IMO 1978 · Problem 6

An international society has its members from six different countries. The list of members contains 1978 names, numbered \(1, 2, \ldots, 1978\). Prove that there is at least one member whose number is the sum of the numbers of two members from his own country, or twice as large as the number of one member from his own country.

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Solution

Assign a different color to each country. Form a complete graph with vertices \[ 0,1,2,\ldots,1978, \] and color the edge joining \(i\) and \(j\) according to the country of the member numbered \(|i-j|\).

A triangle whose three edges have the same color gives the desired conclusion. Indeed, write its vertices as \(x<y<z\). The members numbered \[ a=y-x,\qquad b=z-y,\qquad c=z-x \] then belong to the same country, and \(c=a+b\). If \(a\ne b\), this is the first alternative in the problem; if \(a=b\), then \(c=2a\), giving the second alternative.

It therefore suffices to prove that our graph contains such a triangle.

Suppose, for a contradiction, that it does not. We use the following observation: if a complete subgraph has \(m\) vertices and its edges use at most \(r\) colors, it contains a complete subgraph with at least \[ \left\lceil\frac{m-1}{r}\right\rceil \] vertices whose edges use at most \(r-1\) colors.

To prove the observation, choose a vertex \(v\). By the pigeonhole principle, at least \(\lceil(m-1)/r\rceil\) edges from \(v\) have one common color. Let \(T\) be their other endpoints. No edge between two vertices of \(T\) can have that color, since it would form a triangle of that color together with \(v\). Thus the edges within \(T\) use at most the other \(r-1\) colors, proving the observation.

Starting with our \(1979\) vertices and six colors, apply this observation repeatedly:

Maximum number of colors Guaranteed number of vertices
\(6\) \(1979\)
\(5\) \(\left\lceil1978/6\right\rceil=330\)
\(4\) \(\left\lceil329/5\right\rceil=66\)
\(3\) \(\left\lceil65/4\right\rceil=17\)
\(2\) \(\left\lceil16/3\right\rceil=6\)
\(1\) \(\left\lceil5/2\right\rceil=3\)

The last subgraph has at least three vertices and all its edges have the same color. Any three of its vertices therefore form a triangle of that color, contradicting our supposition.

Consequently such a triangle exists, and the corresponding members satisfy one of the two required alternatives. \(\square\)

The solution was checked against John Scholes' IMO solution archive (Kalva).