Count the number of functions 'green', 'blue' such that for all integers and there does not exist an integer with 'green'.
Solution
It is clear that is determined by . The colors of the 11 even integers are independent of those of the odd integers because evens and odds are never exactly 2 apart. First, we count the number of ways to 'color' the even integers. can either be 'green' or 'blue'. If is 'green', then 'blue'. A valid coloring of the 8 other even integers corresponds bijectively to a string of 8 bits such that no two consecutive bits are 1. In general, the number of such length strings is well known to be (indexed according to , which can be proven by recursion. Therefore, the number of colorings of even integers in this case is . If is 'blue', then a valid coloring of the 10 other even integers corresponds bijectively to a string as above, of 10 bits. The number of colorings for this case is . The total number of colorings of even integers is . Using the same reasoning for coloring the odd integers, we see that the number of colorings of all of the integers is .