{
  "index": "2024-B-5",
  "type": "COMB",
  "tag": [
    "COMB",
    "ALG"
  ],
  "difficulty": "",
  "question": "Let $k$ and $m$ be positive integers. For a positive integer $n$, let $f(n)$ be the number of integer sequences $x_1,\\dots,x_k,y_1,\\dots,y_m,z$ satisfying $1 \\leq x_1 \\leq \\cdots \\leq x_k \\leq z \\leq n$ and $1 \\leq y_1 \\leq \\cdots \\leq y_m \\leq z \\leq n$. Show that $f(n)$ can be expressed as a polynomial in $n$ with nonnegative coefficients.",
  "solution": "For convenience, we extend the problem to allow nonnegative values for $k$ and $m$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{First solution.}\nLet $R(n,k)$ denote the number of subsets of $\\{1,...,n\\}$ of size $k$ where repetitions are allowed. \nThe ``sticks and stones'' argument shows that \n\\[\nR(n,k)=\\binom{n+k-1}{k}:\n\\]\nthere is a bijection of these subsets with linear arrangements of $k$ (unlabeled) sticks and $z-1$ (unlabeled) stones,\nwhere we recover the subset by counting the number of stones to the left of each stick.\n\nLet $f_{k,m}(n) := \\sum_{z=1}^n R(z,k)R(z,m)$. \nIt is known that for any positive integer $k$, the sum of the $k$-th powers of all positive integers less than or equal to $n$ is a polynomial in $n$ (given explicitly in terms of Bernoulli numbers via Faulhaber's formula); hence $f_{k,m}(n)$ is a polynomial in $n$. \nWe wish to show that this polynomial has nonnegative coefficients.\n\nUsing the recursion for binomial coefficients, we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nR(n,k)R(n,m) &= f_{k,m}(n)-f_{k,m}(n-1) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{z=1}^n \\left( R(z,k)R(z,m)-R(z-1,k)R(z-1,m)\\right)\\\\\n&= \\sum_{z=1}^n \\left( R(z,k)R(z,m)-R(z-1,k)R(z,m) \\right.\\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +R(z-1,k)R(z,m)-R(z-1,k)R(z-1,m) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{z=1}^n \\left( R(z,k-1)R(z,m)+R(z-1,k)R(z,m-1) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{z=1}^n \\left( R(z,k-1)R(z,m) \\right. \\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +(R(z,k)-R(z,k-1))R(z,m-1) \\right)\\\\\n&= f_{k-1,m}(n)+f_{k,m-1}(n)-f_{k-1,m-1}(n).\n\\end{align*}\nIt follows from the latter equation (replacing the index $m$ by $m+1$) that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation recurrence}\nf_{k,m}(n) = R(n,k)R(n,m+1) + f_{k-1,m}(n) - f_{k-1,m+1}(n);\n\\end{equation}\nthis can also be recovered by applying Abel summation (summation by parts) to\n$\\sum_{z=1}^n R(z,k) R(z,m)$.\n\nUsing \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence}, we can evaluate $f_{k,m}$ by induction on $k$: for the first few values we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nf_{0,m}(n) &= R(n,m+1) \\\\\nf_{1,m}(n) &= R(n,1)R(n,m+1) + R(n,m+1) - R(n,m+2) \\\\\n           & = R(n,m+1)((m+1)n+1)/(m+2) \\\\\n           & = R(n,m+1) \\frac{R(m+1,1)R(n,1)+1}{m+2}\n\\end{align*}\nand similarly\n\\begin{align*}\nf_{2,m}(n) &= R(n,m+1) (R(m+1,2)R(n,2) + R(m+1,1)R(n,1) \\\\\n&\\quad +R(m+1,0)R(n,0))/R(m+2,2).\n\\end{align*}\nThis leads us to conjecture that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation formula}\nf_{k,m}(n) = \\frac{R(n,m+1)}{R(m+2,k)} \\sum_{i=0}^k R(m+1,i)R(n,i),\n\\end{equation}\nwhich we prove by induction on $k$.\nThe base case $k=0$ is evident;\ngiven \\eqref{eq:summation formula} with $k$ replaced by $k-1$,\nwe apply \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence} to obtain\n\\begin{align*}\n&f_{k,m}(n) \\\\\n&= R(n,k) R(n,m+1) + \\frac{R(n,m+1)}{R(m+2,k-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{k-1} R(m+1,i)R(n,i)\\\\\n&\\quad - \\frac{R(n,m+2)}{R(m+3,k-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{k-1} R(m+2,i)R(n,i) \\\\\n&= \\frac{R(n,m+1)}{R(m+2,k)} \\sum_{i=0}^k R(m+1,i)R(n,i)\n\\end{align*}\nyielding \\eqref{eq:summation formula} as written.\n\nSince $R(n,i) = n(n+1)(n+2)\\cdots (n+i-1)/i!$ clearly has positive coefficients for all $i$, the explicit formula \\eqref{eq:summation formula} implies that $f_{k,m}(n)$ also has positive coefficients for all $k$ and $m$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{Second solution.} \n(by an anonymous Putnam participant)\nAs in the first solution, we deduce that $f_{k,m}(n)$ is a polynomial in $n$ of degree $k+m+1$\nsatisfying $f_{k,m}(0) = 0$ and $f_{k,m}(n) - f_{k,m}(n-1) = R(n,k)R(n,m)$.\nSince $f_{k,m}(n) > 0$ for $n \\gg 0$, this polynomial has positive leading coefficient.\nTo prove that it has nonnegative coefficients, it will suffice to prove the stronger assertion that the roots of $f_{k,m}(x)$ are all real and nonpositive, as then this will imply that $f_{k,m}(x) = c \\prod_{j=0}^{k+m} (x + r_j)$ for some $r_j \\geq 0$.\n\nSince $R(n,m) = 0$ for $m=0,-1,\\dots,-m+1$, we deduce that $f_{k,m}(n) = 0$ for \n$n=0,-1,\\dots,-m$. Consequently, $f_{k,m}(x)$ can be written as $x(x+1)\\cdots(x+m) Q(x)$ for some polynomial $Q(x)$ of degree $k$, and it will suffice to check that $Q(x)$ has $k$ distinct negative real roots.\n\nFrom the equality $f_{k,m}(n) - f_{k,m}(n-1) = R(n,k)R(n,m)$, if we substitute in for $Q(x)$\nand divide out common factors, we obtain\n\\[\n(x+m) Q(x) - (x-1) Q(x-1) = \\frac{1}{m!} R(x,k).\n\\]\nSubstituting $x=0,-1,\\dots,-k+1$ in turn, we obtain\n\\[\nQ(-j) = - \\frac{j+1}{m-j} Q(-j-1) \\quad (j=0, \\dots, k-1).\n\\]\nIn particular, if any of $Q(0),\\dots,Q(-k)$ were zero, then all of them would be zero and \n$Q$ would have too many roots for its degree. Consequently, $Q(0),\\dots,Q(-k)$ are all nonzero\nand alternating in sign. By the intermediate value theorem, $Q$ has a root $r_j$ in the interval $(-j-1,-j)$ for $j=0,\\dots,k-1$; this completes the proof.",
  "vars": [
    "n",
    "x",
    "x_1",
    "x_k",
    "y_1",
    "y_m",
    "z",
    "i",
    "j",
    "r_j"
  ],
  "params": [
    "k",
    "m",
    "f",
    "R",
    "Q"
  ],
  "sci_consts": [],
  "variants": {
    "descriptive_long": {
      "map": {
        "n": "sizevar",
        "x": "polyvar",
        "x_1": "firstxseq",
        "x_k": "lastxseq",
        "y_1": "firstyseq",
        "y_m": "lastyseq",
        "z": "boundvar",
        "i": "indexvar",
        "j": "loopvar",
        "r_j": "rootloop",
        "k": "numxvars",
        "m": "numyvars",
        "f": "countfunc",
        "R": "repchoose",
        "Q": "auxipoly"
      },
      "question": "Let $numxvars$ and $numyvars$ be positive integers. For a positive integer $sizevar$, let $countfunc(sizevar)$ be the number of integer sequences $firstxseq,\\dots,lastxseq,firstyseq,\\dots,lastyseq,boundvar$ satisfying $1 \\leq firstxseq \\leq \\cdots \\leq lastxseq \\leq boundvar \\leq sizevar$ and $1 \\leq firstyseq \\leq \\cdots \\leq lastyseq \\leq boundvar \\leq sizevar$. Show that $countfunc(sizevar)$ can be expressed as a polynomial in $sizevar$ with nonnegative coefficients.",
      "solution": "For convenience, we extend the problem to allow nonnegative values for $numxvars$ and $numyvars$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{First solution.}\nLet $repchoose(sizevar,numxvars)$ denote the number of subsets of $\\{1,...,sizevar\\}$ of size $numxvars$ where repetitions are allowed. \nThe ``sticks and stones'' argument shows that \n\\[\nrepchoose(sizevar,numxvars)=\\binom{sizevar+numxvars-1}{numxvars}:\n\\]\nthere is a bijection of these subsets with linear arrangements of $numxvars$ (unlabeled) sticks and $boundvar-1$ (unlabeled) stones,\nwhere we recover the subset by counting the number of stones to the left of each stick.\n\nLet $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) := \\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} repchoose(boundvar,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)$. \nIt is known that for any positive integer $numxvars$, the sum of the $numxvars$-th powers of all positive integers less than or equal to $sizevar$ is a polynomial in $sizevar$ (given explicitly in terms of Bernoulli numbers via Faulhaber's formula); hence $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar)$ is a polynomial in $sizevar$. \nWe wish to show that this polynomial has nonnegative coefficients.\n\nUsing the recursion for binomial coefficients, we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nrepchoose(sizevar,numxvars)repchoose(sizevar,numyvars) &= countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar)-countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar-1) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} \\left( repchoose(boundvar,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)-repchoose(boundvar-1,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar-1,numyvars)\\right)\\\\\n&= \\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} \\left( repchoose(boundvar,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)-repchoose(boundvar-1,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars) \\right.\\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +repchoose(boundvar-1,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)-repchoose(boundvar-1,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar-1,numyvars) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} \\left( repchoose(boundvar,numxvars-1)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)+repchoose(boundvar-1,numxvars)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars-1) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} \\left( repchoose(boundvar,numxvars-1)repchoose(boundvar,numyvars) \\right. \\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +(repchoose(boundvar,numxvars)-repchoose(boundvar,numxvars-1))repchoose(boundvar,numyvars-1) \\right)\\\\\n&= countfunc_{numxvars-1,numyvars}(sizevar)+countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars-1}(sizevar)-countfunc_{numxvars-1,numyvars-1}(sizevar).\n\\end{align*}\nIt follows from the latter equation (replacing the index $numyvars$ by $numyvars+1$) that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation recurrence}\ncountfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) = repchoose(sizevar,numxvars)repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) + countfunc_{numxvars-1,numyvars}(sizevar) - countfunc_{numxvars-1,numyvars+1}(sizevar);\n\\end{equation}\nthis can also be recovered by applying Abel summation (summation by parts) to\n$\\sum_{boundvar=1}^{sizevar} repchoose(boundvar,numxvars) repchoose(boundvar,numyvars)$.\n\nUsing \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence}, we can evaluate $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}$ by induction on $numxvars$: for the first few values we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\ncountfunc_{0,numyvars}(sizevar) &= repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) \\\\\ncountfunc_{1,numyvars}(sizevar) &= repchoose(sizevar,1)repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) + repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) - repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+2) \\\\\n           & = repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1)((numyvars+1)sizevar+1)/(numyvars+2) \\\\\n           & = repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) \\frac{repchoose(numyvars+1,1)repchoose(sizevar,1)+1}{numyvars+2}\n\\end{align*}\nand similarly\n\\begin{align*}\ncountfunc_{2,numyvars}(sizevar) &= repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) (repchoose(numyvars+1,2)repchoose(sizevar,2) + repchoose(numyvars+1,1)repchoose(sizevar,1) \\\\\n&\\quad +repchoose(numyvars+1,0)repchoose(sizevar,0))/repchoose(numyvars+2,2).\n\\end{align*}\nThis leads us to conjecture that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation formula}\ncountfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) = \\frac{repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1)}{repchoose(numyvars+2,numxvars)} \\sum_{indexvar=0}^{numxvars} repchoose(numyvars+1,indexvar)repchoose(sizevar,indexvar),\n\\end{equation}\nwhich we prove by induction on $numxvars$.\nThe base case $numxvars=0$ is evident;\ngiven \\eqref{eq:summation formula} with $numxvars$ replaced by $numxvars-1$,\nwe apply \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence} to obtain\n\\begin{align*}\n&countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) \\\\\n&= repchoose(sizevar,numxvars) repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1) + \\frac{repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1)}{repchoose(numyvars+2,numxvars-1)} \\sum_{indexvar=0}^{numxvars-1} repchoose(numyvars+1,indexvar)repchoose(sizevar,indexvar)\\\\\n&\\quad - \\frac{repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+2)}{repchoose(numyvars+3,numxvars-1)} \\sum_{indexvar=0}^{numxvars-1} repchoose(numyvars+2,indexvar)repchoose(sizevar,indexvar) \\\\\n&= \\frac{repchoose(sizevar,numyvars+1)}{repchoose(numyvars+2,numxvars)} \\sum_{indexvar=0}^{numxvars} repchoose(numyvars+1,indexvar)repchoose(sizevar,indexvar)\n\\end{align*}\nyielding \\eqref{eq:summation formula} as written.\n\nSince $repchoose(sizevar,indexvar) = sizevar(sizevar+1)(sizevar+2)\\cdots (sizevar+indexvar-1)/indexvar!$ clearly has positive coefficients for all $indexvar$, the explicit formula \\eqref{eq:summation formula} implies that $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar)$ also has positive coefficients for all $numxvars$ and $numyvars$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{Second solution.} \n(by an anonymous Putnam participant)\nAs in the first solution, we deduce that $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar)$ is a polynomial in $sizevar$ of degree $numxvars+numyvars+1$\nsatisfying $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(0) = 0$ and $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) - countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar-1) = repchoose(sizevar,numxvars)repchoose(sizevar,numyvars)$.\nSince $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) > 0$ for $sizevar \\gg 0$, this polynomial has positive leading coefficient.\nTo prove that it has nonnegative coefficients, it will suffice to prove the stronger assertion that the roots of $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(polyvar)$ are all real and nonpositive, as then this will imply that $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(polyvar) = c \\prod_{loopvar=0}^{numxvars+numyvars} (polyvar + rootloop_{loopvar})$ for some $rootloop_{loopvar} \\geq 0$.\n\nSince $repchoose(sizevar,numyvars) = 0$ for $numyvars=0,-1,\\dots,-numyvars+1$, we deduce that $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) = 0$ for \n$sizevar=0,-1,\\dots,-numyvars$. Consequently, $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(polyvar)$ can be written as $polyvar(polyvar+1)\\cdots(polyvar+numyvars) auxipoly(polyvar)$ for some polynomial $auxipoly(polyvar)$ of degree $numxvars$, and it will suffice to check that $auxipoly(polyvar)$ has $numxvars$ distinct negative real roots.\n\nFrom the equality $countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar) - countfunc_{numxvars,numyvars}(sizevar-1) = repchoose(sizevar,numxvars)repchoose(sizevar,numyvars)$, if we substitute in for $auxipoly(polyvar)$\nand divide out common factors, we obtain\n\\[\n(polyvar+numyvars) auxipoly(polyvar) - (polyvar-1) auxipoly(polyvar-1) = \\frac{1}{numyvars!} repchoose(polyvar,numxvars).\n\\]\nSubstituting $polyvar=0,-1,\\dots,-numxvars+1$ in turn, we obtain\n\\[\nauxipoly(-loopvar) = - \\frac{loopvar+1}{numyvars-loopvar} auxipoly(-loopvar-1) \\quad (loopvar=0, \\dots, numxvars-1).\n\\]\nIn particular, if any of $auxipoly(0),\\dots,auxipoly(-numxvars)$ were zero, then all of them would be zero and \n$auxipoly$ would have too many roots for its degree. Consequently, $auxipoly(0),\\dots,auxipoly(-numxvars)$ are all nonzero\nand alternating in sign. By the intermediate value theorem, $auxipoly$ has a root $rootloop_{loopvar}$ in the interval $(-loopvar-1,-loopvar)$ for $loopvar=0,\\dots,numxvars-1$; this completes the proof."
    },
    "descriptive_long_confusing": {
      "map": {
        "n": "sunflower",
        "x": "horseshoe",
        "x_1": "butterfly",
        "x_k": "lighthouse",
        "y_1": "snowflake",
        "y_m": "earthquake",
        "z": "rainstorm",
        "i": "heartbeat",
        "j": "teardrops",
        "r_j": "seashell",
        "k": "mountain",
        "m": "waterfall",
        "f": "orchestra",
        "R": "chrysalis",
        "Q": "stargazer"
      },
      "question": "Let $mountain$ and $waterfall$ be positive integers. For a positive integer $sunflower$, let $orchestra(sunflower)$ be the number of integer sequences $butterfly,\\dots,lighthouse,snowflake,\\dots,earthquake,rainstorm$ satisfying $1 \\leq butterfly \\leq \\cdots \\leq lighthouse \\leq rainstorm \\leq sunflower$ and $1 \\leq snowflake \\leq \\cdots \\leq earthquake \\leq rainstorm \\leq sunflower$. Show that $orchestra(sunflower)$ can be expressed as a polynomial in $sunflower$ with nonnegative coefficients.",
      "solution": "For convenience, we extend the problem to allow nonnegative values for $mountain$ and $waterfall$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{First solution.}\nLet $chrysalis(sunflower,mountain)$ denote the number of subsets of $\\{1,...,sunflower\\}$ of size $mountain$ where repetitions are allowed. \nThe ``sticks and stones'' argument shows that \n\\[\nchrysalis(sunflower,mountain)=\\binom{sunflower+mountain-1}{mountain}:\n\\]\nthere is a bijection of these subsets with linear arrangements of $mountain$ (unlabeled) sticks and $rainstorm-1$ (unlabeled) stones,\nwhere we recover the subset by counting the number of stones to the left of each stick.\n\nLet $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) := \\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)$. \nIt is known that for any positive integer $mountain$, the sum of the $mountain$-th powers of all positive integers less than or equal to $sunflower$ is a polynomial in $sunflower$ (given explicitly in terms of Bernoulli numbers via Faulhaber's formula); hence $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower)$ is a polynomial in $sunflower$. \nWe wish to show that this polynomial has nonnegative coefficients.\n\nUsing the recursion for binomial coefficients, we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nchrysalis(sunflower,mountain) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall) &= orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower)-orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower-1) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} \\left( chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)-chrysalis(rainstorm-1,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm-1,waterfall)\\right)\\\\\n&= \\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} \\left( chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)-chrysalis(rainstorm-1,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall) \\right.\\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +chrysalis(rainstorm-1,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)-chrysalis(rainstorm-1,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm-1,waterfall) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} \\left( chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain-1) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)+chrysalis(rainstorm-1,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall-1) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} \\left( chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain-1) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall) \\right. \\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +(chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain)-chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain-1)) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall-1) \\right)\\\\\n&= orchestra_{mountain-1,waterfall}(sunflower)+orchestra_{mountain,waterfall-1}(sunflower)-orchestra_{mountain-1,waterfall-1}(sunflower).\n\\end{align*}\nIt follows from the latter equation (replacing the index $waterfall$ by $waterfall+1$) that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation recurrence}\norchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) = chrysalis(sunflower,mountain) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) + orchestra_{mountain-1,waterfall}(sunflower) - orchestra_{mountain-1,waterfall+1}(sunflower);\n\\end{equation}\nthis can also be recovered by applying Abel summation (summation by parts) to\n$\\sum_{rainstorm=1}^{sunflower} chrysalis(rainstorm,mountain) chrysalis(rainstorm,waterfall)$.\n\nUsing \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence}, we can evaluate $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}$ by induction on $mountain$: for the first few values we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\norchestra_{0,waterfall}(sunflower) &= chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) \\\\\norchestra_{1,waterfall}(sunflower) &= chrysalis(sunflower,1) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) + chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) - chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+2) \\\\\n           & = chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1)((waterfall+1)sunflower+1)/(waterfall+2) \\\\\n           & = chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) \\frac{chrysalis(waterfall+1,1) chrysalis(sunflower,1)+1}{waterfall+2}\n\\end{align*}\nand similarly\n\\begin{align*}\norchestra_{2,waterfall}(sunflower) &= chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) (chrysalis(waterfall+1,2) chrysalis(sunflower,2) + chrysalis(waterfall+1,1) chrysalis(sunflower,1) \\\\\n&\\quad +chrysalis(waterfall+1,0) chrysalis(sunflower,0))/chrysalis(waterfall+2,2).\n\\end{align*}\nThis leads us to conjecture that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation formula}\norchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) = \\frac{chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1)}{chrysalis(waterfall+2,mountain)} \\sum_{heartbeat=0}^{mountain} chrysalis(waterfall+1,heartbeat) chrysalis(sunflower,heartbeat),\n\\end{equation}\nwhich we prove by induction on $mountain$.\nThe base case $mountain=0$ is evident;\ngiven \\eqref{eq:summation formula} with $mountain$ replaced by $mountain-1$,\nwe apply \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence} to obtain\n\\begin{align*}\n&orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) \\\\\n&= chrysalis(sunflower,mountain) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1) + \\frac{chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1)}{chrysalis(waterfall+2,mountain-1)} \\sum_{heartbeat=0}^{mountain-1} chrysalis(waterfall+1,heartbeat) chrysalis(sunflower,heartbeat)\\\\\n&\\quad - \\frac{chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+2)}{chrysalis(waterfall+3,mountain-1)} \\sum_{heartbeat=0}^{mountain-1} chrysalis(waterfall+2,heartbeat) chrysalis(sunflower,heartbeat) \\\\\n&= \\frac{chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall+1)}{chrysalis(waterfall+2,mountain)} \\sum_{heartbeat=0}^{mountain} chrysalis(waterfall+1,heartbeat) chrysalis(sunflower,heartbeat)\n\\end{align*}\nyielding \\eqref{eq:summation formula} as written.\n\nSince $chrysalis(sunflower,heartbeat) = sunflower(sunflower+1)(sunflower+2)\\cdots (sunflower+heartbeat-1)/heartbeat!$ clearly has positive coefficients for all $heartbeat$, the explicit formula \\eqref{eq:summation formula} implies that $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower)$ also has positive coefficients for all $mountain$ and $waterfall$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{Second solution.} \n(by an anonymous Putnam participant)\nAs in the first solution, we deduce that $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower)$ is a polynomial in $sunflower$ of degree $mountain+waterfall+1$\nsatisfying $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(0) = 0$ and $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) - orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower-1) = chrysalis(sunflower,mountain) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall)$.\nSince $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) > 0$ for $sunflower \\gg 0$, this polynomial has positive leading coefficient.\nTo prove that it has nonnegative coefficients, it will suffice to prove the stronger assertion that the roots of $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(horseshoe)$ are all real and nonpositive, as then this will imply that $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(horseshoe) = c \\prod_{teardrops=0}^{mountain+waterfall} (horseshoe + seashell)$ for some $seashell \\geq 0$.\n\nSince $chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall) = 0$ for $waterfall=0,-1,\\dots,-waterfall+1$, we deduce that $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) = 0$ for \nsunflower$=0,-1,\\dots,-waterfall$. Consequently, $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(horseshoe)$ can be written as $horseshoe(horseshoe+1)\\cdots(horseshoe+waterfall) stargazer(horseshoe)$ for some polynomial $stargazer(horseshoe)$ of degree $mountain$, and it will suffice to check that $stargazer(horseshoe)$ has $mountain$ distinct negative real roots.\n\nFrom the equality $orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower) - orchestra_{mountain,waterfall}(sunflower-1) = chrysalis(sunflower,mountain) chrysalis(sunflower,waterfall)$, if we substitute in for $stargazer(horseshoe)$\nand divide out common factors, we obtain\n\\[\n(horseshoe+waterfall) stargazer(horseshoe) - (horseshoe-1) stargazer(horseshoe-1) = \\frac{1}{waterfall!} chrysalis(horseshoe,mountain).\n\\]\nSubstituting $horseshoe=0,-1,\\dots,-mountain+1$ in turn, we obtain\n\\[\nstargazer(-teardrops) = - \\frac{teardrops+1}{waterfall-teardrops} stargazer(-teardrops-1) \\quad (teardrops=0, \\dots, mountain-1).\n\\]\nIn particular, if any of $stargazer(0),\\dots,stargazer(-mountain)$ were zero, then all of them would be zero and \n$stargazer$ would have too many roots for its degree. Consequently, $stargazer(0),\\dots,stargazer(-mountain)$ are all nonzero\nand alternating in sign. By the intermediate value theorem, $stargazer$ has a root $seashell$ in the interval $(-teardrops-1,-teardrops)$ for $teardrops=0,\\dots,mountain-1$; this completes the proof."
    },
    "descriptive_long_misleading": {
      "map": {
        "n": "infinitybound",
        "x": "knownvalue",
        "x_1": "knownvalueone",
        "x_k": "knownvaluecap",
        "y_1": "observedvalueone",
        "y_m": "observedvaluetop",
        "z": "threshold",
        "j": "placeholder",
        "r_j": "rootplaceholder",
        "k": "zeroindex",
        "m": "voidcount",
        "f": "antifunction",
        "R": "norepetition",
        "Q": "nonquadratic"
      },
      "question": "Let $zeroindex$ and $voidcount$ be positive integers. For a positive integer $infinitybound$, let $antifunction(infinitybound)$ be the number of integer sequences $knownvalueone,\\dots,knownvaluecap,observedvalueone,\\dots,observedvaluetop,threshold$ satisfying $1 \\leq knownvalueone \\leq \\cdots \\leq knownvaluecap \\leq threshold \\leq infinitybound$ and $1 \\leq observedvalueone \\leq \\cdots \\leq observedvaluetop \\leq threshold \\leq infinitybound$. Show that $antifunction(infinitybound)$ can be expressed as a polynomial in $infinitybound$ with nonnegative coefficients.",
      "solution": "For convenience, we extend the problem to allow nonnegative values for $zeroindex$ and $voidcount$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{First solution.}\nLet $norepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)$ denote the number of subsets of $\\{1,...,infinitybound\\}$ of size $zeroindex$ where repetitions are allowed. \nThe ``sticks and stones'' argument shows that \n\\[\nnorepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)=\\binom{infinitybound+zeroindex-1}{zeroindex}:\n\\]\nthere is a bijection of these subsets with linear arrangements of $zeroindex$ (unlabeled) sticks and $threshold-1$ (unlabeled) stones,\nwhere we recover the subset by counting the number of stones to the left of each stick.\n\nLet $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) := \\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} norepetition(threshold,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount)$. \nIt is known that for any positive integer $zeroindex$, the sum of the $zeroindex$-th powers of all positive integers less than or equal to $infinitybound$ is a polynomial in $infinitybound$ (given explicitly in terms of Bernoulli numbers via Faulhaber's formula); hence $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound)$ is a polynomial in $infinitybound$. \nWe wish to show that this polynomial has nonnegative coefficients.\n\nUsing the recursion for binomial coefficients, we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nnorepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount) &= antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound)-antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound-1) \\\n&= \\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} \\left( norepetition(threshold,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount)-norepetition(threshold-1,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold-1,voidcount)\\right)\\\\\n&= \\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} \\left( norepetition(threshold,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount)-norepetition(threshold-1,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount) \\right.\\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +norepetition(threshold-1,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount)-norepetition(threshold-1,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold-1,voidcount) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} \\left( norepetition(threshold,zeroindex-1)norepetition(threshold,voidcount)+norepetition(threshold-1,zeroindex)norepetition(threshold,voidcount-1) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} \\left( norepetition(threshold,zeroindex-1)norepetition(threshold,voidcount) \\right. \\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +(norepetition(threshold,zeroindex)-norepetition(threshold,zeroindex-1))norepetition(threshold,voidcount-1) \\right)\\\\\n&= antifunction_{zeroindex-1,voidcount}(infinitybound)+antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount-1}(infinitybound)-antifunction_{zeroindex-1,voidcount-1}(infinitybound).\n\\end{align*}\nIt follows from the latter equation (replacing the index $voidcount$ by $voidcount+1$) that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation recurrence}\nantifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) = norepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) + antifunction_{zeroindex-1,voidcount}(infinitybound) - antifunction_{zeroindex-1,voidcount+1}(infinitybound);\n\\end{equation}\nthis can also be recovered by applying Abel summation (summation by parts) to\n$\\sum_{threshold=1}^{infinitybound} norepetition(threshold,zeroindex) norepetition(threshold,voidcount)$.\n\nUsing \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence}, we can evaluate $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}$ by induction on $zeroindex$: for the first few values we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nantifunction_{0,voidcount}(infinitybound) &= norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) \\\\\nantifunction_{1,voidcount}(infinitybound) &= norepetition(infinitybound,1)norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) + norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) - norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+2) \\\\\n           & = norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1)((voidcount+1)infinitybound+1)/(voidcount+2) \\\\\n           & = norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) \\frac{norepetition(voidcount+1,1)norepetition(infinitybound,1)+1}{voidcount+2}\n\\end{align*}\nand similarly\n\\begin{align*}\nantifunction_{2,voidcount}(infinitybound) &= norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) (norepetition(voidcount+1,2)norepetition(infinitybound,2) + norepetition(voidcount+1,1)norepetition(infinitybound,1) \\\\\n&\\quad +norepetition(voidcount+1,0)norepetition(infinitybound,0))/norepetition(voidcount+2,2).\n\\end{align*}\nThis leads us to conjecture that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation formula}\nantifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) = \\frac{norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1)}{norepetition(voidcount+2,zeroindex)} \\sum_{i=0}^{zeroindex} norepetition(voidcount+1,i)norepetition(infinitybound,i),\n\\end{equation}\nwhich we prove by induction on $zeroindex$.\nThe base case $zeroindex=0$ is evident;\ngiven \\eqref{eq:summation formula} with $zeroindex$ replaced by $zeroindex-1$,\nwe apply \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence} to obtain\n\\begin{align*}\n&antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) \\\\\n&= norepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex) norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1) + \\frac{norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1)}{norepetition(voidcount+2,zeroindex-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{zeroindex-1} norepetition(voidcount+1,i)norepetition(infinitybound,i)\\\\\n&\\quad - \\frac{norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+2)}{norepetition(voidcount+3,zeroindex-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{zeroindex-1} norepetition(voidcount+2,i)norepetition(infinitybound,i) \\\\\n&= \\frac{norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount+1)}{norepetition(voidcount+2,zeroindex)} \\sum_{i=0}^{zeroindex} norepetition(voidcount+1,i)norepetition(infinitybound,i)\n\\end{align*}\nyielding \\eqref{eq:summation formula} as written.\n\nSince $norepetition(infinitybound,i) = infinitybound(infinitybound+1)(infinitybound+2)\\cdots (infinitybound+i-1)/i!$ clearly has positive coefficients for all $i$, the explicit formula \\eqref{eq:summation formula} implies that $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound)$ also has positive coefficients for all $zeroindex$ and $voidcount$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{Second solution.} \n(by an anonymous Putnam participant)\nAs in the first solution, we deduce that $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound)$ is a polynomial in $infinitybound$ of degree $zeroindex+voidcount+1$\nsatisfying $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(0) = 0$ and $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) - antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound-1) = norepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount)$.\nSince $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) > 0$ for $infinitybound \\gg 0$, this polynomial has positive leading coefficient.\nTo prove that it has nonnegative coefficients, it will suffice to prove the stronger assertion that the roots of $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(x)$ are all real and nonpositive, as then this will imply that $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(x) = c \\prod_{placeholder=0}^{zeroindex+voidcount} (x + rootplaceholder)$ for some $rootplaceholder \\geq 0$.\n\nSince $norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount) = 0$ for $voidcount=0,-1,\\dots,-voidcount+1$, we deduce that $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) = 0$ for \n$infinitybound=0,-1,\\dots,-voidcount$. Consequently, $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(x)$ can be written as $x(x+1)\\cdots(x+voidcount) nonquadratic(x)$ for some polynomial $nonquadratic(x)$ of degree $zeroindex$, and it will suffice to check that $nonquadratic(x)$ has $zeroindex$ distinct negative real roots.\n\nFrom the equality $antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound) - antifunction_{zeroindex,voidcount}(infinitybound-1) = norepetition(infinitybound,zeroindex)norepetition(infinitybound,voidcount)$, if we substitute in for $nonquadratic(x)$\nand divide out common factors, we obtain\n\\[\n(x+voidcount) nonquadratic(x) - (x-1) nonquadratic(x-1) = \\frac{1}{voidcount!} norepetition(x,zeroindex).\n\\]\nSubstituting $x=0,-1,\\dots,-zeroindex+1$ in turn, we obtain\n\\[\nnonquadratic(-placeholder) = - \\frac{placeholder+1}{voidcount-placeholder} nonquadratic(-placeholder-1) \\quad (placeholder=0, \\dots, zeroindex-1).\n\\]\nIn particular, if any of $nonquadratic(0),\\dots,nonquadratic(-zeroindex)$ were zero, then all of them would be zero and \n$nonquadratic$ would have too many roots for its degree. Consequently, $nonquadratic(0),\\dots,nonquadratic(-zeroindex)$ are all nonzero\nand alternating in sign. By the intermediate value theorem, $nonquadratic$ has a root $rootplaceholder$ in the interval $(-placeholder-1,-placeholder)$ for $placeholder=0,\\dots,zeroindex-1$; this completes the proof."
    },
    "garbled_string": {
      "map": {
        "n": "plkqswne",
        "x": "gmrzdhqt",
        "x_1": "tjneclru",
        "x_k": "vdoshnmj",
        "y_1": "qfapzkho",
        "y_m": "lkngjpwe",
        "z": "shxqpmar",
        "j": "wobrqyal",
        "r_j": "sldvcmzn",
        "k": "uxthqvra",
        "m": "bycfsdzp",
        "f": "mjtxaosq",
        "R": "heruvcbn",
        "Q": "denfstql"
      },
      "question": "Let $uxthqvra$ and $bycfsdzp$ be positive integers. For a positive integer $plkqswne$, let $mjtxaosq(plkqswne)$ be the number of integer sequences $tjneclru,\\dots,vdoshnmj,qfapzkho,\\dots,lkngjpwe,shxqpmar$ satisfying $1 \\leq tjneclru \\leq \\cdots \\leq vdoshnmj \\leq shxqpmar \\leq plkqswne$ and $1 \\leq qfapzkho \\leq \\cdots \\leq lkngjpwe \\leq shxqpmar \\leq plkqswne$. Show that $mjtxaosq(plkqswne)$ can be expressed as a polynomial in $plkqswne$ with nonnegative coefficients.",
      "solution": "For convenience, we extend the problem to allow nonnegative values for $uxthqvra$ and $bycfsdzp$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{First solution.}\nLet $heruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)$ denote the number of subsets of $\\{1,...,plkqswne\\}$ of size $uxthqvra$ where repetitions are allowed. \nThe ``sticks and stones'' argument shows that \n\\[\nheruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)=\\binom{plkqswne+uxthqvra-1}{uxthqvra}:\n\\]\nthere is a bijection of these subsets with linear arrangements of $uxthqvra$ (unlabeled) sticks and $shxqpmar-1$ (unlabeled) stones,\nwhere we recover the subset by counting the number of stones to the left of each stick.\n\nLet $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) := \\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)$. \nIt is known that for any positive integer $uxthqvra$, the sum of the $uxthqvra$-th powers of all positive integers less than or equal to $plkqswne$ is a polynomial in $plkqswne$ (given explicitly in terms of Bernoulli numbers via Faulhaber's formula); hence $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne)$ is a polynomial in $plkqswne$. \nWe wish to show that this polynomial has nonnegative coefficients.\n\nUsing the recursion for binomial coefficients, we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nheruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp) &= mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne)-mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne-1) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} \\left( heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)-heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,bycfsdzp)\\right)\\\\\n&= \\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} \\left( heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)-heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp) \\right.\\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)-heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,bycfsdzp) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} \\left( heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra-1)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)+heruvcbn(shxqpmar-1,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp-1) \\right) \\\\\n&= \\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} \\left( heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra-1)heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp) \\right. \\\\\n&\\quad \\left. +(heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra)-heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra-1))heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp-1) \\right)\\\\\n&= mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra-1,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne)+mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp-1}(plkqswne)-mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra-1,bycfsdzp-1}(plkqswne).\n\\end{align*}\nIt follows from the latter equation (replacing the index $bycfsdzp$ by $bycfsdzp+1$) that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation recurrence}\nmjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) = heruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) + mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra-1,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) - mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra-1,bycfsdzp+1}(plkqswne);\n\\end{equation}\nthis can also be recovered by applying Abel summation (summation by parts) to\n$\\sum_{shxqpmar=1}^{plkqswne} heruvcbn(shxqpmar,uxthqvra) heruvcbn(shxqpmar,bycfsdzp)$.\n\nUsing \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence}, we can evaluate $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}$ by induction on $uxthqvra$: for the first few values we obtain\n\\begin{align*}\nmjtxaosq_{0,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) &= heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) \\\\\nmjtxaosq_{1,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) &= heruvcbn(plkqswne,1)heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) + heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) - heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+2) \\\\\n           & = heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1)((bycfsdzp+1)plkqswne+1)/(bycfsdzp+2) \\\\\n           & = heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) \\frac{heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,1)heruvcbn(plkqswne,1)+1}{bycfsdzp+2}\n\\end{align*}\nand similarly\n\\begin{align*}\nmjtxaosq_{2,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) &= heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) (heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,2)heruvcbn(plkqswne,2) + heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,1)heruvcbn(plkqswne,1) \\\\\n&\\quad +heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,0)heruvcbn(plkqswne,0))/heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+2,2).\n\\end{align*}\nThis leads us to conjecture that\n\\begin{equation} \\label{eq:summation formula}\nmjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) = \\frac{heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1)}{heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+2,uxthqvra)} \\sum_{i=0}^{uxthqvra} heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,i)heruvcbn(plkqswne,i),\n\\end{equation}\nwhich we prove by induction on $uxthqvra$.\nThe base case $uxthqvra=0$ is evident;\ngiven \\eqref{eq:summation formula} with $uxthqvra$ replaced by $uxthqvra-1$,\nwe apply \\eqref{eq:summation recurrence} to obtain\n\\begin{align*}\n&mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) \\\\\n&= heruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra) heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1) + \\frac{heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1)}{heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+2,uxthqvra-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{uxthqvra-1} heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,i)heruvcbn(plkqswne,i)\\\\\n&\\quad - \\frac{heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+2)}{heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+3,uxthqvra-1)} \\sum_{i=0}^{uxthqvra-1} heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+2,i)heruvcbn(plkqswne,i) \\\\\n&= \\frac{heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp+1)}{heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+2,uxthqvra)} \\sum_{i=0}^{uxthqvra} heruvcbn(bycfsdzp+1,i)heruvcbn(plkqswne,i)\n\\end{align*}\nyielding \\eqref{eq:summation formula} as written.\n\nSince $heruvcbn(plkqswne,i) = plkqswne(plkqswne+1)(plkqswne+2)\\cdots (plkqswne+i-1)/i!$ clearly has positive coefficients for all $i$, the explicit formula \\eqref{eq:summation formula} implies that $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne)$ also has positive coefficients for all $uxthqvra$ and $bycfsdzp$.\n\n\\noindent\n\\textbf{Second solution.} \n(by an anonymous Putnam participant)\nAs in the first solution, we deduce that $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne)$ is a polynomial in $plkqswne$ of degree $uxthqvra+bycfsdzp+1$\nsatisfying $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(0) = 0$ and $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) - mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne-1) = heruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp)$.\nSince $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) > 0$ for $plkqswne \\gg 0$, this polynomial has positive leading coefficient.\nTo prove that it has nonnegative coefficients, it will suffice to prove the stronger assertion that the roots of $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(gmrzdhqt)$ are all real and nonpositive, as then this will imply that $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(gmrzdhqt) = c \\prod_{wobrqyal=0}^{uxthqvra+bycfsdzp} (gmrzdhqt + sldvcmzn)$ for some $sldvcmzn \\geq 0$.\n\nSince $heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp) = 0$ for $bycfsdzp=0,-1,\\dots,-bycfsdzp+1$, we deduce that $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) = 0$ for \n$plkqswne=0,-1,\\dots,-bycfsdzp$. Consequently, $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(gmrzdhqt)$ can be written as $gmrzdhqt(gmrzdhqt+1)\\cdots(gmrzdhqt+bycfsdzp) denfstql(gmrzdhqt)$ for some polynomial $denfstql(gmrzdhqt)$ of degree $uxthqvra$, and it will suffice to check that $denfstql(gmrzdhqt)$ has $uxthqvra$ distinct negative real roots.\n\nFrom the equality $mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne) - mjtxaosq_{uxthqvra,bycfsdzp}(plkqswne-1) = heruvcbn(plkqswne,uxthqvra)heruvcbn(plkqswne,bycfsdzp)$, if we substitute in for $denfstql(gmrzdhqt)$\nand divide out common factors, we obtain\n\\[\n(gmrzdhqt+bycfsdzp) denfstql(gmrzdhqt) - (gmrzdhqt-1) denfstql(gmrzdhqt-1) = \\frac{1}{bycfsdzp!} heruvcbn(gmrzdhqt,uxthqvra).\n\\]\nSubstituting $gmrzdhqt=0,-1,\\dots,-uxthqvra+1$ in turn, we obtain\n\\[\ndenfstql(-wobrqyal) = - \\frac{wobrqyal+1}{bycfsdzp-wobrqyal} denfstql(-wobrqyal-1) \\quad (wobrqyal=0, \\dots, uxthqvra-1).\n\\]\nIn particular, if any of $denfstql(0),\\dots,denfstql(-uxthqvra)$ were zero, then all of them would be zero and \n$denfstql$ would have too many roots for its degree. Consequently, $denfstql(0),\\dots,denfstql(-uxthqvra)$ are all nonzero\nand alternating in sign. By the intermediate value theorem, $denfstql$ has a root $sldvcmzn$ in the interval $(-wobrqyal-1,-wobrqyal)$ for $wobrqyal=0,\\dots,uxthqvra-1$; this completes the proof."
    },
    "kernel_variant": {
      "question": "Let k and m be non–negative integers and put\n\ng_{k,m}(n)=\\sum_{z=0}^{n}\\binom{z+k}{k}\\,\\binom{z+m}{m}\\qquad(n\\in\\mathbb N_{0}).\n\nRegarded as a polynomial in n, prove that\n\n1.   g_{k,m}(n) has degree k+m+1.\n2.   All coefficients of g_{k,m}(n) are non–negative; its constant coefficient equals 1 and every other coefficient is strictly positive.",
      "solution": "Throughout we use the standard extension of the binomial symbol\n\\(\\displaystyle\\binom ab = 0\\) for b<0 or b>a; consequently every usual binomial identity remains valid for all integral arguments.\n\nFor convenience put\nS(n,r):=\\binom{n+r}{r}\\qquad (n,r\\in\\mathbb N_{0}).\n\nNotice that S(n,r)=(n+1)(n+2)\\cdots(n+r)/(r!), hence it is a polynomial in n of degree r with non–negative coefficients and positive leading coefficient.\n\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\n1.  g_{k,m} really is a polynomial and \\(\\deg g_{k,m}=k+m+1.\\)\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\nFor fixed k,m the summand z↦S(z,k)S(z,m) is a polynomial in z of degree k+m with positive leading coefficient 1/(k!m!).  The sum of the first n+1 values of any degree–d polynomial is a polynomial of degree d+1; therefore g_{k,m}(n) is a polynomial in n of degree k+m+1.  Its leading coefficient is 1/((k+m+1)k!m!)>0.\n\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\n2.  An explicit closed formula for g_{k,m}.\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\nIntroduce the auxiliary numbers\nR(t,r):=\\binom{t+r-1}{r}\\quad (t,r\\in\\mathbb N_{0}),\nso that S(z,r)=R(z+1,r).  Set\n\nf_{k,m}(t):=\\sum_{y=1}^{t}R(y,k)R(y,m)\\quad(t\\in\\mathbb N).\nThe first Putnam solution quoted in the review (and reproduced in many textbooks) establishes the identity\n\n(★) \\; f_{k,m}(t)=\\frac{R(t,m+1)}{R(m+2,k)}\\sum_{i=0}^{k}R(m+1,i)R(t,i)\\qquad(k,m,t\\ge 0).\n\nBecause g_{k,m}(n)=\\sum_{z=0}^{n}S(z,k)S(z,m)=\\sum_{y=1}^{n+1}R(y,k)R(y,m)=f_{k,m}(n+1),\nreplacing t by n+1 in (★) and converting the R–notation back to the S–notation yields\n\ng_{k,m}(n)=\\frac{S(n,m+1)}{\\binom{m+k+1}{k}}\\;\\sum_{i=0}^{k}\\binom{m+i}{i}\\,S(n,i)\\qquad(1)\nfor all non–negative k,m and all integers n≥0.\n\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\n3.  Positivity of the coefficients.\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\nWrite\nA_{m}(n):=S(n,m+1)=\\frac{(n+1)(n+2)\\cdots(n+m+1)}{(m+1)!}\n and \nB_{k,m}(n):=\\sum_{i=0}^{k}\\binom{m+i}{i}\\,S(n,i).\n\nEach linear factor (n+j)\\,(j≥1) of A_{m} possesses non–negative coefficients, hence so does A_{m}(n).  Likewise every summand of B_{k,m}(n) is a rising factorial in n and therefore a polynomial with non–negative coefficients; their sum B_{k,m}(n) shares this property.  The constant prefactor 1/\\binom{m+k+1}{k} in (1) is positive.  Consequently every coefficient of g_{k,m}(n) is non–negative.\n\nConstant term.  Substituting n=0 in (1) gives\n\n g_{k,m}(0)=\\frac{1}{\\binom{m+k+1}{k}}\\sum_{i=0}^{k}\\binom{m+i}{i}.\n\nThe hockey-stick identity \\(\\sum_{i=0}^{k}\\binom{m+i}{i}=\\binom{m+k+1}{k}\\) shows that the right–hand side equals 1.  Hence the constant coefficient of g_{k,m} is 1.\n\nStrict positivity of the remaining coefficients.  Whenever k+m>0 the factor A_{m}(n) already contains (n+1), so A_{m}(n) has a positive coefficient of n^{1}.  Since B_{k,m}(n) has all coefficients non–negative and at least its constant term positive, the product A_{m}(n)B_{k,m}(n) (and therefore g_{k,m}(n)) has strictly positive coefficients in every degree ≥1.  The special case k=m=0 gives g_{0,0}(n)=n+1, which also satisfies the required properties.\n\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\n4.  Conclusion.\n──────────────────────────────────────────────\nFor all non–negative integers k and m the polynomial g_{k,m}(n)\n• has degree k+m+1;\n• has constant term 1; and\n• every other coefficient is strictly positive.  □",
      "_meta": {
        "core_steps": [
          "Identify each non-decreasing k-tuple ≤ z with a multiset of size k from {1,…,z}, counted by R(z,k)=C(z+k−1,k).",
          "Express the required quantity as f_{k,m}(n)=∑_{z=1}^{n} R(z,k)·R(z,m), making it a polynomial in n.",
          "Use Pascal’s identity / Abel summation to derive the recurrence  f_{k,m}(n)=R(n,k)R(n,m+1)+f_{k-1,m}(n)−f_{k-1,m+1}(n).",
          "Solve the recurrence inductively to obtain  f_{k,m}(n)=R(n,m+1)/R(m+2,k)·∑_{i=0}^{k} R(m+1,i)R(n,i).",
          "Since each R(n,i) is a rising factorial with positive coefficients, all coefficients of f_{k,m}(n) are non-negative."
        ],
        "mutable_slots": {
          "slot1": {
            "description": "The lower bound in the inequalities for x_i, y_i (currently fixed at 1); any constant shift (e.g., 0 or c) merely translates the counting set and leaves the multiset argument intact.",
            "original": "1"
          },
          "slot2": {
            "description": "The stipulation that k and m be strictly positive; allowing k or m = 0 (or declaring them merely non-negative) does not affect the recurrence or positivity argument.",
            "original": "“k,m positive integers”"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "checked": true,
  "problem_type": "proof",
  "iteratively_fixed": true
}