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Combinatorics Difficulty 9.2 IMO level Prove it IMO

Consider an infinite sequence a1,a2,a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots of positive integers with ai2015a_{i} \leqslant 2015 for all i1i \geqslant 1. Suppose that for any two distinct indices ii and jj we have i+aij+aji+a_{i} \neq j+a_{j}.
Prove that there exist two positive integers bb and NN such that
i=m+1n(aib)10072 \left|\sum_{i=m+1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b\right)\right| \leqslant 1007^{2}
whenever n>mNn>m \geqslant N.

Solution

We visualize the set of positive integers as a sequence of points. For each nn we draw an arrow emerging from nn that points to n+ann+a_{n}; so the length of this arrow is ana_{n}. Due to the condition that m+amn+anm+a_{m} \neq n+a_{n} for mnm \neq n, each positive integer receives at most one arrow. There are some positive integers, such as 1, that receive no arrows; these will be referred to as starting points in the sequel. When one starts at any of the starting points and keeps following the arrows, one is led to an infinite path, called its ray, that visits a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. Since the length of any arrow is at most 2015, such a ray, say with starting point ss, meets every interval of the form [n,n+2014][n, n+2014] with nsn \geqslant s at least once.

Suppose for the sake of contradiction that there would be at least 2016 starting points. Then we could take an integer nn that is larger than the first 2016 starting points. But now the interval [n,n+2014][n, n+2014] must be met by at least 2016 rays in distinct points, which is absurd. We have thereby shown that the number bb of starting points satisfies 1b20151 \leqslant b \leqslant 2015. Let NN denote any integer that is larger than all starting points. We contend that bb and NN are as required.

To see this, let any two integers mm and nn with n>mNn>m \geqslant N be given. The sum i=m+1nai\sum_{i=m+1}^{n} a_{i} gives the total length of the arrows emerging from m+1,,nm+1, \ldots, n. Taken together, these arrows form bb subpaths of our rays, some of which may be empty. Now on each ray we look at the first number that is larger than mm; let x1,,xbx_{1}, \ldots, x_{b} denote these numbers, and let y1,,yby_{1}, \ldots, y_{b} enumerate in corresponding order the numbers defined similarly with respect to nn. Then the list of differences y1x1,,ybxby_{1}-x_{1}, \ldots, y_{b}-x_{b} consists of the lengths of these paths and possibly some zeros corresponding to empty paths. Consequently, we obtain
i=m+1nai=j=1b(yjxj) \sum_{i=m+1}^{n} a_{i}=\sum_{j=1}^{b}\left(y_{j}-x_{j}\right)
whence
i=m+1n(aib)=j=1b(yjn)j=1b(xjm) \sum_{i=m+1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b\right)=\sum_{j=1}^{b}\left(y_{j}-n\right)-\sum_{j=1}^{b}\left(x_{j}-m\right)
Now each of the bb rays meets the interval [m+1,m+2015][m+1, m+2015] at some point and thus x1m,,xbmx_{1}- m, \ldots, x_{b}-m are bb distinct members of the set {1,2,,2015}\{1,2, \ldots, 2015\}. Moreover, since m+1m+1 is not a starting point, it must belong to some ray; so 1 has to appear among these numbers, wherefore
1+j=1b1(j+1)j=1b(xjm)1+j=1b1(2016b+j) 1+\sum_{j=1}^{b-1}(j+1) \leqslant \sum_{j=1}^{b}\left(x_{j}-m\right) \leqslant 1+\sum_{j=1}^{b-1}(2016-b+j)
The same argument applied to nn and y1,,yby_{1}, \ldots, y_{b} yields
1+j=1b1(j+1)j=1b(yjn)1+j=1b1(2016b+j) 1+\sum_{j=1}^{b-1}(j+1) \leqslant \sum_{j=1}^{b}\left(y_{j}-n\right) \leqslant 1+\sum_{j=1}^{b-1}(2016-b+j)
So altogether we get
i=m+1n(aib)j=1b1((2016b+j)(j+1))=(b1)(2015b)((b1)+(2015b)2)2=10072 \begin{gathered} \left|\sum_{i=m+1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b\right)\right| \leqslant \sum_{j=1}^{b-1}((2016-b+j)-(j+1))=(b-1)(2015-b) \\ \leqslant\left(\frac{(b-1)+(2015-b)}{2}\right)^{2}=1007^{2} \end{gathered}
as desired.

Solution 2:

Set sn=n+ans_{n}=n+a_{n} for all positive integers nn. By our assumptions, we have
n+1snn+2015 n+1 \leqslant s_{n} \leqslant n+2015
for all nZ>0n \in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}. The members of the sequence s1,s2,s_{1}, s_{2}, \ldots are distinct. We shall investigate the set
M=Z>0\{s1,s2,} M=\mathbb{Z}_{>0} \backslash\left\{s_{1}, s_{2}, \ldots\right\}
Claim. At most 2015 numbers belong to MM.

Proof. Otherwise let m1<m2<<m2016m_{1}<m_{2}<\cdots<m_{2016} be any 2016 distinct elements from MM. For n=m2016n=m_{2016} we have
{s1,,sn}{m1,,m2016}{1,2,,n+2015} \left\{s_{1}, \ldots, s_{n}\right\} \cup\left\{m_{1}, \ldots, m_{2016}\right\} \subseteq\{1,2, \ldots, n+2015\}
where on the left-hand side we have a disjoint union containing altogether n+2016n+2016 elements. But the set on the right-hand side has only n+2015n+2015 elements. This contradiction proves our claim. \square

Now we work towards proving that the positive integers b=Mb=|M| and N=max(M)N=\max (M) are as required. Recall that we have just shown b2015b \leqslant 2015.

Let us consider any integer rNr \geqslant N. As in the proof of the above claim, we see that
Br=M{s1,,sr} \begin{equation*} B_{r}=M \cup\left\{s_{1}, \ldots, s_{r}\right\} \tag{1} \end{equation*}
is a subset of [1,r+2015]Z[1, r+2015] \cap \mathbb{Z} with precisely b+rb+r elements. Due to the definitions of MM and NN, we also know [1,r+1]ZBr[1, r+1] \cap \mathbb{Z} \subseteq B_{r}. It follows that there is a set Cr{1,2,,2014}C_{r} \subseteq\{1,2, \ldots, 2014\} with Cr=b1\left|C_{r}\right|=b-1 and
Br=([1,r+1]Z){r+1+xxCr}. \begin{equation*} B_{r}=([1, r+1] \cap \mathbb{Z}) \cup\left\{r+1+x \mid x \in C_{r}\right\} . \tag{2} \end{equation*}
For any finite set of integers JJ we denote the sum of its elements by J\sum J. Now the equations (1) and (2) give rise to two ways of computing Br\sum B_{r} and the comparison of both methods leads to
M+i=1rsi=i=1ri+b(r+1)+Cr \sum M+\sum_{i=1}^{r} s_{i}=\sum_{i=1}^{r} i+b(r+1)+\sum C_{r}
or in other words to
M+i=1r(aib)=b+Cr \begin{equation*} \sum M+\sum_{i=1}^{r}\left(a_{i}-b\right)=b+\sum C_{r} \tag{3} \end{equation*}
After this preparation, we consider any two integers mm and nn with n>mNn>m \geqslant N. Plugging r=nr=n and r=mr=m into (3) and subtracting the estimates that result, we deduce
i=m+1n(aib)=CnCm \sum_{i=m+1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b\right)=\sum C_{n}-\sum C_{m}
Since CnC_{n} and CmC_{m} are subsets of {1,2,,2014}\{1,2, \ldots, 2014\} with Cn=Cm=b1\left|C_{n}\right|=\left|C_{m}\right|=b-1, it is clear that the absolute value of the right-hand side of the above inequality attains its largest possible value if either Cm={1,2,,b1}C_{m}=\{1,2, \ldots, b-1\} and Cn={2016b,,2014}C_{n}=\{2016-b, \ldots, 2014\}, or the other way around. In these two cases we have
CnCm=(b1)(2015b), \left|\sum C_{n}-\sum C_{m}\right|=(b-1)(2015-b),
so in the general case we find
i=m+1n(aib)(b1)(2015b)((b1)+(2015b)2)2=10072 \left|\sum_{i=m+1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b\right)\right| \leqslant(b-1)(2015-b) \leqslant\left(\frac{(b-1)+(2015-b)}{2}\right)^{2}=1007^{2}
as desired.

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