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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Mongolia

Let tt, kk, mm be positive integers and t>kmt > \sqrt{k} m. Prove that
(2m0)+(2m1)++(2mmt1)<22m2k \binom{2m}{0} + \binom{2m}{1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-t-1} < \frac{2^{2m}}{2k}
(proposed by B. Amarsanaa, folklore)

Solution

Lemma. For all integers 0t,sm0 \leq t, s \leq m such that t+smt + s \leq m, (2mms)(2mmts)>t2m\frac{\binom{2m}{m-s}}{\binom{2m}{m-t-s}} > \frac{t^2}{m}.
Proof of lemma.
A=(2mms)(2mmts)=(mts)!(m+t+s)!(ms)!(m+s)!= A = \frac{\binom{2m}{m-s}}{\binom{2m}{m-t-s}} = \frac{(m-t-s)!(m+t+s)!}{(m-s)!(m+s)!} =
=((m+t+1)(m+t+2)(m+t+s)(mts+1)(mts+2)(ms))==(1+t+2smts+1)(1t+2smts+2)(1+t+2sms). = \left( \frac{(m+t+1)(m+t+2)\dots(m+t+s)}{(m-t-s+1)(m-t-s+2)\dots(m-s)} \right) = \\ = \left( 1 + \frac{t+2s}{m-t-s+1} \right) \left( 1 - \frac{t+2s}{m-t-s+2} \right) \dots \left( 1 + \frac{t+2s}{m-s} \right).
Using the (mts+1)<(mts+2)<<(ms)(m-t-s+1) < (m-t-s+2) < \dots < (m-s) and Bernoulli's inequality:
A(1+t+2sms)t>1+(t+2sms)t>t2m. A \geq \left(1 + \frac{t+2s}{m-s}\right)^t > 1 + \left(\frac{t+2s}{m-s}\right)t > \frac{t^2}{m}.
This completes the proof of lemma.

Let us compare the sum
(2m0)+(2m1)++(2mmt1) \binom{2m}{0} + \binom{2m}{1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-t-1}
with the sum
(2mt)+(2mt+1)++(2mm1)(1). \binom{2m}{t} + \binom{2m}{t+1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-1} \quad (1).
Sum in (1) is clearly less than 22m2\frac{2^{2m}}{2}. t[km]t \leq [\sqrt{km}] implies t2mk\frac{t^2}{m} \leq k and we have (2mmt1)12(2mm1)\binom{2m}{m-t-1} \leq \frac{1}{2}\binom{2m}{m-1} by lemma. Similarly, (2mmt2)1k(2mm2)\binom{2m}{m-t-2} \leq \frac{1}{k}\binom{2m}{m-2}, \dots, (2m0)1k(2mt)\binom{2m}{0}\frac{1}{k}\binom{2m}{t}.
Hence we get that,
(2m0)+(2m1)++(2mmt1)<1k((2mt)+(2m0)+(2m1)++(2mmt1))<1k((2mt)+(2mt+1)++(2mm1))<22m2k. \begin{aligned} & \binom{2m}{0} + \binom{2m}{1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-t-1} < \\ & \frac{1}{k} \left( \binom{2m}{t} + \binom{2m}{0} + \binom{2m}{1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-t-1} \right) < \\ & \frac{1}{k} \left( \binom{2m}{t} + \binom{2m}{t+1} + \dots + \binom{2m}{m-1} \right) < \frac{2^{2m}}{2k}. \end{aligned}

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