Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 380 of 400 #980 of 1964

Problem 980

AIME late
Combinatorics Difficulty 5.9 Prove it

6) Let nn be an odd number greater than 1, and given
x0=(x1(0),x2(0),xn(0))=(1,0,⋯ ,0,1) Let xik={0,xi(k−1)=xi+1k−11,xi(k−1)≠xi+1k−1,i=1,2,⋯ ,n \begin{aligned} x_{0} & =\left(x_{1}^{(0)}, x_{2}^{(0)}, x_{n}^{(0)}\right)=(1,0, \cdots, 0,1) \\ \text { Let } \quad x_{i}^{k} & =\left\{\begin{array}{l} 0, x_{i}^{(k-1)}=x_{i+1}^{k-1} \\ 1, x_{i}^{(k-1)} \neq x_{i+1}^{k-1} \end{array}, i=1,2, \cdots, n\right. \end{aligned}

where xn+1k−1=x1k−1x_{n+1}^{k-1}=x_{1}^{k-1}. Denote
xk=(x1(k),x2(k),⋯ ,xn(k)),k=1,2,⋯ x_{k}=\left(x_{1}^{(k)}, x_{2}^{(k)}, \cdots, x_{n}^{(k)}\right), k=1,2, \cdots

If a positive integer mm satisfies xm=x0x_{m}=x_{0}, prove that mm is a multiple of nn.

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.

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Official solution

Prove that xi(k)=xi(k−1)+xi+1(k−1)x_{i}^{(k)}=x_{i}^{(k-1)}+x_{i+1}^{(k-1)}, hence by induction it is easy to get
xi(k)=∑i=0kCiixi+1(0)( mod 2) x_{i}^{(k)}=\sum_{i=0}^{k} \mathrm{C}_{i}^{i} x_{i+1}^{(0)}(\bmod 2)

For simplicity, the following derivation omits  mod 2\bmod 2, and let xi+1(0)=xi+1x_{i+1}^{(0)}=x_{i+1}.
If mm is not a multiple of nn, then m=qn+r,0<r<nm=q n+r, 0<r<n, let
ai={Cmi+Cmi+n+⋯+Cmi+qn,1⩽i⩽rCmi+Cmi+n+⋯+Cmi+(q−1),r<i a_{i}=\left\{\begin{array}{l} \mathrm{C}_{m}^{i}+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{i+n}+\cdots+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{i+q n}, 1 \leqslant i \leqslant r \\ \mathrm{C}_{m}^{i}+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{i+n}+\cdots+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{i+(q-1)}, r<i \end{array}\right.

Then
xi(m)=xi+a1xi+1+a2xi+2+⋯+anxi+n x_{i}^{(m)}=x_{i}+a_{1} x_{i+1}+a_{2} x_{i+2}+\cdots+a_{n} x_{i+n}

Hence
a1xi+1+a2xi+2+⋯+anxi+n=0 a_{1} x_{i+1}+a_{2} x_{i+2}+\cdots+a_{n} x_{i+n}=0

Let i=1,2,⋯ ,ni=1,2, \cdots, n, then we have
an−1+an=0,an−2+an−1=0,⋯ ,a1+an=0 a_{n-1}+a_{n}=0, a_{n-2}+a_{n-1}=0, \cdots, a_{1}+a_{n}=0

Thus a1,a2,⋯ ,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{n} have the same parity.
On the other hand,
ar=Cmr+Cmr+n+⋯+Cmr+qn=Cmm−r+Cmm−r−n+⋯+Cmm−r−qn=Cmqn+Cm(q−1)n+⋯+Cmn+1=an+1 \begin{aligned} a_{r}= & \mathrm{C}_{m}^{r}+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{r+n}+\cdots+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{r+q n}= \\ & \mathrm{C}_{m}^{m-r}+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{m-r-n}+\cdots+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{m-r-q n}= \\ & \mathrm{C}_{m}^{q n}+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{(q-1) n}+\cdots+\mathrm{C}_{m}^{n}+1= \\ & a_{n}+1 \end{aligned}

This shows that ara_{r} and ana_{n} have different parities, which is a contradiction. Therefore, mm must be a multiple of nn.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.