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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.9 National Olympiad Prove it Thailand

Let m,nm, n be positive integers. There are nn piles of gold coins, where the ithi^{th} pile contains ai(>0)a_i (> 0) coins (i=1,,ni = 1, \dots, n). Consider the following game:
Step 1 Bob selects sets B1,B2,,BnB_1, B_2, \dots, B_n such that each set BiB_i is a nonempty subset of {1,2,,m}\{1, 2, \dots, m\}.
Step 2 Alice selects a set SS such that SS is a nonempty subset of {1,2,,m}\{1, 2, \dots, m\}, knowing the sets B1,B2,,BnB_1, B_2, \dots, B_n that Bob has selected in Step 1.
Step 3 The gold coins in the ithi^{th} pile (i=1,2,,ni = 1, 2, \dots, n) is given to Bob if the number of elements in BiSB_i \cap S is even. Otherwise, they will be given to Alice.
Show that no matter how Bob selects the sets B1,B2,,BnB_1, B_2, \dots, B_n, Alice will be able to select a set SS so as to receive more gold coins than Bob in total.

Solution

At the end of the game, the number of gold coins received by Bob less that of Alice is equal to i=1n(1)BiSai\sum_{i=1}^{n}(-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i. The number of Alice coins is greater than that of Bob if and only if i=1n(1)BiSai<0\sum_{i=1}^{n}(-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i < 0.

Suppose (for contradiction purposes) that for each nonempty set SS, the number of Alice's coins is less that that of Bob, i.e.,
i=1n(1)BiSai0. \sum_{i=1}^{n} (-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i \geq 0.
Observe that if S=S = \emptyset, then i=1n(1)BiSai=i=1nai>0\sum_{i=1}^{n}(-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i = \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_i > 0. Adding over all possible sets SS, we get
S:S{1,2,,m}i=1n(1)BiSai>0.(1) \sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} \sum_{i=1}^{n} (-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i > 0. \quad (1)
Consider the sum S:S{1,2,,m}(1)BS\sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} (-1)^{|B \cap S|} when BB is a nonempty subset of {1,,m}\{1, \dots, m\}. Writing
S=CDwhereC=SB,D=SB,CD=, S = C \cup D \quad \text{where} \quad C = S \setminus B, D = S \cap B, C \cap D = \emptyset,
we have
S:S{1,2,,m}(1)BS=C:C{1,2,,m}BD:DB(1)B(CD)=C:C{1,2,,m}BD:DB(1)D. \begin{aligned} \sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} (-1)^{|B \cap S|} &= \sum_{C: C \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\} \setminus B} \sum_{D: D \subseteq B} (-1)^{|B \cap (C \cup D)|} \\ &= \sum_{C: C \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\} \setminus B} \sum_{D: D \subseteq B} (-1)^{|D|}. \end{aligned}
As B>0|B| > 0, we have D:DB(1)D=r=0B(1)r(Br)=0\sum_{D: D \subseteq B} (-1)^{|D|} = \sum_{r=0}^{|B|} (-1)^r \left(\begin{smallmatrix} |B| \\ r \end{smallmatrix}\right) = 0. Thus, S:S{1,2,,m}(1)BS=0\sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} (-1)^{|B \cap S|} = 0 for each nonempty set B{1,,m}B \subseteq \{1, \dots, m\}. Consequently,
S:S{1,2,,m}i=1n(1)BiSai=i=1n(aiS:S{1,2,,m}(1)BiS)=0, \sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} \sum_{i=1}^{n} (-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \cdot a_i = \sum_{i=1}^{n} \left( a_i \sum_{S: S \subseteq \{1, 2, \dots, m\}} (-1)^{|B_i \cap S|} \right) = 0,
which contradicts (1).

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