Tartar 5

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Luc TARTAR to John MACKEY, September 23, 2009

Your question about Fibonacci numbers (with F0 = 0 and F1 = 1, giving the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,
13, 21, 34, etc) is a consequence of the formula

F2n+1 = Fn2 + Fn+1


2
for n ≥ 1,
2
(1)
F2n+2 = Fn+2 − Fn2 for n ≥ 1,

2
since one deduces that F2n+1 = (Fn2 + Fn+1
2
)2 = (Fn+1
2
− Fn2 )2 + (2Fn Fn+1 )2 , and one may replace Fn+1
2
− Fn2
by (Fn+1 − Fn ) (Fn+1 + Fn ) = Fn−1 Fn+2 . One proves (1) by induction, since both formulas are true for
n = 1, and assuming the formulas true for n, one has

F2n+3 = F2n+1 + F2n+2 = Fn2 + Fn+1


2 2
+ Fn+2 − Fn2 = Fn+1
2 2
+ Fn+2 , (2)

and
2
F2n+4 = F2n+2 + F2n+3 = Fn+2 − Fn2 + Fn+1
2 2
+ Fn+2 2
= 2Fn+2 2
+ Fn+1 − (Fn+2 − Fn+1 )2
2
(3)
= Fn+2 + 2Fn+2 Fn+1 = (Fn+2 + Fn+1 )2 − Fn+1
2 2
= Fn+3 2
− Fn+1 .

For your problem set 5 on September 22,


Eötvös(1930/2): A straight line is drawn across and 8 × 8 chessboard. It is said to pierce a square if it passes
through an interior point of the square. At most how many of the 64 squares can this line pierce?
I had not written a solution before: A diagonal pierces eight diagonal squares, and by moving it a little it can
pierce 7 more squares, given a total of 15, which is the maximum number. Take a line piercing a maximum
number of squares; one may move it slightly so that it does not go through any corner. The square through
which it enters and the square through which it leaves define some a × b rectangle (with 1 ≤ a, b ≤ 8) and
one shows that the line pierces a + b − 1 squares in that a × b rectangle; it crosses a − 1 internal vertical
sides, b − 1 internal horizontal sides, plus 2 on the boundaries; for each of these a + b sides crossed one puts
a mark on each of the two squares that it separates, so that two marks are put outside and the 2(a + b) − 2
marks correspond to a + b − 1 pierced squares, since each pierced square gets two marks.
Eötvös (1933/1): Let a, b, c and d be real numbers such that a2 + b2 = c2 + d2 = 1 and a c + b d = 0.
Determine the  valueof a b + c d.  
a b T T a c
Hint: If P = , then the hypothesis if P P = I, where P is the transposed matrix and I
c d   b d
0 0
is the identity matrix . This shows that P is invertible, and that its inverse is P T , so that P T P = I,
0 0
which means a2 + c2 = b2 + d2 = 1 and a b + c d = 0.
Another method is to take a = sin α, b = cos α, c = cos β, and d = sin β, so that sin(α + β) = 0, i.e.
α + β = k π for some k ∈ Z. Then 2(a b + c d) = sin 2α + sin 2β, which is 0 since 2β = 2k π − 2α.
Your problem 3 (Putnam 1965-A5): In how many ways can the integers from 1 to n be ordered subject to
the condition that, except for the first integer on the left, every integer differs by 1 from some integer to the
left of it?
I had not written a solution before: If the first integer is j, there are n − j integers above and j − 1 integers
below; at each step, one must choose either the smallest integer remaining in the group above, or the largest
integer remaining in the group below; if one records the choices below, one must choosePa subset of j − 1
n−1 n−1
elements inside a set of n − 1 elements, and there are n−1j−1 choices, so that the answer is j=1 j−1 , which
n−1 n−1
is the binomial expansion of (1 + 1) , and the answer is 2 .
Your problem 4 (Putnam 1965-B3): Prove that there are exactly three right-angled triangles whose sides are
integers while the area is numerically equal to twice the perimeter.
Hint: If A2 + B 2 = C 2 and the gcd (greatest common divisor) of A, B, and C is g, then A = g a, B = g b,
and C = g c, with a2 + b2 = c2 and a, b, and c having no common factor, so that a and b cannot both be
even (which will make c even), and they cannot both be odd (because it would give c2 = 2 (mod 4), which
is impossible), and c is then odd. If b is even, then a2 = (c − b) (c + b) and as c − b and c + b are relatively
2 2
prime (because they are odd), one has c − b = m2 and c + b = n2 with m < n and both odd, i.e. b = n −m 2 ,

1
2 2 2 2 2
a = m n, and c = n +m 2 . Then the condition is that A B = 4(A + B + C), i.e. g m n(n2 −m ) = 4g (n2 + m n),
n−m
or g m 2 = 4. The case g = 4 gives m = 1 and n = 3, i.e. (a, b, c) = 4(3, 4, 5) = (12, 16, 20); the case
g = 2 gives m = 1 and n = 5, i.e. (a, b, c) = 2(5, 12, 13) = (10, 24, 26); the case g = 1 gives m = 1 and n = 9,
i.e. (a, b, c) = (9, 40, 41).
Your problem 5 (Putnam1966-B1): Let a convex polygon P be contained in a square of side one. Show that
the sum of the squares of the sides of P is less than or equal to 4.
I had not written a solution before: One considers the smallest rectangle with sides parallel to the axes x and
y defined by the square; if the rectangle has size a × b, one shows that the sum of the squares of the sides of P
is less than or equal to 2(a2 + b2 ), which is ≤ 4, since 0 < a, b ≤ 1. By Pythagoras, the square of a side is the
sum of the square of its projection on the x axis and the square of its projection on the y axis; the projections
in x cover twice the interval of length a, and if `1 + . . . + `k = a then `21 + . . . + `2k ≤ (`1 + . . . + `k )2 = a2 ,
so that the sum of the squares of the projections on the x axis is ≤ 2a2 ; similarly, the sum of the squares of
the projections on the y axis is ≤ 2a2 .
Your problem 6 (Putnam1966-B4): Let 0 < a1 < a2 < · · · < am n+1 be m n + 1 integers. Prove that you can
select either m + 1 of them no one of which divides any other, or n + 1 of them dividing the following one.
I had not written a solution before: For each i, let f (i) be the length of the longest chain starting at ai and
such that each term divides the following one. If for some i one has f (i) ≥ n + 1 the second part of the
assertion is true. If for all i one has f (i) ≤ n, then by the pigeon-hole principle there is a value k ∈ {1, . . . , n}
such that {i | f (i) = k} has at least m + 1 elements; if i 6= j and f (i) = f (j) = k, then ai does not divide
aj , so that the first part of the assertion is true: indeed, if ai divided aj , the chain starting with ai and
continuing with a longest chain starting at aj would imply f (i) ≥ k + 1.
If p1 , . . . , pm are distinct odd primes, and one considers the integers 2i pj for i = 1, . . . , n and j = 1, . . . , m,
then one obtains m n distinct integers; one integer in this list divides another integer in this list if and only
if they have the same value of j, so that the length of a chain such that each term divides the following one
is ≤ n; in any subset of m + 1 elements in this list, two of them must have the same value of j, so that one
divides the other.

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