Problem

Source: Belarusian National Olympiad 2024

Tags: combinatorics, function



Let $S$ be the set of all non-increasing sequences of numbers $a_1 \geq a_2 \geq \ldots \geq a_{101}$ such that $a_i \in \{ 0,1,\ldots ,101 \}$ for all $1 \leq i \leq 101$ For every sequence $s \in S$ let $$f(s)=\lceil \frac{a_1}{2} \rceil+\lfloor \frac{a_2}{2} \rfloor + \lceil \frac{a_3}{2} \rceil + \ldots + \lfloor \frac{a_{100}}{2} \rfloor + \lceil \frac{a_{101}}{2} \rceil$$where $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is the greatest integer, not exceeding $x$, and $\lceil x \rceil$ is the least integer at least $x$. Prove that the number of sequences $s \in S$ for which $f(s)$ is even is the same, as the number of sequences $s$ for which $f(s)$ is odd M. Zorka