Problem

Source: ELMO Shortlist 2023 C5

Tags: Elmo, combinatorics



Define the mexth of \(k\) sets as the \(k\)th smallest positive integer that none of them contain, if it exists. Does there exist a family \(\mathcal F\) of sets of positive integers such that for any nonempty finite subset \(\mathcal G\) of \(\mathcal F\), the mexth of \(\mathcal G\) exists, and for any positive integer \(n\), there is exactly one nonempty finite subset \(\mathcal G\) of \(\mathcal F\) such that \(n\) is the mexth of \(\mathcal G\). Proposed by Espen Slettnes