$5$ airway companies operate in a country consisting of $36$ cities. Between any pair of cities exactly one company operates two way flights. If some air company operates between cities $A, B$ and $B, C$ we say that the triple $A, B, C$ is properly-connected. Determine the largest possible value of $k$ such that no matter how these flights are arranged there are at least $k$ properly-connected triples.
Problem
Source: Turkey National Olympiad 2014 P6
Tags: inequalities, combinatorics proposed, combinatorics
18.11.2014 00:57
Call the "middle" vertex $B$ in a properly-connected triple $(A,B,C)$ the hub of the triple. Consider an arbitrary vertex $v$, incident to $x_i$ edges representing flights operated by the company $C_i$, for $1\leq i\leq 5$, thus with $\sum_{i=1}^5 x_i = 35$. Then the number of properly-connected triples of hub $v$ is $\sum_{i=1}^5 \binom {x_i}{2} \geq 5\binom{7}{2} = 105$, by Jensen's inequality (with equality for $x_1=x_2=x_3=x_4=x_5 = 7$), therefore the total number of properly-connected triples is at least $k=36\cdot 105 = 3780$. But it is well-known the $\binom {36}{2}$ possible pairs of vertices may be partitioned into $35$ groups, each of $18$ pairs that together contain all $36$ vertices. Assign $7$ groups to each of the $5$ companies, to get a model where the value $\boxed{k=3780}$ is actually reached, thus is the largest with the required property.
20.11.2014 13:29
This is awful question for 6 i think. In exam, i didnt even look for a solution for 6. question. I know thats my fault but too many people did this fault. Whats the reason behind preparing this question for 6?
20.11.2014 16:45
Probably the lack of a more appropriate question, or a misbelief on its difficulty. I agree, it's hardly a question 6.
22.11.2014 01:50
I think you have to prove thatk=3780is the largest possible value, because what you did is only show that no matter how the situation is, there are at least 3780 properly-connected triples. But maybe i just have some misunderstndings:)
22.11.2014 09:07
First I did show that, no matter what, there are at least $k=3780$ properly-connected triples. And then I exhibited an example with exactly $k=3780$ properly-connected triples. This shows this $k$ is the largest possible, since no larger value is reached for my example. So yes, you have some misunderstandings