MathDB
santa visits 13 houses in the same order

Source: 2020 Kürschák Competition P3

April 9, 2021
combinatorics

Problem Statement

There are NN houses in a city. Every Christmas, Santa visits these NN houses in some order. Show that if NN is large enough, then it holds that for three consecutive years there are always are 1313 houses such that they have been visited in the same order for two years (out of the three consecutive years). Determine the smallest NN for which this holds.