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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.6 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Japan

Let us call a point in the xyxy-plane a good point if each of its coordinates is an integer from 11 to 20002000. Let us also call polyline ABCDABCD a Z-shaped polyline if four points A(x1,y1)A(x_1, y_1), B(x2,y2)B(x_2, y_2), C(x3,y3)C(x_3, y_3), D(x4,y4)D(x_4, y_4) satisfy all the following conditions:
* AA, BB, CC, DD are good points.
* x1<x2x_1 < x_2, y1=y2y_1 = y_2.
* x2>x3x_2 > x_3, y2x2=y3x3y_2 - x_2 = y_3 - x_3.
* x3<x4x_3 < x_4, y3=y4y_3 = y_4.
Determine the smallest possible positive integer nn such that, there exist Z-shaped polylines Z1,Z2,,ZnZ_1, Z_2, \dots, Z_n which satisfy the following condition:
Any good point PP lies on ZiZ_i for some 1in1 \le i \le n.
Note that polyline ABCDABCD is the union sets of line segments (including both endpoints) ABAB, BCBC and CDCD.

Solution

Let us call a good point on x=1x = 1 or x=2000x = 2000 excluding (1,1)(1, 1) a special point. Consider Z-shaped polyline ABCDABCD and let A(x1,y1)A(x_1, y_1), B(x2,y2)B(x_2, y_2), C(x3,y3)C(x_3, y_3), D(x4,y4)D(x_4, y_4). Since 1x1<x220001 \le x_1 < x_2 \le 2000, 1x3<x220001 \le x_3 < x_2 \le 2000 and 1x3<x420001 \le x_3 < x_4 \le 2000, any special point on Z-shaped polyline ABCDABCD coincides with either AA, BB, CC or DD. Assume that both BB and CC are special points. Then x2=2000x_2 = 2000, y22000y_2 \le 2000, x3=1x_3 = 1 and y32y_3 \ge 2 holds. Therefore we have y2x220002000<21y3x3y_2 - x_2 \le 2000 - 2000 < 2 - 1 \le y_3 - x_3, which contradicts the condition y2x2=y3x3y_2 - x_2 = y_3 - x_3. Therefore at most three special points lie on a Z-shaped polylines, hence we must select at least 39993=1333\frac{3999}{3} = 1333 Z-shaped polylines to meet the condition.

Denote polyline ABCDABCD with A(x1,y1)A(x_1, y_1), B(x2,y2)B(x_2, y_2), C(x3,y3)C(x_3, y_3), D(x4,y4)D(x_4, y_4) by (x1,y1)(x2,y2)(x3,y3)(x4,y4)(x_1, y_1) - (x_2, y_2) - (x_3, y_3) - (x_4, y_4). Define Z-shaped polylines X1,X2,,X666X_1, X_2, \dots, X_{666}, Y1,Y2,,Y666Y_1, Y_2, \dots, Y_{666}, ZZ as following:
* For k=1,,666k = 1, \dots, 666, let XkX_k be (1,1334k)(13342k,1334k)(1,1+k)(2000,1+k)(1, 1334-k) - (1334-2k, 1334-k) - (1, 1+k) - (2000, 1+k).
* For k=1,,666k = 1, \dots, 666, let YkY_k be (1,2000k)(2000,2000k)(667+2k,667+k)(2000,667+k)(1, 2000-k) - (2000, 2000-k) - (667+2k, 667+k) - (2000, 667+k).
* Let ZZ be (1,2000)(2000,2000)(1,1)(2000,1)(1, 2000) - (2000, 2000) - (1, 1) - (2000, 1).

Note that any good point on y=1,2000y = 1, 2000 lies on ZZ. For 2k6672 \le k \le 667, any good point on y=ky = k lies on Xk1X_{k-1}. For 1334k19991334 \le k \le 1999, any good point on y=ky = k lies on Y2000kY_{2000-k}. Let 668k1333668 \le k \le 1333 and consider good points on y=ky = k.
* When 1x<2k13331 \le x < 2k - 1333, (x,k)(x, k) lies on X1334kX_{1334-k}.
* When 2k1333x<k2k - 1333 \le x < k, (x,k)(x, k) lies on XkxX_{k-x}.

* When x=kx = k, (x,k)(x, k) lies on ZZ.
* When k<x2k668k < x \le 2k - 668, (x,k)(x, k) lies on YxkY_{x-k}.
* When 2k668<x20002k - 668 < x \le 2000, (x,k)(x, k) lies on Yk667Y_{k-667}.

We have shown that any good point lies on any of X1,X2,,X666X_1, X_2, \dots, X_{666}, Y1,Y2,,Y666Y_1, Y_2, \dots, Y_{666} and ZZ.
Therefore the smallest possible number of Z-shaped polylines is 13331333.

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