Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /56 of 56

Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Singapore

Alice and Bob play a game. Bob starts by picking a set SS consisting of MM vectors of length nn with entries either 00 or 11. Alice picks a sequence of numbers y1y2yny_1 \le y_2 \le \cdots \le y_n from the interval [0,1][0, 1], and a choice of real numbers x1,,xnRx_1, \dots, x_n \in \mathbb{R}. Bob wins if he can pick a vector (z1,z2,,zn)S(z_1, z_2, \dots, z_n) \in S such that
i=1nxiyii=1nxizi, \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i y_i \le \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_i z_i,
otherwise Alice wins. Determine the minimum value of MM so that Bob can guarantee a win?

Solution

The answer is M=n+1M = n + 1.

Sn+1|S| \ge n + 1, since if Alice selects
(y1,y2,,yn)=(0,0,,0)k 0s,1,1,,1) (y_1, y_2, \dots, y_n) = \underbrace{(0, 0, \dots, 0)}_{k\ 0's}, 1, 1, \dots, 1)
(x1,x2,,xn)=(1,1,,1)k (1)s,1,1,,1), (x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n) = \underbrace{(-1, -1, \dots, -1)}_{k\ (-1)'s}, 1, 1, \dots, 1),
where 0kn0 \le k \le n, then Bob can only win if (z1,z2,,zn)=(y1,y2,,yn)(z_1, z_2, \dots, z_n) = (y_1, y_2, \dots, y_n), so SS contains (0,0,,0,1,1,,1)(0, 0, \dots, 0, 1, 1, \dots, 1). Now, suppose SS only contains elements of that form. It remains to show that Bob can win. Rewrite the inequality as:
i=1n(yiyi1)(xi++xn)i=1n(zizi1)(xi++xn), \sum_{i=1}^{n} (y_i - y_{i-1})(x_i + \dots + x_n) \le \sum_{i=1}^{n} (z_i - z_{i-1})(x_i + \dots + x_n),
where y0=z0=0y_0 = z_0 = 0 for convenience. Note that from the choice of SS, zizi1=1z_i - z_{i-1} = 1 for exactly one index ii, and 00 for the others. However,
i=1n(yiyi1)(xi++xn)(i=1n(yiyi1))max1in(xi++xn)max1in(xi++xn). \sum_{i=1}^{n} (y_i - y_{i-1})(x_i + \dots + x_n) \le \left( \sum_{i=1}^{n} (y_i - y_{i-1}) \right) \max_{1 \le i \le n} (x_i + \dots + x_n) \le \max_{1 \le i \le n} (x_i + \dots + x_n).
Whatever Alice's choices are, Bob can always pick precisely the ii that attains that maximum and wins.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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