Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it

Lifschitz.

Describe all ways to paint each natural number in one of three colors so that the following condition is satisfied: if numbers a,ba, b and cc (not necessarily distinct) satisfy the condition 2000(a+b)=c2000(a+b)=c, then they are either all of the same color or of three different colors.

Solution

Let c=2000(2d+2)c=2000(2 d+2). Then from the equality c=2000((d+1)+(d+1))c=2000((d+1)+(d+1)), it follows that the numbers d+1d+1 and cc are of the same color.

On the other hand, c=2000(d+(d+2))c=2000(d+(d+2)), which means that the numbers d,d+2d, d+2 and d+1d+1 are either of the same color or of three different colors.

Therefore, any three consecutive numbers are either of the same color or of three different colors. If the numbers 1, 2, 3 are of the same color, then considering the triples 2,3,4;3,4,52,3,4 ; 3,4,5 and so on, we get that all numbers are of the same color.

If 1 is of color AA, 2 is of color BB, and 3 is of color CC, then from the triple 2, 3, 4 we get that 4 is of color AA; from the triple 3,4,53,4,5: that 5 is of color BB, and so on.

Let a=3k1+r1,b=3k2+r2,c=3k3+r3a=3 k_{1}+r_{1}, b=3 k_{2}+r_{2}, c=3 k_{3}+r_{3} ( r1,r2,r3r_{1}, r_{2}, r_{3} - the remainders of the numbers a,b,ca, b, c when divided by 3 ).

The equality 2000(a+b)=2000(3k1+r1+3k2+r2)=3M(r1+r2)=c=3k3+r32000(a+b)=2000\left(3 k_{1}+r_{1}+3 k_{2}+r_{2}\right)=3 M-\left(r_{1}+r_{2}\right)=c=3 k_{3}+r_{3} is possible only when
r1+r2+r3r_{1}+r_{2}+r_{3} is divisible by 3, that is, either when the remainders r1,r2,r3r_{1}, r_{2}, r_{3} are equal, or when they are pairwise distinct.

From this it follows that the found colorings satisfy the condition.

## Answer

Two colorings:

all numbers of one color

numbers 3k2,kN3 k-2, k \in \mathbf{N} - color AA, numbers 3k13 k-1 - color BB, numbers 3k3 k - color CC.

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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.