Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Given a permutation σ\sigma of {1,2,,2013}\{1,2, \ldots, 2013\}, let f(σ)f(\sigma) be the number of fixed points of σ\sigma—that is, the number of k{1,2,,2013}k \in \{1,2, \ldots, 2013\} such that σ(k)=k\sigma(k) = k. If SS is the set of all possible permutations σ\sigma, compute
σSf(σ)4 \sum_{\sigma \in S} f(\sigma)^4
(Here, a permutation σ\sigma is a bijective mapping from {1,2,,2013}\{1,2, \ldots, 2013\} to {1,2,,2013}\{1,2, \ldots, 2013\}.)

Solution

Solution:
Answer: 15(2013!)15(2013!)

First, note that
σSf(σ)4=σS1a1,a2,a3,a42013g(σ,a1,a2,a3,a4) \sum_{\sigma \in S} f(\sigma)^4 = \sum_{\sigma \in S} \sum_{1 \leq a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4 \leq 2013} g\left(\sigma, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4\right)
where g(σ,a1,a2,a3,a4)=1g\left(\sigma, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4\right) = 1 if all aia_i are fixed points of σ\sigma and 00 otherwise. (The aia_i's need not be distinct.) Switching the order of summation, we find that the desired sum is
1a1,a2,a3,a42013σSg(σ,a1,a2,a3,a4) \sum_{1 \leq a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4 \leq 2013} \sum_{\sigma \in S} g\left(\sigma, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4\right)
Note that the inner sum is equal to the number of permutations on {1,2,,2013}\{1,2, \ldots, 2013\} that fix a1,a2,a3a_1, a_2, a_3, and a4a_4. This depends on the number of distinct values the aia_i take. If they take on exactly kk distinct values, then the inner sum will evaluate to (2013k)!(2013-k)!, because σ\sigma can be any permutation of the remaining 2013k2013-k elements. (For example, if a1=a2a_1 = a_2 but a1,a3a_1, a_3, and a4a_4 are distinct, the inner sum is 2010!2010! because σ\sigma can be any permutation that fixes a1,a3a_1, a_3, and a4a_4.)

Now, suppose we are given which of the aia_i are equal (for example, we could be given a1=a2a_1 = a_2 but a1,a3,a4a_1, a_3, a_4 mutually distinct, as per the above example). Assuming there are kk distinct values among the aia_i, there are 2013(20131)(2013k+1)2013(2013-1) \cdots (2013-k+1) ways to choose the aia_i. At this point, there are (2013k)!(2013-k)! ways to choose σ\sigma on the remaining (2013k)(2013-k) values such that it fixes the aia_i, for a total of 2013!2013! choices for (σ,a1,a2,a3,a4)(\sigma, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4) such that g(σ,a1,a2,a3,a4)=1g(\sigma, a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4) = 1 and the aia_i satisfy the correct equality relations.

Thus the answer is 2013!2013! times the number of ways to choose equivalence classes on the aia_i, so the problem reduces to finding the number of ways to partition 44 elements into nonempty sets. This process can be accelerated by doing casework based on the number of sets:

a. One set must contain all four elements, only one possibility. (i.e. all the aia_i are equal)

b. Either one set contains 33 elements and the other contains the fourth (44 possibilities) or one set contains 22 elements and the other contains the other two (33 possibilities). (i.e. there are two distinct values of aia_i)

c. One set contains two elements, the other two each contain one. There are (42)=6\binom{4}{2} = 6 ways to choose the two elements in the set with two elements, and this uniquely determines the partition. (i.e. there are three distinct values of aia_i)

d. All sets contain one element, in which case there is only one possibility. (i.e. all the aia_i are distinct)

Thus the number of ways to construct such a partition is 1+4+3+6+1=151 + 4 + 3 + 6 + 1 = 15, and our answer is 152013!15 \cdot 2013!.

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