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Number theory Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Find the answer

The numbers a1,a2,,a100a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{100} are a permutation of the numbers 1,2,,1001,2, \ldots, 100. Let S1=a1S_{1}=a_{1}, S2=a1+a2,,S100=a1+a2++a100S_{2}=a_{1}+a_{2}, \ldots, S_{100}=a_{1}+a_{2}+\ldots+a_{100}. What maximum number of perfect squares can be among the numbers S1,S2,,S100S_{1}, S_{2}, \ldots, S_{100}?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

We add initial term S0=0S_{0}=0 to the sequence S1,S2,,S100S_{1}, S_{2}, \ldots, S_{100} and consider all the terms Sn0<Sn1<S_{n_{0}}<S_{n_{1}}<\ldots that are perfect squares: Snk=mk2S_{n_{k}}=m_{k}^{2} (in particular, n0=m0=0n_{0}=m_{0}=0). Since S100=5050<722S_{100}=5050<72^{2}, all the numbers mkm_{k} do not exceed 71. If mk+1=mk+1m_{k+1}=m_{k}+1 the difference Snk+1Snk=2mk+1S_{n_{k+1}}-S_{n_{k}}=2 m_{k}+1 is odd, and an odd number must occur among the numbers ank+1,,ank+1a_{n_{k}+1}, \ldots, a_{n_{k+1}}. There are only 50 odd numbers less than 100, so at most 50 differences mk+1mkm_{k+1}-m_{k} equal 1. If there is 61 perfect squares in the original sequence, then m61=(m61m60)+(m60m59)++(m1m0)50+112=72m_{61}=(m_{61}-m_{60})+(m_{60}-m_{59})+\ldots+(m_{1}-m_{0}) \geqslant 50+11 \cdot 2=72, a contradiction. It remains to give an example of sequence containing 60 perfect squares. Let ai=2i1a_{i}=2 i-1 for 1i501 \leqslant i \leqslant 50, then we use all the odd numbers and Si=i2S_{i}=i^{2}. Further, let a51+4i=2+8i,a52+4i=1004i,a53+4i=4+8i,a54+4i=984ia_{51+4 i}=2+8 i, a_{52+4 i}=100-4 i, a_{53+4 i}=4+8 i, a_{54+4 i}=98-4 i for 0i70 \leqslant i \leqslant 7; thus we use all the even numbers between 70 and 100 and all the numbers between 2 and 60 that leave the remainder 2 or 4 when divided by 8. For 0i70 \leqslant i \leqslant 7 we have S54+4iS50+4i=204+8iS_{54+4 i}-S_{50+4 i}=204+8 i, and S54+4i=(52+2i)2S_{54+4 i}=(52+2 i)^{2}. Finally, let the last 18 terms of the sequence be 30,40,64,66,68,6,8,14,16,32,38,46,54,62,22,24,48,5630,40,64,66,68,6,8,14,16,32,38,46,54,62,22,24,48,56. This gives S87=662+2134=682,S96=702S_{87}=66^{2}+2 \cdot 134=68^{2}, S_{96}=70^{2}.

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