Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 180 of 400 #1180 of 1964

Problem 1180

National olympiad, first round
Combinatorics Difficulty 6.3 Prove it

2. The set {1,2,3,,20}\{1,2,3, \ldots, 20\} is divided into two disjoint subsets A={a1,a2,,a10}A=\left\{a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{10}\right\} and B={b1,b2,,b10}B=\left\{b_{1}, b_{2}, \ldots, b_{10}\right\}, such that

a1>a2>>a10 and b1<b2<<b10 a_{1}>a_{2}>\ldots>a_{10} \quad \text { and } \quad b_{1}<b_{2}<\ldots<b_{10}

Prove that

a1b1+a2b2+a3b3++a10b10=100 \left|a_{1}-b_{1}\right|+\left|a_{2}-b_{2}\right|+\left|a_{3}-b_{3}\right|+\ldots+\left|a_{10}-b_{10}\right|=100

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

Official solution

Solution. It is clear that exactly one of the numbers a1a_{1} and b20b_{20} is 20. Without loss of generality, we can take a1=20a_{1}=20. Let, for example, ai+1ai2a_{i+1}-a_{i} \geq 2 for some i{1,2,,9}i \in\{1,2, \ldots, 9\} and let jj be such that bj=ai+1b_{j}=a_{i}+1. The sets A={a1,a2,,a10}A^{\prime}=\left\{a_{1}^{\prime}, a_{2}^{\prime}, \ldots, a_{10}^{\prime}\right\} and B={b1,b2,,b10}\quad B^{\prime}=\left\{b_{1}^{\prime}, b_{2}^{\prime}, \ldots, b_{10}^{\prime}\right\} where ak=ak(ki),ai=ai+1a_{k}^{\prime}=a_{k} \quad(k \neq i), a_{i}^{\prime}=a_{i}+1, bk=bk(kj),bj=bj1b_{k}^{\prime}=b_{k}(k \neq j), b_{j}^{\prime}=b_{j}-1 are disjoint subsets of {1,2,3,,20}\{1,2,3, \ldots, 20\} and it holds

a1b1+a2b2++a10b10=a1b1+a2b2++a10b10 \left|a_{1}^{\prime}-b_{1}^{\prime}\right|+\left|a_{2}^{\prime}-b_{2}^{\prime}\right|+\ldots+\left|a_{10}^{\prime}-b_{10}^{\prime}\right|=\left|a_{1}-b_{1}\right|+\left|a_{2}-b_{2}\right|+\ldots+\left|a_{10}-b_{10}\right|

After a finite number of such steps, we arrive at the case a1=20,a2=19,,a10=11a_{1}=20, a_{2}=19, \ldots, a_{10}=11, b1=1,b2=2,,b10=10b_{1}=1, b_{2}=2, \ldots, b_{10}=10 where it holds

a1b1+a2b2+a3b3++a10b10=19+17+15++1=100 \left|a_{1}-b_{1}\right|+\left|a_{2}-b_{2}\right|+\left|a_{3}-b_{3}\right|+\ldots+\left|a_{10}-b_{10}\right|=19+17+15+\ldots+1=100

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