OMC

2011
Invariance
Prin-
ci-
ple
Lecture
22
LECTURE 17 — INVARIANCE PRINCIPLE

YONI MILLER

Invariance Principle seeks what always remains the same or invariant. For example, chess, games,
algorithms transformations, symmetry and even geometric ratios, such as Euler’s Characteristic
Theorem. Invariance principle has virtually no theorems, and rather is done case by case, so
practice is the only way to get good at spotting and creating useful scenarios for “PI”.

1. Beginners

On a chess or checker board (same thing essentially), a horse can move in 8 different directions.
But it’s invariant the color arrangement that a horse is placed on. If a horse started out on black
tile, then it will always move to a white tile, and conversely as well.

1.1. Horse traveller. On a regular chessboard, there are 8 × 8 tiles. Prove that if I remove two
diagonally opposite tiles, that my horse cannot go on every single tile once, without traveling on
the same tile twice.
(1) When the horse travels, it always has to step on a tile of each color every time, so we can
the difference in the amount of tiles that were travelled on is at maximum one.
0 < |A − B| ≤ 1
where A and B represent the different variables, i.e. in this case, colors.
(2) However, WLOG, say the two tiles that were removed were white, that means we have 32
black tiles, and 30 tiles are white. But we know from our invariance since he must cross on
equal amount of each color, that our horse cannot complete this task.

1.2. Motel Guests. Three guests went to a motel, which costs 30 dollars a night. The next day
the porter tells them it’s only 27 dollars a night, so she gives each of the guests a dollar change.
(30 − 3 = 9 × 3 = 27. Upon returning to the desk, the porter realizes the hotel only costs 25 dollars,
and thus bags 2 for herself. However something doesn’t seem right. The porter pocketed 2, and
the guests paid 9 · 3 = 27 dollars, which adds up to 29 dollars.
(1) To make the problem easier to understand, let’s change it a little and make it more extreme.
Suppose the hotel itself was free. That means that the porter bagged 27 dollars, in addition
to the 27 dollars paid by the guests earlier, implying that 54 dollars was involved; which
is just absurd. We can see easily, that the 27 dollars here is invariant, which is the sum of
what the porter pocketed and what the hotel itself receives. Hence we have an invariant,
g − (p + h) = 0, which is the amount of money the guests paid, porters pocketed, and hotels
received, respectively.

1.3. Modularity and Coloring Proofs. Like the chess problems earlier, we will see how
coloring proofs are invaluable when combined with invariance principle.
Let there be a grid, with a 102 by 102 coordinates. Show that no matter how I pack it, I
won’t be able to fit in without overlapping, 1 by 4 line segments onto the coordinate. Below
is a diagram of the grid.
2 YONI MILLER

(a) Conjecture: In order for an a × b rectangle to be covered without overlap, by 1 × n

rectangles, if and only if n | a or n | a. (Hint: we just solved a specific case where we
showed it’s true for some cases.)
(b) Let S(n) represent the sum of the digits of n, and so S(n) − n = 9k, for some integer
k.
Let S(n) represent the sum of the digits of n. Solve for n + S(n) + S(S(n)) = 1997
solution: The trasnformation leaves the remainder invariant, by division of 3. And in
modulo three, we get 0 ≡ 2 so no solution exists.

(a) 2. Parity

You may be wondering why I chose to put Parity in its own section, even though
it’s essentially a sub case of general modular arithmetic, however I decided to make
a distinction, because in many problems, parity is not limited to just numbers or
countable objects but also direction (e.g. left and right of a certain line), or truth
values.
(i) Let 7 positive whole numbers be represented as a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 , a6 , a7 and let
b1 , b2 , b3 , b4 , b5 , b6 , b7 be the same numbers but in a different order. Will the
product (a1 − b1 )(a2 − b2 )(a3 − b3 )(a4 − b4 )(a5 − b5 )(a6 − b6 )(a7 − b7 ) always be
even? (Ross Mathematics Entrance Test)
Solution:
Clearly, if the difference of any of the seven terms is even, then the whole answer
is even, so let’s assume none of them are. However, because there’s an odd parity,
we will have one odd number that’s not paired with an even number, resulting
in an even difference. This is in fact for any n odd terms, as we did not need
the specific value of 7.
(ii) A lock has 16 keys arranged in a 4×4 array, each key oriented either horizontally
or vertically. In order to open it, all the keys must be vertically oriented. When
a key is switched to another position, all the other keys in the same row and
column automatically switch their positions too. Show that no matter what the
starting positions are, it is always possible to open this lock. (Only one key at a
time can be switched.) (Bay Area Math Olympiad 1999)
Solution. The problem is solved if there is a way to change the orientation of any
specified single key, without changing any of the others. This is equivalent to
finding a way to switch the chosen key an odd number of times, while switching
all other keys an even number of times.
This can be done by switching all keys on the same row and column of the chosen
key (including the chosen key). To see why, choose a key K. If we switch it and
all of its “sisters” that share the same row and column, K will be switched 7
times. Now, examine the other 15 keys in the lock. There are two cases: either
the key is a sister of K, or not. Suppose that L is a sister of K, say, sharing a
 LECTURE 17 — INVARIANCE PRINCIPLE 3

row with K. Then L will be switched 4 times. For the other case, suppose M is
not a sister of K. Then M will be switched twice, because among the 6 sisters
of K which are turned, exactly two of them share a row or column with M .
Consequently, of all the keys in the lock, only K is switched an odd number of
times. All other keys are switched either 2 or 4 times, leaving their orientation
unchanged. Thus we will be able to open the lock by selecting each horizontal
key one-by-one, and turning it and all of its sister keys.

3. Geometric Invariance

The most famous of these is Euler’s Characteristic Theorem, which states for all
closed or Convex (no holes) Polyhedrons, designated as χ, the following relation-
ship is invariant, χ = V − E + F = 2. Can you prove this? Consider what would
happen if you had such a polyhedron, and made it flat on the table, you’d lose
a face, but would account for it, and could you determine some sort of invariant
relation for 2 dimensions.
Other examples of Geometric invariances include the famous Power of Point,
and symmetry. Both are discussions far more worthy than simply being cate-
gorized in ”Invariances”, not to mention my fingers are getting sore as I wonder
if life will still be Invariant despite the looming Doomsday that is about to
converge dangerously soon. (In the likely even that nothing happens, I expect
you to be solving these problems and conjectures).

4. Monovariants

A monovariant simply means, that after each legal move or transformation, the
quantity in mind may or may not decrease, but it most certainly won’t decrease.
They usually make use of the ”Well Ordering Principle”, which is part of ex-
tremal principle. There will always be a finite amount of steps. For example
tournament style games, where a tie might keep both teams on, but the loser
than quits the tournament, eventually leading to one winner.
This concept is used heavily in statistics, and in predicting natural phenomenons
(such as when Dooms-Day will occur), since it sets a boundary on data.
(A) For n players, in a tournament style of one-on-one sudden suicide match, it
will take n − 1 games till one person is left.
(B) Using a card deck, with cards numbered 1 − n but not in order, perform
following operations. The top card of the deck has a value of k, which
means that you should reverse the order of the first k cards. Will the deck
eventually get card 1 on top? (Hint: Make not of the extremal principle,
that there are a finite amount of permutations of the cards, and eventually
you will be forced to repeat a a certain sequence.)
4 YONI MILLER

5. Challenging Problems

(A) Each of the consecutive integers between 1 and 103 are repeatedly replaced
by their “sums of digits”, until we have a thousand single digit numbers.
Will there be more one’s or two’s?
(B) You start of with 4 congruent right triangles. In one step, you can take
any triangle, and cut it into two with the altitude from the right triangle.
Prove that you can never get rid of congruent right triangles. (Russian
Math Olympiad, 1995)
(C) To each vertex of a regular pentagon an integer is assigned, so that the sum
of all five numbers is positive. If three consecutive vertices are assigned
the numbers x, y, z respectively, and y < 0, then the following operation
is allowed: x, y, z are replaced by x + y, −y, z + y respectively. Such an
operation is performed repeatedly as long as at least one of the five numbers
is negative. Determine whether this procedure necessarily comes to an end
after a finite number of steps. (IMO 1986 3)
(D) A circle has been cut into 2000 sectors. There are 2001 frogs inside these
sectors. There will always be some two frogs in the same sector; each second,
two such frogs jump to the two sectors adjacent to their original sector (in
opposite directions). Prove that, at some point, at least 1001 sectors will
be inhabited. (MOSP 1998)
(E) An international society has its members from six different countries. The
list of members contain 1978 names, numbered 1, 2, . . . , 1978. Prove that
there is at least one member whose number is the sum of the numbers of
two members from his own country, or twice as large as the number of one
member from his own country. (IMO 1978 6). (Note: Can be solved using
graph theory, but try without).
(F) An n × n matrix whose entries come from the set S = {1, 2, . . . , 2n − 1} is
called a silver matrix if, for each i = 1, 2, . . . , n , the i-th row and the i-th
column together contain all elements of S . Show that:
(a) there is no silver matrix for n = 1997;
(b) silver matrices exist for infinitely many values of n .
(note: This problem was mentioned in my previous article, on induction
but again, try solving it with “IP”)
Feel Free to email me with corrections, questions and comments at Mathsolver24@gmail.com.
All errors in this lecture are my own, but many of these proposed problems and
solutions were graciously provided by others.