olymmath

Putnam 2013 A4

  • Session A

A finite collection of digits 00 and 11 is written around a circle. An arc of length L≥0L \geq 0 consists of LL consecutive digits around the circle. For each arc ww, let Z(w)Z(w) and N(w)N(w) denote the number of 00's in ww and the number of 11's in ww, respectively. Assume that ∣Z(w)−Z(w′)∣≤1\left| Z(w) - Z(w') \right| \leq 1 for any two arcs w,w′w, w' of the same length. Suppose that some arcs w1,…,wkw_1,\dots,w_k have the property that Z=1k∑j=1kZ(wj) and N=1k∑j=1kN(wj)Z = \frac{1}{k} \sum_{j=1}^k Z(w_j) \text{ and } N = \frac{1}{k} \sum_{j=1}^k N(w_j) are both integers. Prove that there exists an arc ww with Z(w)=ZZ(w) = Z and N(w)=NN(w) = N.

Curated text Kedlaya Putnam archive. Quoted with source.

Solutions

No solution is on olymmath yet. Official and human solutions come first when they arrive. AI solutions come after them, with a label.

Add a solution

Locator putnam/2013/a4 · Tag DN5VGQ5M94 · Edit this page on GitHub · Keys: j next, k previous