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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Vietnam

There are several identical caro papers of size 5×55 \times 5. Someone uses nn colors to fill in each paper such that two cells at the same position on two sides share the same color. Two papers are considered congruent if they can be stacked together in such a way that the pairs of squares at the same position have the same color. Prove that, by the definition of congruence, one can obtain at most
18(n25+4n15+n13+2n7) \frac{1}{8}(n^{25} + 4n^{15} + n^{13} + 2n^{7})
distinct colored caro papers.

Solution

We will prove the following lemma

Lemma. Consider positive integer m=2k+1m = 2k+1 with k2k \ge 2, and the square table of size m×mm \times m in which each cell is filled by one of nn colors. Then the number of different ways to color (not duplicated by the rotation) is equal to
n(a4+a2+2a)4with a=nk2+k. \frac{n(a^4 + a^2 + 2a)}{4} \quad \text{with } a = n^{k^2+k}.
Proof. Note that the middle cell, with symbol C as shown in the image, is not affected by the rotation so there is always nn ways to fill it.

Figure 1

Consider the collection of 4 squares k×kk \times k in the corners as set A=A1A2A3A4A = A_1 \cup A_2 \cup A_3 \cup A_4 and 4 rectangles 1×k1 \times k as set B=B1B2B3B4B = B_1 \cup B_2 \cup B_3 \cup B_4 in such a way that BtB_t is immediately followed by AtA_t for 1t41 \le t \le 4. We consider 4 pairs consists of two subsets (At,Bt)(A_t, B_t) of A,BA, B. The number of cells on each pair (At,Bt)(A_t, B_t) are k2+kk^2+k, so the number of ways to fill in each pair of subsets is a=nk2+ka = n^{k^2+k}. Here, we consider each pair like that as a vertex of some square XYZTXYZT. We will count the number of coloring for the vertices X,Y,Z,TX, Y, Z, T so that they do not duplicate by the rotation. We have the following cases

(1) All vertices are filled with the same color, there are aa ways.

(2) The coloring is alternative, so we just concern how to fill in 2 adjacent vertices with the number of ways is a2a2\frac{a^2-a}{2}.

(3) Otherwise, there is some identical pairs that is not cyclical of 2, then the number is a4(a2a)aa^4-(a^2-a)-a. This way of coloring has a circular permutations and will generates a4a24\frac{a^4-a^2}{4} different ways.

In total, the number of coloring is
a4a24+a2a2+a=a4+a2+2a4. \frac{a^4 - a^2}{4} + \frac{a^2 - a}{2} + a = \frac{a^4 + a^2 + 2a}{4}.

Back to the problem, Using the above lemma when 2k+1=52k+1=5, we have a number of ways to fill in the paper 5×55 \times 5 that not duplicate each other by the rotation is
n(n24+n12+2n64)=n25+n13+2n74. n \left( \frac{n^{24} + n^{12} + 2n^{6}}{4} \right) = \frac{n^{25} + n^{13} + 2n^{7}}{4}.
Denote SS as a set of these coloring ways. In this problem, we also need to consider the reflection transformation. We separate SS to two types of papers, namely AA, BB: papers can and cannot create itself through the vertical and horizontal reflections.

Notice that each paper in AA generates 2 different papers in SS (should only be counted as 1 in the original problem); meanwhile, each paper in BB generates exactly 1 paper in SS. Hence,
2A+B=n25+n13+2n74. 2A + B = \frac{n^{25} + n^{13} + 2n^{7}}{4}.
Also, it is easy to count B=n15B = n^{15} (fill the left half of the piece of paper, also the middle line as well). From there we can calculate
2A+2B=(2A+B)+B=14(n25+n13+n7)+n15 2A + 2B = (2A + B) + B = \frac{1}{4}(n^{25} + n^{13} + n^{7}) + n^{15}
so
A+B=n25+4n15+n13+n78. A + B = \frac{n^{25} + 4n^{15} + n^{13} + n^{7}}{8}.
This is the number of different pieces of paper we need to count. The problem is completely solved. □

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