Skip to main content
OlympiadHQ

Browse · MathNet

Print

Team selection tests for IMO 2018

Saudi Arabia 2018 counting and probability

Problem

A non-empty subset of is called arabic if arithmetic mean of its elements is an integer. Show that the number of arabic subsets of has the same parity as .
Solution
The solution is based on a simple fact, that if you add the arithmetic mean of the sequence to the sequence, then the arithmetic mean of the sequence will not change, since Denote by the arithmetic mean of the elements of . Denote and We need to prove that is even. For that we will prove . Really, take any set from and remove its arithmetic mean. We will get an element from . Take any set from and add its arithmetic mean. We will get an element from . Since arithmetic mean of the set is defined uniquely, so we have bijection between and .

Techniques

Recursion, bijectionCounting two ways