Math 30 Problems for 10/18/10

In-Class Problems
50. Consider a set S of 40 points in the plane. Suppose that they are joined
by at least 401 line segments. Show that at least one triangle is formed (with
vertices in S). Show that it is possible to draw 400 line segments such that no
triangle is formed. Can you generalize to the case of 2n points and n2 + 1 line
segments?
51. (Putnam) At a party assume that no boy dances with every girl but each
girl dances with at least one boy. Prove that there are two couples gb and g 0 b0
which dance whereas g goes not dance with b0 and g 0 does not dance with b.
52. Every room in a house has an even number of doors. Prove that there are
an even number of entrance doors to the house.
53. (Zeitz 4.1.10) Seventeen people are at a party. It turns out that for each
pair of people present, exactly one of the following statements is true: “They
haven’t met,” “They are good friends.” or “They hate each other.” Prove that
there must be a trio (3) of people at the party all of whom are either mutual
strangers, mutual good friends, or mutual enemies.
54. (Zeitz 4.1.17) A domino consists of two squares, each of which is marked
with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 dots. Is it possible to arrange the dominos on a circle
so that the adjacent halves of the neighboring dominos have the same number
of dots?
55. (Zeitz 4.1.23) Consider a 3 × 3 × 3) cube made out of 27 hollow subcubes.
The subcubes are connected by doors on their faces (so every subcube has six
doors, although some doors open to the “outside”). Is it possible to start at the
center cube and visit every other cube exactly once?
Out-of-Class Problems
31. In a math class with 24 students the individuals are polled and asked how
many members of the class they are friends with. The result of the poll is as
follows: Three 3 said they are friends with 4 persons in the class; four said they
are friends with 5 persons in the class; six said they are friends with 7 persons
in the class; seven said they are friends with 9 persons in the class; and foursaid
they are friends with 11 persons in the class Explain why some student most
have miscounted their number of friends.
32. There are n people at a party, P1 , P2 , . . . , Pn . Let aj be the number of
people with whom person j is acquainted (we do not assume that a person is
acquainted with themself and that this relation is symmetric: if Pj is acquainted
with Pk then Pk is acquainted with Pj . Prove that there are two different people
at the party who are acquainted with the same number of people, i.e. there are
j 6= k such that aj = ak .
33. At a party there are 25 people. As it happens, among any subset of four
people there is at least one person who knows the other three. Prove that there
is a person at the party who knows all the other people.