Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it

4. Let G=G(V;E)G=G(V ; E) be a simple graph, where VV is the set of vertices and EE is the set of edges, with V=n|V|=n. A mapping f:VZf: V \rightarrow \mathbf{Z} is called "good" if ff satisfies:
(1) vVf(v)=E\sum_{v \in V} f(v)=|E|;
(2) If any number of vertices are colored red, then there always exists a red vertex vv such that f(v)f(v) does not exceed the number of uncolored vertices adjacent to vv.

Let m(G)m(G) be the number of all good mappings ff. Prove: If every vertex in VV is connected to at least one other vertex, then nm(G)n!n \leqslant m(G) \leqslant n!.

Solution

4. For a sorting τ=(v1,v2,,vn)\tau=\left(v_{1}, v_{2}, \cdots, v_{n}\right) of vertices in VV, define fr:VZf_{\mathrm{r}}: V \rightarrow \mathbf{Z} as follows: fr(v)f_{\mathrm{r}}(v) equals the number of vertices adjacent to vv that are ranked before vv.
The following explains: frf_{\mathrm{r}} is a good mapping.
In the calculation of vVfτ(v)\sum_{v \in V} f_{\tau}(v), each edge is counted exactly once, because if eEe \in E, let the two endpoints of ee be u,vVu, v \in V, and uu is ranked before vv in τ\tau, then ee is counted once in fτ(v)f_{\tau}(v). Therefore,
vVfr(v)=E. \sum_{v \in V} f_{\mathrm{r}}(v)=|E| .

For any non-empty subset AVA \subseteq V (vertices in AA are colored red, the rest are uncolored), take vAv \in A to be the vertex in AA that is ranked first in the sorting τ\tau. Then, by the definition of fτf_{\tau} and the selection of vv, fΣ(v)f_{\Sigma}(v) does not exceed the number of uncolored vertices adjacent to vv. Thus, fτf_{\tau} is a good mapping.

Conversely, if f:VZf: V \rightarrow \mathbf{Z} is any good mapping, the following explains: there must exist at least one sorting τ\tau of vertices in VV such that f=frf=f_{r}.

First, take A=VA=V (as above, vertices in AA are colored red, the rest are uncolored).
By condition (2), there exists vAv \in A such that
f(v)0f(v) \leqslant 0.
Choose any one of these points and denote it as v1v_{1}.
Assume v1,v2,,vkv_{1}, v_{2}, \cdots, v_{k} have been chosen, if k0k0.

Since v1v_{1} can be chosen arbitrarily, this results in at least nn good mappings.

In general, GG can be divided into several connected components G1,G2,,GkG_{1}, G_{2}, \cdots, G_{k}.

Since each vertex is connected to at least one other vertex, the number of vertices in each connected component is at least 2, let the number of vertices in these connected components be n1,n2,,nk2n_{1}, n_{2}, \cdots, n_{k} \geqslant 2. For each connected component Gi(i=1,2,,k)G_{i}(i=1,2, \cdots, k), there are at least nin_{i} good mappings.

It is easy to see that combining the good mappings on each GiG_{i} results in a good mapping on GG. Therefore,
m(G)n1n2nkn1+n2++nk=n. m(G) \geqslant n_{1} n_{2} \cdots n_{k} \geqslant n_{1}+n_{2}+\cdots+n_{k}=n .

In summary, nm(G)n!n \leqslant m(G) \leqslant n!.

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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.