Pigeonhole Principle: the Real Life Applications and Mathematical Investigation

Pengsheng GUO, Qing YU, Yang WANG, Yiwei GONG March 2013

Contents
1 Background and History 2 Real Life Cases 2.1 Birthday Paradox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Apple Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Fundamental Proof 3.1 First Pigeonhole Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Second Pigeonhole Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Extension of the Theory 4.1 Average Value Principle, AVP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Ramsey Theorem and its Proof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Applications of Pigeonhole Principle 5.1 Decision Making Strategy for Optimum Outcome Using Pigeonhole Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Simple Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Advanced Case: Average Value Principle . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Case of the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion . . . . . . 5.2 Question 6 from 20th IMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 6 7 . . . . . 7 7 8 9 9

6 Raised Questions 11 6.1 Ramsey Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6.2 Generalised I.E.P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 7 Conclusion 12

O geonhole Principle and applied this law into real life applications. Pigeonhole
Principle presents the most essential and basic part in the mathematics of counting and sorting. This research paper introduces the topic of Pigeonhole Principle, including theorems born from this basis and discusses several cases related to the principle. This paper will also present the fundamental proof of the theory and some advanced questions in abstract mathematics which are related to the theory of sets and graphs.

ver hundreds of thousands of years, mathematicians had discovered the Pi-

Background and History

The rst statement of the Pigeonhole Principle was made by Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet(1805-1859) in 1834 under the name Schubfachprinzip(drawer principle or shelf principle). For this reason it is also commonly called Dirichlets box principle, Dirichlets drawer principle or simply Dirichlet principle. The phrase Pigeonhole Principle was rstly used in a serious mathematics journal by mathematician Raphael M. Robinson in the year of 1940. The original drawer name is still in use in French (principe des tiroirs), Polish (zasada szuadkowa), Italian (principio dei cassetti), German (Schubfachprinzip), and Chinese(). This simple assertion has been used in many applications that range from computer data compression to problems that involve innite sets that cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence. It has been generalised to probabilistic applications as well1 .

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2.1

Real Life Cases

Birthday Paradox2

On one hot summer day, a primary school is holding a big birthday celebrating party for the old headmaster, Professor Edison. On the party, Mark, a-grade-two pupil, asked his mother a question:Mom, how many people are there on the party of Professor Edison? 367. His mother answered. Is there anyone sharing the same birthday?
If n pigeons are randomlyplaced in m pigeonholes with uniform probability of 1/m, then at m ! least one pigeonhole will hold more than one pigeon with probability of (m1 n)!mn 2 this is the Pigeonhole Principle part of birthday paradox, for the full paradox please refer to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday paradox
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No, I dont think so, everyones birthday is dierent. You must have counted wrongly. Mark smiled. No it couldnt be. I counted it twice. Marks mother argued. In the way of mathematics, the situation that 367 students in the house sharing the same birthday cant happen. ... (This story is an example of the First Pigeonhole Principle)

2.2

Apple Problem

Professor Francois de Ciel, who is teaching at a primary school, wants to teach his class about simple calculating this morning. He intends to use apples as bonus when the kids are getting correct answers. When he is holding those fresh apples from bracket in his hands, an idea came to his mind: can he distribute those 19 apples to 9 children with everyone got two apples and no apple is left? If he does not eat any apple. The answer must be impossible, but whats the reason behind it? ... (This story is an example of the Second Pigeonhole Principle)

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3.1

Fundamental Proof
First Pigeonhole Principle

If n items are put into m pigeonholes with n > m(m, n N ), then at least one pigeonhole must contain more than one item. Proof. Assume all the pigeonholes contains at most one item, then the maximum number of the total items that the n pigeonholes can contain is n, which is less than m. By contradiction, there must be at least one pigeonhole contains more than one item. Proved.

3.2

Second Pigeonhole Principle

If (mn 1) items ate put into n pigeonholes where m, n N , then there will be at least one pigeonhole must contain less than m item(s).

Proof. Assume all the pigeonhole contains greater than or equal to m item(s), then the minimum number of the total items that the n pigeonholes can contain is m n, which is greater than (mn 1). By contradiction, there must be at least one pigeonhole contains less than m item(s). Proved.

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4.1

Extension of the Theory

Average Value Principle, AVP3

For n (n 2, n N ) real numbers a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . , an with an average value is aavg , there must be at least one number that is greater than or equal to aavg and at least one number that is less than or equal to aavg . Proof. Part One Assume all the numbers are less than aavg , ai < aavg , 1 i n, i N , the sum of the numbers should be less than n navg , i.e.,
n n

S=
i=1

ai <
i=1

aavg = naavg

On the other hand,

n

ai S i=1 aavg = = n n which results in S = naavg this causes conict. By contradiction, there must be at least one number that is greater than or equal to aavg ;

Part Two Assume all the numbers are greater than aavg , ai > aavg , 1 i n, i N , the sum of the numbers should be greater than n navg , i.e.,
n n

S=
i=1
3

ai >
i=1

aavg = naavg

we use AVP here to distinguish from Mean Value Theorem

On the other hand,

n

aavg which results in

S = = n

ai
i=1

S = naavg this causes conict. By contradiction, there must be at least one number that is less than or equal to aavg . Proved.

4.2

Ramsey Theorem and its Proof

Ramsey Theorem is concerned with nding order and patterns in systems. It was rst come up by English mathematician Frank Plumpton Ramsey(1903-1930) in 1928 while exploring a problem in logic: For 6 people where there must exist 3 people that know each other, or 3 people that dont know each other. Proof. Consider 6 people as 6 vertexes V = {A, B, C, D, E, F }. If A and B know each other, a red edge will be added between A, B . Otherwise, a blue edge will be added. Since there exist 3 people that know each other, or 3 people that dont know each other. It means that a blue triangle or a red triangle should exist in the graph. For one of these 6 vertexes, for example, vertex A. There must be 5 edges connecting to it. With Pigeonhole Principle, at least 3 edges are the same colour. Without loss of generality, consider these edges are blue colour and connect to B, C and D. So if there is a blue edge among the lines BC , CD or BD, a blue triangle exists. If there isnt, there will be 3 red edges BC , CD and BD and a red triangle exists. Proved.

There also exists another proof using Pigeonhole Principle: counting the total triangles in the graph and leading to contradiction. Proof. Similarly, we prove there exist a red triangle or a blue triangle in the graph. Dene that an angle with same colour edges is called same-colour angle and an 5

angle with dierent colour edges is called dierent-colour angle. Again dene that a triangle without any dierent-colour angle is called same-colour triangle, dierentcolour triangle otherwise. Obviously, a dierent-colour triangle must contains two dierent-colour angles. Proved by contradiction, assuming that there is no blue or red triangle in the graph. It also implies there is no same-colour triangle in the graph. 6 There are 6 vertexes in this graph, so it contains = 20 triangles. Recall 3 that these 15 triangles have to be dierent-colour triangles. The maximum number of dierent-colour triangle in this graph is to be determined. Considering any vertex, for instance, A, in the graph. There are 5 edges connecting to A. It can form 2 3 = 6 dierent-colour angles at most and for 6 vertexes in this graph, it can form 6 6 = 36 dierent-colour angles at most. Recall that a dierent-colour triangle must contains 2 dierent-colour angles. Thus, for 6 vertexes in the graph, it can form 36 2 = 18 dierent-colour triangles at most. There are 20 triangles in total while there only exists 18 dierent-colour triangles. With Pigeonhole Principle, there must be same-colour triangle(s) in the graph. Proved.

4.3

Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion

Consider a simple case. If there are 100 people being separated into 2 groups, with Pigeonhole Principle, one group contains 50 or less than 50 people. In other words, if two groups both contain more than 50 people, there must exist some people belonging to rst group and second group. The Inclusion-Exclusion Principle4 is an equation relating the sizes of two sets and their union. It states that if A and B are two(nite) sets, then |A B | = |A| + |B | |A B | Proof. 1. 2. 3.
4

Consider dierent situations. If A = B , then|A B | = |A|, and |A| + |B | |A B | = |A| + |A| |A| = |A|; If A B , then |A B | = |B |, and |A| + |B ||A B | = |A| + |B ||A| = |B |; If A B , then proved by Venn diagram on the next page.

also known as the Sieve principle

Figure 1: Venn Diagram

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5.1
5.1.1

Applications of Pigeonhole Principle

Decision Making Strategy for Optimum Outcome Using Pigeonhole Principle
Simple Cases

In daily life, the Pigeonhole Principle is a useful method to help people solve some realistic problems, such as these cases. ............................................................................ Case 1: Jason is blind and he lives alone. There are 5 dierent pairs of socks with 5 colours respectively in his closet in total. It would be easy for him to distinguish them if the socks presenting in front of him are in pairs. In order to save time, whats the maximum number of socks taken by him will ensure there are a pair of socks? Solution: As a blind man, Jason nd it is always hard to nd out the suitable pair of socks with same colour from the closet. If there are 5 dierent pairs of socks in his closet in total and he can feel and determine whether two socks in his hand are a pair or not. By the Pigeonhole Principle, treating the socks as the pigeons, only if 6 socks being taken out would ensure there is at least a pair. ............................................................................ Case 2: In an experiment, the scientists want to nd two people with the ABO blood grouping matching same. In order to save time, the blood samples will be collected and processed simultaneously. Whats the smallest number of samples should be collected? Solution: 7

It is known that there are 4 types of blood in ABO blood grouping system, namely A,B, AB and O. If we treat them as 4 pigeonholes, and consider the patients as pigeons(to be put into the holes). To ensure there are at least two pigeons in a hole, the scientists should pick up at least 5 samples. ............................................................................ Case 3: Pitter is the boss of a lotto games company, the lottery is a number which contains 5 digits. Every month, the machine picks up 1 number randomly and the owner of the lottery ticket with the same number will win one million dollars. In order to demonstrate the justice of the lottery, there must be at least one winner every month. Based on the former condition, calculate the minimum number of customers should this ticket be sold to. Solution: Since every digit of the number varies from 0 to 9, there are 105 numbers in total. As a result of it, according to the Pigeonhole Principle, the number of customers should be at least 105 + 1 = 10001. ............................................................................ 5.1.2 Advanced Case: Average Value Principle

There are 2000 points along a circumference. Arranging an arbitrary value from 0 to 1999 to each point randomly (every point owns only 1 value and every value corresponds to only 1 point). Prove: there exists at least one point such that the sum of this point and its adjacent two points is less than 2999. Proof. Assuming that the value of the points varies from a1 to a1999 , which indi1999

cates the sum S =

i=0

ai = 0 + 1 + 2 + + 1999 = 1999000

As for the sum of every 3 adjacent points: (a1 + a2 + a3 ) + (a2 + a3 + a4 ) + + (a1999 +2000 +a1 ) + (a2000 + a1 + a2 )
2000

=
j =1

Sj

= 3 (a1 + a2 + a3 + + a2000 ) 8

= 3 1999000 By A.V.P, among these 2000 pairs of S s, there must be at least one sum is equal or larger than 3 1999000 = 2998.5 2000 Since every sum is an integer, there must be a sum 2999. Proved. 5.1.3 Case of the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion

As an advanced version of the pigeonhole principle, Inclusion-Exclusion Principle5 is also useful in the daily life. The following is an example: A teacher of a secondary school Miss Wang takes 40 students out for a short journey, if 22 students go to national park, 18 students go boating, 10 students only just shop in the downtown, to record the activities of every student, how many students chose to go to the park and boating as well? Solution: By I.E.P, its easy to see that the intersection of the set of park and the set of boating equals to 22 + 18 + 10 40 = 10.

5.2

Question 6 from 20th IMO6

There is an international society with 1978 members. All people are from 6 countries and everyone has an identity number, 1, 2, . . . , 1977, 1978. Prove: 1) there exist three members from the same country and ones identity number equals to the sum of the other twos number or 2) there exist two members from the same country and ones identity number is twice of the other ones number. Proof. (Proving by contradiction.) Suppose set A = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 1977, 1978} and A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 , A5 , A6 are
5

subsets of A where Ai Aj = , 1 i < j 6, i = j and

i=1

Ai = A. So these 6

subsets stands for 6 countries in the question. Now dene a property P : a and b are elements of set S , a, b S . if a > b, then (a b) / S.
for convenient, we us the abbreviation I.E.P to express Inclusion-Exclusion Principle in the following content 6 IMO: International Mathematics Olympiad
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As if any subsets Ai , labelled as S , does not satisfy property P , then exist a, b S and (a b) S as well. Thus there exist three members: a, b and a b, from the same country, S , and ones identity number equals to the sum of the other twos identity number. Assuming that the result is not right. Then all the subsets Ai , 1 i 6 satises property P . Since 1978 6 > 329, with Pigeonhole Principle, there must exists a subset, labelled as A1 , containing at least 330 numbers. Let the greatest number in A1 , labelled as a, minus the other 329 numbers, thus we got the subtraction of these 329 numbers respectively. Note them as i1 , i2 , . . . , i329 . Obviously, ij A, 1 j 329. Recall that all the subsets satises property
5

P , so ij / A1 , 1 j 329. Therefore ij
k=1

Ak ,1 j 329. Again, since

329 5 > 65. with Pigeonhole Principle, there must exist a subset, labelled as A2 , containing at least 66 numbers of i1 , i2 , . . . , i329 . Similarly, the greatest number in A2 , labelled as b, minus the other 65 numbers, and we will get the subtraction of these 65 numbers, respectively. Now we prove these 65 numbers do not belong to A2 and A1 . Obviously, these 65 numbers do not belong to A2 . So we assume that there exist one number belonging to A1 , labelled as . That is = ij ik = (a aj ) (a ak ) A1 , while a is greatest number in A1 and aj , ak are elements in A1 . Recall that A1 satises the property P but now we have aj , ak A (a aj ) (a ak ) = ak aj A which leads to a contradiction. So these 65 numbers do not belong to A2 and A1 . Therefore the 65 numbers belong to A3 , A4 , A5 or A6 . Again, as 65 54 > 616, with Pigeonhole Principle, there must exist a subset, labelled as A3 , containing at least 17 numbers of those 65 numbers. Similarly, we got 16 numbers which does not belong to A3 , A2 and A1 . Since 16 3 > 5, by Pigeonhole Principle there must exist a subset labelled as A4 that contains at least 6 numbers of those 16 numbers. Similarly, we got 5 numbers which does not belong to A4 , A3 , A2 and A1 . By the same method we can have 4 numbers which does not belong to A5 , A4 , A3 , A2 and A1 . Finally,there are at least 2 numbers in the subset A6 and their subtraction belongs to A but not belong to A6 , A5 , A4 , A3 , A2 or A1 , which leads to contradiction. so there must exist three members from the same country and ones identity number equals to the sum of the other twos number or 2) there exist two members from the same country and ones identity number is twice of the other ones number. Proved.

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6.1

Raised Questions
Ramsey Number

In the aforementioned content, we proved a simple case of Ramsey Theorem. In generalised Ramsey theorem, it states that in any colouring of the edges of a suciently large complete graph, one will nd monochromatic complete subgraphs. For two colours, Ramsey theorem states that for any pair of positive integers (r, s), there exists a least positive integer R(r, s) such that for any complete graph on R(r, s) vertexes, whose edges are coloured red or blue, there exists either a complete subgraph on r vertexes which is entirely blue, or a complete subgraph on s vertexes which is entirely red. With Pigeonhole Principle, it is easy to show that R(3, 3) = 6. Actually it is very dicult to know the result. There is only some number can be determined by Pigeonhole Principle, for example, R(3, 4) = 9, R(4, 4) = 187 , R(4, 5) = 258 . So is there any good way to determine the R(r, s), with r, s N ?

6.2

Generalised I.E.P

In section 4.3, it proved that I.E.P with two sets. In general, for nite sets A1 , . . . , An , one has the identity
n n

|
i=1

Ai | =
i=1

|Ai |
i,j :1ijn

|Ai Aj |+
i,j,k:1ij kn

|Ai Aj Ak | +(1)n1 |A1 An |

Figure 2: Venn Diagram for 3 Sets

Greenwood, R. E., Gleason, A. M. (1955). Combinatorial relations and chromatic graphs. Canad. J. Math. 8 McKay, B. D., Radziszowski, S. P. (2006). R (4, 5)= 25. Journal of Graph Theory.
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This principle is widely used in Statistics and Probability Science. The formal proof is shown on Wikipedia9 .

Conclusion

Pigeonhole principle is a venerable and widely-used principle. Based on many real life cases, it has been noticed since ancient Greeks and Egyptians. By proving and developing the Pigeonhole principle, mathematicians derived more powerful and helpful theories from it, like A.V.P, Ramsey theory and principle of inclusion and exclusion so that we can solve problems which seems quiet complex. In addition, all these principles and theories are discovered from the phenomena in daily life, abstracted away from the particular examples, becoming valid anywhere. If arts is born with life, above in life and away from life, then math is born with life, levitating in life and nally returning to life. We only touched the shallow surface of the principle and related theorems in the view of mathematics and applied applications. There are still many things, even seems to be simply but with hidden truths and mysteries, remaining to be discovered and uncovered.

References
1. Allenby, R. B. J. T., & Slomson, A. B. (2011). How to count : an introduction to combinatorics (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 2. Greenwood, R. E., & Gleason, A. M. (1955). Combinatorial relations and chromatic graphs. Canad. J. Math. 3. Greenwood, R. E., & Gleason, A. M. (1955). Combinatorial relations and chromatic graphs. Canad. J. Math. 4. McKay, B. D., & Radziszowski, S. P. (2006).R(4, 5)= 25. Journal of Graph Theory. 5. Wikipedia. Ramseys theorem. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Ramsey%27s_theorem. 6. Wikipedia. Inclusion. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Inclusion. 7. Wikipedia. Pigeonhole principle. Available at: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Pigeonhole_principle. 8. Wikipedia. Graph theory. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Graph_theory.
9

you may refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusion-exclusion_principle

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9. Zenmejie(How to solve). Extension of pigeonhole principle: Average value principle. Available at: http://www.zenmejie.com/free/sample?id=530. 10. Wolfram (2013). Venn Diagram. Available at: http://mathworld. wolfram.com/VennDiagram.html. [Last Accessed 24 March 2013]

c P iXel, 2013

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