For every positive integer , let be the number of all positive integers with exactly digits, each having exactly of the digits equal to and the other digits equal to . Let be the number of all positive integers with exactly digits, each of its digits can only be , , or and the number of 's equals the number of 's. Prove that .
Solution
We consider the following mapping between the set of all positive integers formed by 's and 's and the set of all positive integers with digits formed by , , , such that the numbers of 's and 's are equal.
For each , we can pair up every two consecutive digits of from left to right. This gives pairs in total. Then we replace the pairs , , , by , , , respectively. If there are , , , pairs of , , , respectively, then there are 's and 's in . Thus, we must have . This shows the numbers of 's and 's in the image are the same, and so the image belongs to .
Clearly, the mapping is reversible. For each , we just need to replace the digits , , , in by , , , respectively. If there are , , , copies of , , , respectively, then there are 's and 's in the image, and so the image belongs to . This shows the mapping is a bijection, and hence