Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 2.5 Junior Find the answer

Joshua chooses five distinct numbers. In how many different ways can he assign these numbers to the variables p,q,r,sp, q, r, s, and tt so that p<s,q<s,r<tp<s, q<s, r<t, and s<ts<t?

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

Solution

Suppose that the five distinct numbers that Joshua chooses are V,W,X,Y,ZV, W, X, Y, Z, and that V<W<X<Y<ZV<W<X<Y<Z. We want to assign these to p,q,r,s,tp, q, r, s, t so that p<sp<s and q<sq<s and r<tr<t and s<ts<t. First, we note that tt must be the largest of p,q,r,s,tp, q, r, s, t. This is because r<tr<t and s<ts<t, and because p<sp<s and q<sq<s, we get p<s<tp<s<t and q<s<tq<s<t, so p<tp<t and q<tq<t. Since tt is the largest, then ZZ must be tt. Now neither pp nor qq can be the second largest of the numbers (which is YY), since pp and qq are both smaller than ss and tt. Therefore, there are two cases: Y=rY=r or Y=sY=s. Case 1: Y=rY=r We have Y=rY=r and Z=tZ=t. This leaves V,W,XV, W, X (which satisfy V<W<XV<W<X) to be assigned to p,qp, q, s (which satisfy p<sp<s and q<sq<s). Since XX is the largest of V,W,XV, W, X and ss is the largest of p,q,sp, q, s, then X=sX=s. This leaves V,WV, W to be assigned to p,qp, q. Since there is no known relationship between pp and qq, then there are 2 possibilities: either V=pV=p and W=qW=q, or V=qV=q and W=pW=p. Therefore, if Y=rY=r, there are 2 possible ways to assign the numbers. Case 2: Y=sY=s We have Y=sY=s and Z=tZ=t. This leaves V,W,XV, W, X (which satisfy V<W<XV<W<X) to be assigned to p,q,rp, q, r. There is no known relationship between p,q,rp, q, r. Therefore, there are 3 ways to assign one of V,W,XV, W, X to pp. For each of these 3 ways, there are 2 ways of assigning one of the two remaining numbers to qq. For each of these 3×23 \times 2 ways, there is only 1 choice for the number assigned to rr. Overall, this gives 3×2×1=63 \times 2 \times 1=6 ways to do this assignment. Therefore, if Y=sY=s, there are 6 possible ways to assign the numbers. Having examined the two possibilities, there are 2+6=82+6=8 different ways to assign the numbers.

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