Problem

Source: Turkey TST 1997 Problem 3

Tags: LaTeX, combinatorics proposed, combinatorics



In a football league, whenever a player is transferred from a team $X$ with $x$ players to a team $Y$ with $y$ players, the federation is paid $y-x$ billions liras by $Y$ if $y \geq x$, while the federation pays $x-y$ billions liras to $X$ if $x > y$. A player is allowed to change as many teams as he wishes during a season. Suppose that a season started with $18$ teams of $20$ players each. At the end of the season, $12$ of the teams turn out to have again $20$ players, while the remaining $6$ teams end up with $16,16, 21, 22, 22, 23$ players, respectively. What is the maximal amount the federation may have won during the season?