Problem

Source: VII - Mathematics Regional Olympiad of Mexico Northeast 2007 P1

Tags: combinatorics



In a summer camp that is going to last $n$ weeks, you want to divide the time into $3$ periods so that each period starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. The first period will be dedicated to artistic work, the second will be for sports and in the third there will be a technological workshop. During each term, a Monday will be chosen for an expert on the topic of the term to give a talk. Let $C(n)$ be the number of ways in which the activity calendar can be made. (For example, if $n=10$ one way the calendar could be done is by putting the first four weeks for art and the artist talk on the first Monday; the next $5$ weeks could be for sports, with the athlete visit on the fourth Monday of that period; the remaining week would be for the technology workshop and the talk would be on Monday of that week.) Calculate $C(8)$.