Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /34 of 40

Combinatorics Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it China

Let mm be a positive integer, n=2m1n = 2^m - 1, and Pn={1,2,,n}P_n = \{1, 2, \dots, n\} be the set of nn points on the number axis. A grasshopper jumps between adjacent points on PnP_n. Find the maximal number of mm such that for any x,yPnx, y \in P_n, the number of ways that a grasshopper jumping from xx to yy by 2012 steps is even (passing xx or yy on the way is permitted). (posed by Zhang Sihui)

Solution

If m11m \ge 11, then n=2m1>2013n = 2^m - 1 > 2013. Since there is only one way a grasshopper jumps from point 11 to point 20132013 by 20122012 steps, we see that m10m \le 10.

In the following, we show that the answer is m=10m = 10. To show this, we will prove a stronger proposition by induction on mm: for any kn=2m1k \ge n = 2^m - 1 and any x,yPnx, y \in P_n, the number of ways the grasshopper jumps from point xx to point yy by kk steps is even.

If m=1m = 1, the number of ways is 00, where 00 is even.

If m=lm = l, the number of ways is even. Then, for kn=2l+11k \ge n = 2^{l+1} - 1, there are three kinds of routes from point xx to point yy by kk steps. We show that the number of ways is even for each kind of route.

(1) The route does not pass point 2l2^l. So points xx and yy both are on one side of point 2l2^l. By the induction hypothesis, there are even routes.

(2) The route passes point 2l2^l just once.
Suppose that the grasshopper is at point 2l2^l at the ii-th step.

(i{0,1,,k},i=0 means x=2l,i=k means y=2l)(i \in \{0, 1, \dots, k\}, i = 0 \text{ means } x = 2^l, i = k \text{ means } y = 2^l).
We show that, for any ii, the number of routes is even.

Suppose that the route is x,a1,,ai1,2l,ai+1,,ak1,yx, a_1, \dots, a_{i-1}, 2^l, a_{i+1}, \dots, a_{k-1}, y. Divide it into two sub-routes: from point xx to point ai1a_{i-1} of i1i-1 steps and from point ai+1a_{i+1} to point yy of ki1k-i-1 steps (for i=0i=0 or kk, only one sub-route of k1k-1 steps).

If i1<2l1i-1 < 2^l - 1 and ki1<2l1k-i-1 < 2^l - 1, then k2l+12k \le 2^{l+1} - 2, which contradicts kn=2l+11k \ge n = 2^{l+1} - 1. So, we must have i12l1i-1 \ge 2^l - 1 or ki12l1k-i-1 \ge 2^l - 1. By the induction hypothesis, there are even ways for a sub-route. So, by the Multiplication Principle, the number of ways is even.

(3) The route passes point 2l2^l no less than two times.
Consider the sub-routes from 2l2^l to 2l2^l, the number of ways is even, since we can consider the routes symmetric to 2l2^l. So by the Multiplication Principle, the number of ways is even.

Summing up, the maximal mm is 1010.

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 and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.