Determine the average value of
∣ a 1 − a 2 ∣ + ∣ a 3 − a 4 ∣ + ∣ a 5 − a 6 ∣ + ⋯ + ∣ a 1 9 7 − a 1 9 8 ∣ + ∣ a 1 9 9 − a 2 0 0 ∣
over all arrangements (permutations) of 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , 1 9 9 , 2 0 0 into a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , . . . , a 1 9 9 , a 2 0 0 .
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I believe we can simplify this a little bit- due to symmetry, we only need to calculate the average value of one of the components of the expression (for example ∣ a 1 − a 2 ∣ ) and then multiply it by 100.
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True, you can see that is in effect what I have done, since 2 0 0 ! s 1 is actually the average value of one component in the expression (over all 200! permutations). Then the average of the whole expression is 1 0 0 × 2 0 0 ! s 1 which appears in my solution as a v g ( Q ) = 2 0 0 ! 1 0 0 s 1
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Ah ok. I was just thinking that it would be simpler to just quote symmetry and so avoid some calculations.
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Let Q j represent the j ′ t h arrangement of all values of a i .
There are 2 0 0 ! permutations of these values. Notice that the average value of Q can be thought of as the sum of Q i over all permutations divided by the total number of permutations
ie. a v g ( Q ) = 2 0 0 ! j = 1 ∑ 2 0 0 ! Q j .
let s 1 be the sum over all permutations of ∣ a 1 − a 2 ∣ , s 2 be sum over all permutations of ∣ a 3 − a 4 ∣ , etc.
Then, j = 1 ∑ 2 0 0 ! Q j = s 1 + s 2 + s 3 + . . . + s 9 9 + s 1 0 0
however, notice that s 1 = s 2 = s 3 = . . . = s 9 9 = s 1 0 0 because each case that shows up in one term for some j in Q j also shows up as a case in another term for some other j .
Thus, j = 1 ∑ 2 0 0 ! Q j = 1 0 0 s 1 , and a v g ( Q ) = 2 0 0 ! 1 0 0 s 1
To find s 1 , consider summing all of the cases of ∣ u − v ∣ where u > v , each case will happen in 2 × 1 9 8 ! of the 200! permutations, since there are 1 9 8 ! permutations of the other 198 values of a i and ∣ u − v ∣ = ∣ v − u ∣ ... Thus s 1 = 2 × 1 9 8 ! × D where D is the value of this sum
if you write out terms in D as an array of values, and group terms into rows based on equivalent values, it becomes easy to notice the value 199 comes up once, 198 comes up twice, 197 three times, etc.
Thus D = 1 × ( 1 9 9 ) + 2 × ( 1 9 8 ) + 3 × ( 1 9 7 ) + . . . + 1 9 8 × ( 2 ) + 1 9 9 × ( 1 )
In sigma notation D = k = 1 ∑ 1 9 9 k ( 2 0 0 − k ) = k = 1 ∑ 1 9 9 ( 2 0 0 k − k 2 ) = 2 0 0 k = 1 ∑ 1 9 9 k − k = 1 ∑ 1 9 9 k 2
Now using the fact that k = 1 ∑ n k = 2 n ( n + 1 ) and k = 1 ∑ n k 2 = 6 n ( 2 n + 1 ) ( n + 1 )
D = 2 0 0 × 2 1 9 9 ( 2 0 0 ) − 6 1 9 9 ( 2 0 0 ) ( 3 9 9 ) = 2 2 0 0 ( 1 9 9 ) ( 2 0 0 − 3 3 9 9 ) = 2 2 0 0 ( 1 9 9 ) ( 6 7 )
plugging this value into s 1 = 2 ( 1 9 8 ! ) D gives s 1 = 2 0 0 ! ( 6 7 )
recall a v g ( Q ) = 2 0 0 ! 1 0 0 s 1 subbing in our numerical value for s 1 gives us a v g ( Q ) = 2 0 0 ! 1 0 0 × ( 2 0 0 ! ) × 6 7 = 1 0 0 × 6 7 = 6700