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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

For a given positive integer kk find, in terms of kk, the minimum value of NN for which there is a set of 2k+12k + 1 distinct positive integers that has sum greater than NN but every subset of size kk has sum at most N2.\tfrac{N}{2}.

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

Solution

Given a positive integer k k , we need to find the minimum value of N N such that there exists a set S S of 2k+1 2k + 1 distinct positive integers satisfying the following conditions:
1. The sum of all elements in S S is greater than N N .
2. Every subset of S S of size k k has a sum that is at most N2 \frac{N}{2} .

To solve this problem, we construct the set S S using the 2k+1 2k+1 smallest positive integers, starting with 1, 2, 3, ..., up to 2k+1 2k+1 .

### Step-by-Step Construction and Verification

1. Construct the Set:
Let S={1,2,3,,2k+1} S = \{1, 2, 3, \ldots, 2k+1\} .

2. **Calculate the Total Sum of S S :**
The sum of the first n n integers is given by the formula:
Sum(S)=(2k+1)(2k+2)2. \text{Sum}(S) = \frac{(2k+1)(2k+2)}{2}.

3. **Calculate N N :**
Our goal is to ensure:
Sum(S)>N. \text{Sum}(S) > N.

4. Subset Condition:
Every subset of size k k must have a sum that is at most N2 \frac{N}{2} .

- The subset with the largest sum among subsets of size k k is obtained by taking the k k largest numbers from S S , i.e., {k+2,k+3,,2k+1} \{k+2, k+3, \ldots, 2k+1\} .

- The sum of this largest subset is:
Max Subset Sum=(k+2)+(k+3)++(2k+1). \text{Max Subset Sum} = (k+2) + (k+3) + \ldots + (2k+1).
This is an arithmetic series whose sum is given by:
Max Subset Sum=k2((k+2)+(2k+1))=k2(3k+3). \text{Max Subset Sum} = \frac{k}{2}((k+2) + (2k+1)) = \frac{k}{2}(3k + 3).
Simplifying gives:
Max Subset Sum=3k2+3k2. \text{Max Subset Sum} = \frac{3k^2 + 3k}{2}.

5. **Determine N N :**
To satisfy the subset condition:
N23k2+3k2. \frac{N}{2} \geq \frac{3k^2 + 3k}{2}.
Which implies:
N3k2+3k. N \geq 3k^2 + 3k.

6. Combine Results:
From the total sum condition:
Sum(S)>N. \text{Sum}(S) > N.
Therefore, using:
(2k+1)(2k+2)2>N3k2+3k, \frac{(2k+1)(2k+2)}{2} > N \geq 3k^2 + 3k,
it suffices to have:
N=2k3+3k2+3k. N = 2k^3 + 3k^2 + 3k.

Thus, the minimum value of N N is:
2k3+3k2+3k. \boxed{2k^3 + 3k^2 + 3k}.

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