grandes-ecoles 2021 Q25

grandes-ecoles · France · centrale-maths1__mp Number Theory Combinatorial Number Theory and Counting
We classify cycles of length $k$ into three subsets:
  • the set $\mathcal{A}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where at least one edge appears only once;
  • the set $\mathcal{B}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where all edges appear exactly twice;
  • the set $\mathcal{C}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where all edges appear at least twice and there exists at least one that appears at least three times.

Show that, for every cycle $\vec{\imath}$ belonging to $\mathcal{C}_{k}$, $|\vec{\imath}| \leqslant \frac{k+1}{2}$.
We classify cycles of length $k$ into three subsets:
\begin{itemize}
  \item the set $\mathcal{A}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where at least one edge appears only once;
  \item the set $\mathcal{B}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where all edges appear exactly twice;
  \item the set $\mathcal{C}_{k}$, consisting of cycles where all edges appear at least twice and there exists at least one that appears at least three times.
\end{itemize}

Show that, for every cycle $\vec{\imath}$ belonging to $\mathcal{C}_{k}$, $|\vec{\imath}| \leqslant \frac{k+1}{2}$.