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Bulgarian National Olympiad

Combinatorics Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Bulgaria

Let k>1k > 1 be an integer. A set of natural numbers SS is called good if all positive integers can be painted in kk colors such that no element of SS is a sum of two distinct numbers having one and the same color. Find the largest positive integer tt for which the set
S={a+1,a+2,a+3,…,a+t} S = \{a+1, a+2, a+3, \dots, a+t\}
is good for all positive integers aa.

Solution

We show that the desired number equals t=2k−2t = 2k - 2.

Consider the set S={3,4,…,2k,2k+1}S = \{3, 4, \dots, 2k, 2k+1\}. The sum of any two distinct numbers from 1,2,…,k+11, 2, \dots, k+1 is an element of SS. Since among 1,2,…,k+11, 2, \dots, k+1 there exist two numbers having one and the same color we conclude that SS is not good. Now ∣S∣=2k−1|S| = 2k-1 implies t≤2k−2t \le 2k-2.

It remains to prove that the set S={a+1,a+2,…,a+2k−2}S = \{a+1, a+2, \dots, a+2k-2\} is good for any aa.

1. Let aa be an odd number. Color the numbers 1,2,…,a+121, 2, \dots, \frac{a+1}{2} in the first color and every of the numbers a+2s−12\frac{a+2s-1}{2} for s=2,3,…,ks = 2, 3, \dots, k in color ss. Let all numbers greater than a+2k−12\frac{a+2k-1}{2} be of color kk. It is easy to see that the sum of any two numbers of one and the same color is not an element of SS.

2. Let aa be an even number. Color the numbers 1,2,…,a21, 2, \dots, \frac{a}{2} in the first color and every of the numbers a+2s−22\frac{a+2s-2}{2} for s=2,3,…,ks = 2, 3, \dots, k in color ss. Let all numbers greater than a+2k−22\frac{a+2k-2}{2} be of color kk. It is easy to see that the sum of any two numbers of one and the same color is not an element of SS.

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