Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 312 of 400 #1312 of 1964

Problem 1312

National olympiad, first round
Combinatorics Difficulty 6.6 Find the answer

Each integer is colored with exactly one of 33 possible colors -- black, red or white -- satisfying the following two rules : the negative of a black number must be colored white, and the sum of two white numbers (not necessarily distinct) must be colored black.

[b](a)[/b] Show that, the negative of a white number must be colored black and the sum of two black numbers must be colored white.

[b](b)[/b] Determine all possible colorings of the integers that satisfy these rules.

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

Official solution

1. Show that the negative of a white number must be colored black:

Suppose a a is white. According to the given rules:
- The sum of two white numbers must be black. Therefore, a+a=2a a + a = 2a is black.
- The negative of a black number must be white. Therefore, 2a -2a is white.
- Now consider a2a=a a - 2a = -a . Since a a is white and 2a -2a is white, their sum a -a must be black.

Hence, if a a is white, then a -a must be black.

2. Show that the sum of two black numbers must be colored white:

Suppose a a and b b are black. According to the given rules:
- The negative of a black number must be white. Therefore, a -a and b -b are white.
- The sum of two white numbers must be black. Therefore, a+(b)=(a+b) -a + (-b) = -(a + b) is black.
- The negative of a black number must be white. Therefore, a+b a + b must be white.

Hence, the sum of two black numbers must be white.

3. Determine all possible colorings of the integers that satisfy these rules:

Let's analyze the possible colorings:
- From the rules, we know that if a a is white, then a -a is black.
- If a a is black, then a -a is white.
- The sum of two white numbers is black.
- The sum of two black numbers is white.

Consider the number 0 0 :
- If 0 0 is white, then 0+0=0 0 + 0 = 0 must be black, which is a contradiction.
- If 0 0 is black, then 0+0=0 0 + 0 = 0 must be white, which is also a contradiction.

Therefore, 0 0 cannot be colored either black or white. This implies that 0 0 must be the third color, red.

Now, consider the implications:
- If a a is any non-zero integer, it must be either black or white.
- If a a is white, then a -a is black.
- If a a is black, then a -a is white.

This leads to the conclusion that all non-zero integers must be either black or white, and 0 0 must be red.

Therefore, the only possible coloring that satisfies all the given rules is:
- 0 0 is red.
- All positive integers are either black or white.
- All negative integers are colored such that the negative of a black number is white and vice versa.

The final answer is 0 \boxed{ 0 } is red, and all non-zero integers are either black or white, with the negative of a black number being white and vice versa.

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