Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it

Prove that

n=020134026!(n!(2013n)!)2 \sum_{n=0}^{2013} \frac{4026!}{(n!(2013-n)!)^{2}}

is the square of an integer.

Solution

By replacing 2013 with 1, 2, 3, and 4 and then calculating the sum, you get a hunch for which number squared this sum yields. The factorials suggest that you should look in the binomial coefficients. We prove something more general:

n=0m(2m)!(n!(mn)!)2=(2mm)2 \sum_{n=0}^{m} \frac{(2 m)!}{(n!(m-n)!)^{2}}=\binom{2 m}{m}^{2}

From this, the desired result follows.
It holds that

(2m)!(n!(mn)!)2=(m!)2(n!(mn)!)2(2m)!(m!)2=(mn)2(2mm) \frac{(2 m)!}{(n!(m-n)!)^{2}}=\frac{(m!)^{2}}{(n!(m-n)!)^{2}} \cdot \frac{(2 m)!}{(m!)^{2}}=\binom{m}{n}^{2} \cdot\binom{2 m}{m}

Thus, it is sufficient to prove that

n=0m(mn)2=(2mm) \sum_{n=0}^{m}\binom{m}{n}^{2}=\binom{2 m}{m}

We do this combinatorially. Consider 2m2 m balls numbered from 1 to 2m2 m, where the balls from 1 to mm are colored blue and the balls from m+1m+1 to 2m2 m are colored red. You want to choose a total of mm balls. This can be done in (2mm)\binom{2 m}{m} ways. On the other hand, we can also first choose nn blue balls, with 0nm0 \leq n \leq m, and then choose mnm-n red balls. This is equivalent to first choosing nn blue balls and then not choosing nn red balls. Thus, the number of ways to choose mm balls is also equal to

n=0m(mn)2 \sum_{n=0}^{m}\binom{m}{n}^{2}

Therefore, this sum is equal to (2mm)\binom{2 m}{m}. And with that, we have proven (1).

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.