A Pattano coin is a coin which has a blue side and a yellow side. A positive integer not exceeding 100 is written on each side of every coin (the sides may have different integers).
Two Pattano coins are identical if the number on the blue side of both coins are equal and the number on the yellow side of both coins are equal.
Two Pattano coins are pairable if the number on the blue side of both coins are equal or the number on the yellow side of both coins are equal.
Given 2559 Pattano coins such that no two coins are identical. Show that at least one Pattano coin is pairable with at least 50 other coins.
Solution
We represent each Pattano coin by an ordered pair (i,j), where i and j are the numbers written on the blue and yellow side respectively. Let C be the set of non-identical 2559 Pattano coins. Let bi denote the number of Pattano coins in C with i on its blue side, and yj denote the number of Pattano coins in C with j on its yellow side. For a Pattano coin (i,j) in C, let pi,j be the number of coins in C that are pairable with (i,j) (apart from itself).
It is easy to see that pi,j=bi+yj−2, thus (i,j)∈C∑pi,j=(i,j)∈C∑bi+(i,j)∈C∑yj−5118.(9)
Note that bi appears in the sum ∑(i,j)∈Cbi exactly bi times, and yj appears in the sum ∑(i,j)∈Cyj exactly yj times. Hence (i,j)∈C∑bi=i=1∑100bi2and(i,j)∈C∑yj=j=1∑100yj2.(10)
Applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to the vectors (b1,b2,…,b100), (1,1,…,1) and (y1,y2,…,y100), (1,1,…,1) we obtain, (i=1∑100bi)2≤(i=1∑10012)(i=1∑100bi2)=100i=1∑100bi2,(j=1∑100yj)2≤(j=1∑10012)(j=1∑100yj2)=100j=1∑100yj2.(11)
Combining (9), (10) and (11) yields (i,j)∈C∑pi,j≥1001(i=1∑100bi)2+(j=1∑100yj)2−5118.
But ∑i=1100bi=∑j=1100yj=2559, thus (i,j)∈C∑pi,j≥1001(25592+25592)−5118=5025592−5118.
Finally, by the pigeonhole principle, there exists (i,j)∈C such that pi,j≥⌊502559−2⌋=50. That is, there exists a Pattano coin which is pairable with at least 50 other coins.
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