Problem

Source: Tournament of Towns Spring 2015 Senior A-level

Tags: combinatorics



(a) A $2 \times n$-table (with $n > 2$) is filled with numbers so that the sums in all the columns are different. Prove that it is possible to permute the numbers in the table so that the sums in the columns would still be different and the sums in the rows would also be different. ($2$ points) (b) A $100 \times 100$-table is filled with numbers such that the sums in all the columns are different. Is it always possible to permute the numbers in the table so that the sums in the columns would still be different and the sums in the rows would also be different? ($6$ points)