Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 38 of 300 #1438 of 2000

Problem 1438

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

From three boys and three girls, every boy knows exactly two girls and every girl knows exactly two boys. Prove that we can arrange boys and girls in pairs such that in every pair people know each other

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 sets and relationships:
Let the boys be B1,B2,B3 B_1, B_2, B_3 and the girls be G1,G2,G3 G_1, G_2, G_3 . According to the problem, each boy knows exactly two girls and each girl knows exactly two boys. We can represent these relationships as follows:
- B1 B_1 knows G1 G_1 and G2 G_2
- B2 B_2 knows G1 G_1 and G3 G_3
- B3 B_3 knows G2 G_2 and G3 G_3

2. Construct a bipartite graph:
We can represent this problem using a bipartite graph where one set of vertices represents the boys and the other set represents the girls. An edge between a boy and a girl indicates that they know each other. The graph can be visualized as follows:
- B1 B_1 is connected to G1 G_1 and G2 G_2
- B2 B_2 is connected to G1 G_1 and G3 G_3
- B3 B_3 is connected to G2 G_2 and G3 G_3

3. Check for a perfect matching:
A perfect matching in a bipartite graph is a matching that covers every vertex exactly once. In this case, we need to find a perfect matching where each boy is paired with a girl he knows, and each girl is paired with a boy she knows.

4. Find the perfect matching:
We can use the given relationships to find a perfect matching:
- Pair B1 B_1 with G1 G_1
- Pair B2 B_2 with G3 G_3
- Pair B3 B_3 with G2 G_2

Let's verify that these pairs satisfy the conditions:
- B1 B_1 knows G1 G_1
- B2 B_2 knows G3 G_3
- B3 B_3 knows G2 G_2

Each boy is paired with a girl he knows, and each girl is paired with a boy she knows. Therefore, this is a valid perfect matching.

\blacksquare

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