ARML POWER QUESTION – 2004

The power question is worth 40 points. Each problem is worth 4 points. To receive full credit the presentation must
be legible, orderly, clear, and concise. Even if not proved, earlier numbered items may be used in solutions to later
numbered items but not vice-versa. The pages submitted for credit should be NUMBERED IN CONSECUTIVE
ORDER AT THE TOP OF EACH PAGE in what your team considers to be proper sequential order. PLEASE
WRITE ON ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE ANSWER PAPERS.

Put the TEAM NUMBER (not the Team name) on the cover sheet used as the first page of the papers submitted. Do
not identify the Team in any other way.

Let S denote a finite sequence of numbers. A subsequence of S consists of some terms of S in their original order. S
is considered to be a subsequence of itself. The empty sequence, a sequence of zero terms which we denote by Ø, is
also a subsequence of S. For any sequence S, let N ( S ) be the number of distinct subsequences of S. For example,
if S = 3, 4, 3, 4, then N ( S ) = N (3, 4, 3, 4) = 12 because S has the following 12 distinct subsequences:

Ø 3 4 3, 4
3, 3 4, 4 4, 3 3, 4, 3
3, 4, 4 3, 3, 4 4, 3, 4 3, 4, 3, 4

1. Find N ( S ) for each of the following sequences S:

a) 1, 2, 2, 1 b) 4, 4, 4, 2, 4 c) 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 d) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

2. a) Suppose that S is a subsequence of T. Prove that N ( S ) £ N (T ) .

b) Let T be the sequence obtained from S by writing the terms of S in reverse order. Show that N ( S ) = N (T ) .

3. Let S be a sequence with k terms. Show that k + 1 £ N ( S ) £ 2 k .

For sequences S and T, we will write ST for the sequence obtained by adding, i.e., appending the terms of T in their
original order to the end of the terms of S. For example, if S = 1, 2, 3 and T = 4, 2, 2, then ST = 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 2 and TS
= 4, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3. Also, for n a number, we will use n to represent the one-term sequence whose term is n. If S = 1, 2,
3, then by nS we mean the sequence n, 1, 2, 3.

4. a) If n is a number that does not appear in the sequence S, prove that N ( nS ) = 2 N ( S ) .

b) Suppose that n does not appear in S, but may appear in the sequence T.
Prove that N ( nSnT ) = 2 N ( SnT ) - N (T ) .
5. Using problem 4 or otherwise, compute N (1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 2) . Explain your reasoning.

6. Find an example of a sequence S with 11 terms such that N ( S ) = 2004 . Prove that your answer is correct.

7. a) If S and T are any two sequences, prove that N ( ST ) £ N ( S ) ◊ N (T ) .

N ( S ) ◊ N (T )
b) If S has k terms, prove that N ( ST ) ≥ .
k +1

8. The sequence U is a final segment of S if there exists a sequence T such that S = TU. Prove that for any non-
empty sequence S, there exists a collection U , U , K , U of different final segments of S such that
1 2 k

( ) ( )
N ( S ) - 1 can be written as N U 1 + N U 2 + K + N U k . ( )

9. Let S be a sequence with k terms. Prove that N ( S ) π 2 k - 3.

10. Let S be a sequence with k terms. Prove that at least one of the numbers

N ( S ), N ( SS ), N ( SSS ), K , N ( 123
SS K S ) is odd.
k +1