y and zz are different positive integers and 1x,y,z2n1 \le x, y, z \le 2n. A set AA containing ordered pairs (u,v)(u, v) is called 'connected' to TT if for all (x,y,z)T(x, y, z) \in T then
{(x,y),(x,z),(y,z)}A. \{(x, y), (x, z), (y, z)\} \cap A \neq \emptyset.
a) Find the number of elements of set TT.
b) Prove that there exists a set connected to TT that has exactly 2n(n1)2n(n-1) elements.
c) Prove that every set that connected to TT has at least 2n(n1)2n(n-1) elements.

Solution

a) The answer is T=2n(2n1)(2n2)|T| = 2n(2n-1)(2n-2).

b) Consider the set
A={(i,j):1i,jn,ij}{(i,j):n+1i,j2n,ij}. A = \{(i, j) : 1 \le i, j \le n, i \ne j\} \cup \{(i, j) : n+1 \le i, j \le 2n, i \ne j\}.
Clearly, A=2An2=2n(n1)|A| = 2 \cdot A_n^2 = 2n(n-1). Furthermore, for all (x,y,z)T(x, y, z) \in T there always exist two in three numbers x,y,zx, y, z belong to the same set {1,2,,n}\{1, 2, \dots, n\} or {n+1,n+2,,2n}\{n+1, n+2, \dots, 2n\}. Without loss of generality, assume that x,yx, y belong to the same set then (x,y)A(x, y) \in A, which implies {(x,y),(x,z),(y,z)}A\{(x, y), (x, z), (y, z)\} \cap A \ne \emptyset.

c) Consider the graph G1=(V,E1)G_1 = (V, E_1), VV is the set of vertices that represents for 1,2,,2n1, 2, \dots, 2n and u,vu, v are connected when a set AA which is connected with TT does not have the ordered pair (u,v)(u, v).
From the given condition, at least one of three numbers {x,y,z}\{x, y, z\} belongs to AA, otherwise there exists three segments which connect (x,y)(x, y); (y,z)(y, z); (z,x)(z, x). Without loss of generality, suppose that x>y>zx > y > z then G1G_1 contains (x,y)(x, y), (x,z)(x, z), (y,z)(y, z), which means when we consider the triple (x,y,z)(x, y, z) then none of these ordered pairs belong to TT, contradiction. Therefore, G1G_1 does not contain a triangle.
By Mantel - Turan theorem, the number of edges in GG cannot exceed (2n)24=n2\frac{(2n)^2}{4} = n^2. Hence, the number of edges in the complementary graph is at least (2n2)n2=n(n1)\binom{2n}{2} - n^2 = n(n-1). Similarly, we can show that there are at least n(n1)n(n-1) pairs (u,v)(u, v) (u<v)(u < v) in AA. Hence, TT has at least 2n(n1)2n(n-1) ordered pairs. \Box

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