1987 USAMO Problems/Problem 5

Problem

$a_1, a_2, \cdots, a_n$ is a sequence of 0's and 1's. T is the number of triples $(a_i, a_j, a_k)$ with $i<j<k$ which are not equal to (0, 1, 0) or (1, 0, 1). For $1\le i\le n$, $f(i)$ is the number of $j<i$ with $a_j = a_i$ plus the number of $j>i$ with $a_j\neq a_i$. Show that $T=\sum_{i=1}^n f(i)\cdot\left(\frac{f(i)-1}2\right)$. If n is odd, what is the smallest value of T?

Solution

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See Also

1987 USAMO (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 4
Followed by
Last Question
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All USAMO Problems and Solutions

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