Combinatorics Course Week 4: 1 In-Class Problems

Combinatorics course week 4
Hoang Nguyen
June 2021
1 In-class problems
1. Let f2 (n) denote the maximum number of times the unit distance can
occur among n points in R2 . Then there exists a constant c > 0 such that:
f2 (n) ≤ cn3/2
2. Consider S is a set of n points in the unit square D, then every three points
of S determine a triangle (possibly a degenerate one, with zero area). Let
∆(S) denote the minimum of the areas of these triangles, and let ∆(n)
(for n ≥ 3 ∈ Z+ ) denote the supremum of the values of ∆(S). Show that
there exists c > 0 such that ∆(n) ≥ nc2 ∀n.
3. There exists a set of n points in R2 that have at least

c
n1+ log log n
unit distances for some constant c.

4. Let f3 (n) denote the maximum number of times the unit distance can
occur among n points in R3 . Show that:
c1 n4/3 log log n ≤ f3 (n) ≤ c2 n5/3
2 Homework
1. Prove that in a tournament with 799 teams, there exist 14 teams, that
can be partitioned into groups in a way that all of the teams in the first
group have won all of the teams in the second group.
2. There are n students. Denoted the number of the selections to select two
students (with their weights are a and b) such that |a − b| ≤ 1 (kg) and
|a − b| ≤ 2 (kg) by A1 and A2 , respectively. Prove that A2 ≤ 3A1 + n.
1
3. In a simple graph G, we call t pairwise adjacent vertices a t-clique. If a
vertex is connected with all other vertices in the graph, we call it a central
3 1
vertex. Given are two integers n, k such that ≤ n < k < n. Let G be
2 2
a graph on n vertices such that (1) G does not contain a (k + 1)-clique;
(2) if we add an arbitrary edge to G, that creates a (k + 1)-clique. Find
the least possible number of central vertices in G.
4. Ten million fireflies are glowing in R3 at midnight. Some of the fireflies are
friends, and friendship is always mutual. Every second, one firefly moves
to a new position so that its distance from each one of its friends is the
same as it was before moving. This is the only way that the fireflies ever
change their positions. No two fireflies may every occupy the same point.
Initially, no two fireflies, friends or not, are more than a meter away.
Following some finite number of seconds, all fireflies find themselves at
least ten million meters away from their original positions. Given this
information, find the greatest possible number of friendships between the
fireflies.
5. a) Show that there exist a simple undirected graph with no cycle 4 such
that the number of edge is no less than:

1 3
− c n2
2
for some arbitrary small constant c > 0.

b) Similarly, show that there exists a simple undirected graph contains no
K3,3 subgraph such that the number of edge is no less than:

1 5
− c n3
2
6. In the Cartesian plane is given a set of points with integer coordinate
T = {(x; y) | x, y ∈ Z; |x|, |y| ≤ 20; (x; y) 6= (0; 0)}
We colour some points of T such that for each point (x; y) ∈ T then
either (x; y) or (−x; −y) is coloured. Denote N to be the number of
couples (x1 ; y1 ), (x2 ; y2 ) such that both (x1 ; y1 ) and (x2 ; y2 ) are coloured
and x1 ≡ 2x2 (mod 41), y1 ≡ 2y2 (mod 41). Find the all possible values
of N .
2
3 References and hints
3.1 Problem sources
3.1.1 In-class exercises
1. Heilbronn’s triangle problem. Also Vietnamese IMO 2021 training
2. Yufei Zhao’s MIT lecture
3. Erdos 1960
3.1.2 Homework
1. Iran TST 2008
2. AOPS
3. China TST 2012
4. USA TSTST 2020
5. Erdos-Renyi-Sos
6. Vietnam TST 2014
3.2 Ideas
• #turan
• #counting
• #construction
• #algebraicmethod
4 Theory
Turan theorem is basically a subgraph forbidding theorem, that is if the graph
does not contain a subgraph H then the number of edge cannot be more than
a certain threshold.
Thus, a common strategy in extremal combinatorics is to prove that a graph

G does not contain a certain subgraph H. The most common forms of H are
cliques and bipartite graphs.
4.1 Turan theorem

Given a simple undirected graph G(V, E) such that it does not contain a Kr as
a subgraph, we have:
r − 2 n2
|E| ≤ ×
r−1 2
3
4.2 Kovari-Sos-Turan theorem
Given a simple undirected graph G(V, E) such that it does not contain a Kr,s (r ≤
s as a subgraph, there exists constant c > 0 such that:
1
|E| ≤ cn2− r
4.3 Erdos-Stone theorem

Given a simple undirected graph G(V, E) such that it does not contain a H as
a subgraph, we have:

1 n
|E| ≤ 1 − + O(1) ×
χ(H) − 1 2
where χ(H) is the chromatic number of H.

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Combinatorics course week 4

3. There exists a set of n points in R2 that have at least

unit distances for some constant c.

c1 n4/3 log log n ≤ f3 (n) ≤ c2 n5/3

for some arbitrary small constant c > 0.

6. In the Cartesian plane is given a set of points with integer coordinate

T = {(x; y) | x, y ∈ Z; |x|, |y| ≤ 20; (x; y) 6= (0; 0)}

Thus, a common strategy in extremal combinatorics is to prove that a graph

4.1 Turan theorem

4.3 Erdos-Stone theorem

where χ(H) is the chromatic number of H.

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