Algebraic Techniques in Combinatorics
Winter Math Camp
Elnaz Hessami Pilehrood
January 6, 2023
1 Problems
1. Students in a a school go for ice cream in groups of at least two. After k > 1 groups have gone, every two
students have gone together exactly once. Prove that the number of students in the school is at most k.
2. Let A1 , ..., Am be distinct subsets of {1, 2, ..., n}. Suppose that there is an integer t, 1 ≤ t < n, such that
|Ai ∩ Aj | = t for all i ̸= j. Prove that m ≤ n.
3. Let A be a rectangle with side lengths x and y. Suppose that the ratio of x and y is a rational number.
Call such a rectangle a rational-ratio rectangle. Let B be a rectangle which is not rational-ratio. Show
that B cannot be tiled using rational-ratio rectangles.
4. A set T is called even if it has an even number of elements. Let n be a positive even integer, and let
S1 , ..., Sn be even subsets of the set {1, 2, ..., n}. Prove that there exist some i ̸= j such that Si ∩ Sj is
even.
5. A contest with n questions was taken by m contestants. Each question was worth a certain positive
number of points, and no partial credits were given. After all the papers have been graded, it was noticed
that by reassigning the scores of the questions, any desired ranking of the contestants could be achieved.
What is the largest possible value of m?
Pm
Definition: A convex combination of the vectors v1 , ..., vm ∈ W is a linear combination i=1 λ i vi
Pm
(λi ∈ R) where i=1 λi = 1 and λi ≥ 0.
A convex set is a subset of W that is closed under convex combinations. The convex hull of a sub-
set S ⊆ W is the set of all convex combinations of the finite subsets of S; it is denoted by conv(S). This
set is always convex. S is convex if and only if S = conv(S). The intersection of convex sets is convex.
The convex hull of a pair of points is called the straight line segment connecting the two points. A set S
is convex if and only if it contains the straight line segment connecting each pair of points of S.
1
6. Prove Radon’s Lemma: Let S ⊆ Rn be a set of m ≥ n + 2 points in Rn . Then S has two disjoint subsets
S1 and S2 whose convex hulls intersect.
7. Prove Helly’s Theorem: If C1 , ..., Cm ⊆ Rn are convex sets such that any n + 1 of them intersect, then all
of them intersect.
8. Let n points be given in the plane such that each three of them can be enclosed in a circle of radius 1.
Prove that all n points can be enclosed in a circle of radius 1.
2 Hints
1. Consider the vectors vi , where the j-th component of vi is 1 if student i was with the j-th group to get
ice cream, and 0 otherwise. What if we take the dot product of α1 v1 + ... + αn vn with itself?
2. Consider the matrix A where Ai,j is 1 if i ∈ Aj and 0 otherwise. Observe the matrix AT A; is it
nonsingular?
3. This is very similar to the case of tiling a 1 by x rectangle, where x is irrational, with squares.
4. Work over the field F2 , and consider the matrix Ai,j where Ai,j is 1 if i ∈ Aj and 0 otherwise.
5. Try to construct a matrix that represents how each student did on each question and a vector that
represents the points of each question.
6. Find a set of linearly dependent non-zero vectors. Consider a linear combination of these vectors that
adds up to 0, and look at the coefficients.
7. Prove by induction on m and use Radon’s Lemma.
8. Use Helly’s Theorem.
