IMC 2022 · Problem 4

Day 129th IMC · Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Statement

Let n>3n > 3 be an integer. Let Ω\Omega be the set of all triples of distinct elements of {1,2,…,n}\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}. Let mm denote the minimal number of colours which suffice to colour Ω\Omega so that whenever 1≤a<b<c<d≤n1 \le a < b < c < d \le n, the triples {a,b,c}\{a, b, c\} and {b,c,d}\{b, c, d\} have different colours. Prove that

1100log⁡log⁡n⩽m⩽100log⁡log⁡n.\frac{1}{100} \log\log n \leqslant m \leqslant 100 \log\log n.

Official solution

Hidden so you can work on the problem first.

Proposed by Danila Cherkashin, St. Petersburg.