Practice

#1 Advanced Double Counting

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#1.1
#1.1

Number of Odd Degrees

Double counting Grade 8 Grade 9 ★★☆☆☆

Prove that in every finite graph, the number of vertices of odd degree is even.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P001
Difficulty: Level 2 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 8, Grade 9
#1.2
#1.2

A Club with Many Members

Average Grade 8 Grade 9 ★★☆☆☆

A school has \(120\) students and \(15\) clubs. Each student attends exactly \(4\) clubs. Prove that some club has at least \(32\) students.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P002
Difficulty: Level 2 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 8, Grade 9
#1.3
#1.3

A Marked Line

Average Grade 8 Grade 9 ★★☆☆☆

In a \(12\times12\) table, \(70\) cells are marked. Prove that some row or column contains at least \(6\) marked cells.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P003
Difficulty: Level 2 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 8, Grade 9
#1.4
#1.4

All Subsets

Double counting Grade 8 Grade 9 ★★☆☆☆

Give a combinatorial proof of \(\sum_{k=0}^{n}\binom nk=2^n\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P004
Difficulty: Level 2 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 8, Grade 9
#1.5
#1.5

A Marked Element

Double counting Grade 8 Grade 9 ★★☆☆☆

Prove \(\sum_{k=0}^n k\binom nk=n2^{n-1}\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P005
Difficulty: Level 2 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 8, Grade 9
#1.6
#1.6

An Element in Many Sets

Average Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

There are \(18\) subsets of a \(10\)-element set, each having at least \(4\) elements. Prove that some element belongs to at least \(8\) subsets.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P006
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.7
#1.7

A Large Degree

Average Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

A simple graph has \(n\) vertices and more than \(\frac{(r-1)n}{2}\) edges. Prove that some vertex has degree at least \(r\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P007
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.8
#1.8

Tournament Wins

Average Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

In a tournament, each of \(n\) players played each other exactly once, with no draws. Prove that some player won at least \(\frac{n-1}{2}\) games, and some player won at most \(\frac{n-1}{2}\) games.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P008
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.9
#1.9

Two Marked Points

Double counting Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

Prove the identity \(\sum_{k=0}^n \binom{k}{2}\binom nk=\binom n2 2^{n-2}\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P009
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.10
#1.10

Common Marked Columns

Double counting Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

In a \(6\times6\) table, exactly \(3\) cells are marked in each row. Prove that there are two columns that are marked together in at least two rows.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P010
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.11
#1.11

Two Sets with Large Intersection

Average Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

There are \(8\) three-element subsets of a \(5\)-element set. Prove that two of them have at least two common elements.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P011
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.12
#1.12

Many Solved Problems

Average Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★☆☆

At an olympiad, there are \(30\) participants and \(6\) problems. Each participant solved at least \(3\) problems. Prove that some problem was solved by at least \(15\) participants.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P012
Difficulty: Level 3 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.13
#1.13

Almost Disjoint Blocks

Sets Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★★☆

In an \(n\)-element set, \(m\) subsets of size \(k\) are chosen. Any two chosen subsets have at most one common element. Prove that \(m\binom{k}{2}\le\binom n2\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P013
Difficulty: Level 4 of 5
Tag: Sets
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.14
#1.14

Rows with Limited Intersections

Rows Columns Grade 9 Grade 10 ★★★★☆

In an \(n\times n\) table, exactly \(r\) cells are marked in each row. Any two columns are marked together in at most one row. Prove that \(n\binom r2\le\binom n2\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P014
Difficulty: Level 4 of 5
Tag: Rows Columns
Grade: Grade 9, Grade 10
#1.15
#1.15

Paths of Length Two

Double counting Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★☆

In a graph, the vertex degrees are \(d_1,\ldots,d_n\). Prove that the number of unordered paths of length \(2\) is \(\sum_{i=1}^n\binom{d_i}{2}\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P015
Difficulty: Level 4 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11
#1.16
#1.16

Common Solved Problems

Average Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★☆

There are \(21\) students and \(10\) problems. Each student solved at least \(6\) problems. Prove that two students solved at least \(4\) common problems.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P016
Difficulty: Level 4 of 5
Tag: Average
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11
#1.17
#1.17

Large Intersection Among Many Sets

Double counting Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★☆

In a \(20\)-element set, \(30\) subsets of size \(6\) are chosen. Prove that two of them intersect in at least two elements.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P017
Difficulty: Level 4 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11
#1.18
#1.18

Generalisation to \((t+1)\)-Subsets

Sets Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★★

Suppose \(m\) subsets of size \(k\) are chosen in an \(n\)-element set. Any two chosen subsets have at most \(t\) common elements. Prove that \(m\binom{k}{t+1}\le\binom{n}{t+1}\).

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P018
Difficulty: Level 5 of 5
Tag: Sets
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11
#1.19
#1.19

Many Paths of Length Two

Double counting Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★★

A graph has \(n\) vertices and \(m\) edges. Prove that the number of length-\(2\) paths is at least \(n\binom{\frac{2m}{n}}{2}\), where \(\binom{x}{2}=\frac{x(x-1)}2\). Explain why this implies: if the average degree is greater than \(r\), then some vertex lies in more than \(\binom r2\) length-\(2\) paths as the middle vertex.

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P019
Difficulty: Level 5 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11
#1.20
#1.20

Strong Intersection Through an Average

Double counting Grade 10 Grade 11 ★★★★★

Let \(A_1,\ldots,A_m\) be subsets of an \(n\)-element set, each of size at least \(r\). Prove that there exist two sets \(A_i,A_j\) such that

\[\left|A_i\cap A_j\right|\ge \frac{r(mr-n)}{n(m-1)}.\]

Details
Problem: COM-B2-M01-P020
Difficulty: Level 5 of 5
Tag: Double counting
Grade: Grade 10, Grade 11