Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 70 of 300 #1470 of 2000

Problem 1470

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Combinatorics Difficulty 7.1 Prove it

Let MM be the set of all lattice points in the plane (i.e. points with integer coordinates, in a fixed Cartesian coordinate system). For any point P=(x,y)MP=(x,y)\in M we call the points (x1,y)(x-1,y), (x+1,y)(x+1,y), (x,y1)(x,y-1), (x,y+1)(x,y+1) neighbors of PP. Let SS be a finite subset of MM. A one-to-one mapping ff of SS onto SS is called perfect if f(P)f(P) is a neighbor of PP, for any PSP\in S. Prove that if such a mapping exists, then there exists also a perfect mapping g:SSg:S\to S with the additional property g(g(P))=Pg(g(P))=P for PSP\in S.

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, read the official solution, then mark yourself honestly — the ladder only means something if the record is true.

Official solution

1. Define the problem and the given conditions:
- Let M M be the set of all lattice points in the plane, i.e., points with integer coordinates (x,y)(x, y).
- For any point P=(x,y)M P = (x, y) \in M , the neighbors of P P are the points (x1,y)(x-1, y), (x+1,y)(x+1, y), (x,y1)(x, y-1), and (x,y+1)(x, y+1).
- Let S S be a finite subset of M M .
- A one-to-one mapping f f of S S onto S S is called perfect if f(P) f(P) is a neighbor of P P for any PS P \in S .

2. Objective:
- Prove that if such a perfect mapping f f exists, then there also exists a perfect mapping g:SS g: S \to S with the additional property g(g(P))=P g(g(P)) = P for all PS P \in S .

3. **Consider the orbit of a point P P under f f :**
- Define the orbit O(P) O(P) of a point PS P \in S as O(P):={yS:y=fn(P),nZ0} O(P) := \{ y \in S : y = f^n(P), n \in \mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0} \} .
- Since S S is finite and f f is one-to-one, the sequence P,f(P),f2(P), P, f(P), f^2(P), \ldots must eventually repeat, implying that fn(P)=P f^n(P) = P for some n n .

4. **Partition S S into disjoint orbits:**
- The set S S can be partitioned into disjoint orbits O(P) O(P) for PS P \in S .
- Each orbit O(P) O(P) is a cycle of points under the mapping f f .

5. Properties of the orbits:
- Since f f is a perfect mapping, each point in an orbit O(P) O(P) is mapped to one of its neighbors.
- The length of each orbit O(P) |O(P)| must be even. This is because each point has exactly one neighbor it maps to, and the cycle must return to the starting point, requiring an even number of steps.

6. **Construct the mapping g g :**
- For each orbit O(P) O(P) , define g g such that g(P)=f(P) g(P) = f(P) and g(f(P))=P g(f(P)) = P .
- This ensures that g(g(P))=g(f(P))=P g(g(P)) = g(f(P)) = P for all PS P \in S .

7. **Verify the properties of g g :**
- g g is a one-to-one mapping of S S onto S S because it is defined in terms of the one-to-one mapping f f .
- g(P) g(P) is a neighbor of P P because f(P) f(P) is a neighbor of P P .
- g(g(P))=P g(g(P)) = P by construction.

Thus, we have constructed a perfect mapping g g with the desired properties.

\blacksquare

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.