Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Ukraine

You are given a set of nn not necessarily distinct numbers {a1,a2,,an}\{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n\}, (meaning that some of them can be equal). Consider all 2n12^n - 1 nonempty subsets of this set, and for each such subset, find the sum of its elements. What largest number of these sums could turn out to be equal to 11? For example, for a set {1;2;2}\{-1; 2; 2\} we have 77 nonempty subsets: {1}\{-1\}, {2}\{2\}, {2}\{2\}, {1;2}\{-1; 2\}, {1;2}\{-1; 2\}, {2;2}\{2; 2\} and {1;2;2}\{-1; 2; 2\}, and among them there are exactly two subsets with sum 11.
(Anton Trygub)

Solution

Example, where we reach equality, is: (1,0,0,,0)(1, 0, 0, \dots, 0).

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