Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 7.2 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

A rook starts moving on an infinite chessboard, alternating horizontal and vertical moves. The length of the first move is one square, of the second – two squares, of the third – three squares and so on.
a) Is it possible for the rook to arrive at its starting point after exactly 20132013 moves?
b) Find all nn for which it possible for the rook to come back to its starting point after exactly nn moves.

Solution

We will attach integer coordinates to each square of the board, the starting point being (0,0)(0,0). Then, after each move one coordinate will be of the form ±1±3±5±\pm 1 \pm 3 \pm 5 \pm \dots, and the other will be of the form ±2±4±6±\pm 2 \pm 4 \pm 6 \pm \dots.

a) If (0,0)(0,0) could be reached in exactly 20132013 moves, then it would be possible to choose the ++ and - signs so that ±1±3±5±±2013=0\pm 1 \pm 3 \pm 5 \pm \dots \pm 2013 = 0 and ±2±4±6±±2012=0\pm 2 \pm 4 \pm 6 \pm \dots \pm 2012 = 0.
But, for each combination of signs, ±1±3±±2013\pm 1 \pm 3 \pm \dots \pm 2013 has the same parity as 1+3++2013=100721+3+\dots+2013 = 1007^2 is odd, so the equality ±1±3±5±±2013=0\pm 1 \pm 3 \pm 5 \pm \dots \pm 2013 = 0 is impossible. This shows that (0,0)(0,0) cannot be reached in 20132013 moves.

b) If (0,0)(0,0) can be reached in nn moves, then
±1±3±5±±(2n+121)=0and±2±4±6±±2n2=0 \pm 1 \pm 3 \pm 5 \pm \dots \pm \left( 2 \lfloor \frac{n+1}{2} \rfloor - 1 \right) = 0 \quad \text{and} \quad \pm 2 \pm 4 \pm 6 \pm \dots \pm 2 \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor = 0
Relation above implies that 00 has the same parity as 1+3++(2n+121)=n+1221+3+\dots+(2\lfloor\frac{n+1}{2}\rfloor-1) = \lfloor\frac{n+1}{2}\rfloor^2, so n+12\lfloor\frac{n+1}{2}\rfloor must be even, that is 4n4 \mid n or 4n+14 \mid n+1.
From the second relation, 00 has the same parity as 1+2++n2=n2(n2+1)21+2+\dots+\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor = \frac{\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor(\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor+1)}{2}, that is 4n24 \mid \lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor or 4n2+14 \mid \lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor+1. This shows that 88 must divide one of the numbers n1,n,n+1n-1, n, n+1 or n+2n+2.
From these, it follows that nn must be of the form 8k8k or 8k18k-1, kNk \in \mathbb{N}^*.
For each kNk \in \mathbb{N}^*, (0,0)(0,0) can be reached in 8k8k moves, because (135+7)+(91113+15)++((8k7)(8k5)(8k3)+(8k1))=0(1-3-5+7)+ (9-11-13+15)+\dots+((8k-7)-(8k-5)-(8k-3)+(8k-1)) = 0 and (246+8)+(101214+16)++((8k6)(8k4)(8k2)+8k)=0(2-4-6+8)+(10-12-14+16)+\dots+((8k-6)-(8k-4)-(8k-2)+8k) = 0.

It is also possible to reach (0,0)(0,0) in 8k18k - 1 moves, because (135+7)+(91113+15)++((8k7)(8k5)(8k3)+(8k1))=0(1 - 3 - 5 + 7) + (9 - 11 - 13 + 15) + \dots + ((8k - 7) - (8k - 5) - (8k - 3) + (8k - 1)) = 0 and (2+46)+(81012+14)++((8k8)(8k6)(8k4)+(8k2))=0(2+4-6) + (8-10-12+14) + \dots + ((8k-8) - (8k-6) - (8k-4) + (8k-2)) = 0.
Therefore, the answer is: all n=8kn = 8k or n=8k1n = 8k - 1, kNk \in \mathbb{N}^*.

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