Pigeonhole Principle

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh

Department of Mathematics
September 21, 2022
 PHP

Outline

Introduction
PHP
Generalized PHP
Some Applications.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Simple Form

Suppose n + 1 pigeons fly into n pigeonholes to roost. Then

obviously at least two pigeons must roost in the same
pigeonhole.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Simple Form

Suppose n + 1 pigeons fly into n pigeonholes to roost. Then

obviously at least two pigeons must roost in the same
pigeonhole.
This property, called the pigeonhole principle(PHP), can be
stated in terms of functions, as the next theorem shows.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Simple Form

Suppose n + 1 pigeons fly into n pigeonholes to roost. Then

obviously at least two pigeons must roost in the same
pigeonhole.
This property, called the pigeonhole principle(PHP), can be
stated in terms of functions, as the next theorem shows.
The pigeonhole principle is a simple but important counting
principle.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Simple Form

Suppose n + 1 pigeons fly into n pigeonholes to roost. Then

obviously at least two pigeons must roost in the same
pigeonhole.
This property, called the pigeonhole principle(PHP), can be
stated in terms of functions, as the next theorem shows.
The pigeonhole principle is a simple but important counting
principle.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP
The pigeonhole principle, which can be applied in a variety of
situations, can be restated as follows: If m objects are placed
into n boxes, then at least one box must contain two or more
objects, where m > n.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP
The pigeonhole principle, which can be applied in a variety of
situations, can be restated as follows: If m objects are placed
into n boxes, then at least one box must contain two or more
objects, where m > n.
Accordingly, the pigeonhole principle is also called the
Dirichlet Box Principle after the German mathematician
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP
The pigeonhole principle, which can be applied in a variety of
situations, can be restated as follows: If m objects are placed
into n boxes, then at least one box must contain two or more
objects, where m > n.
Accordingly, the pigeonhole principle is also called the
Dirichlet Box Principle after the German mathematician
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
Example
Suppose we select 367 students from campus. Show that at least
two of them must have the same birthday.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP
The pigeonhole principle, which can be applied in a variety of
situations, can be restated as follows: If m objects are placed
into n boxes, then at least one box must contain two or more
objects, where m > n.
Accordingly, the pigeonhole principle is also called the
Dirichlet Box Principle after the German mathematician
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.
Example
Suppose we select 367 students from campus. Show that at least
two of them must have the same birthday.

Example
Suppose we have 10 married couples and we want to construct a
committee of 11 people from these couples. Prove that we will
always have at least one married couple in the committee.
Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle
 PHP

PHP

Example
Prove that of any five points chosen within a square of side
√ length
2. There are two points whose distance apart is at most 2.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP

Example
Prove that of any five points chosen within a square of side
√ length
2. There are two points whose distance apart is at most 2.

Example
If we select any group of 733 students on campus, show that at
least three of them must have the same birthday.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP General Form

Theorem
If m pigeons are assigned to n pigeonholes, there must be a
pigeonhole containing at least b(m − 1)/nc + 1 pigeons.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP in Function Form

Theorem
If f : P → H is a function where |P| > |H|, then there exists two
values x, y ∈ P such that f (x) = f (y ).

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP in Function Form

Theorem
If f : P → H is a function where |P| > |H|, then there exists two
values x, y ∈ P such that f (x) = f (y ).

Example
Let S be any (n + 1)-subset of {1, 2, . . . , 2n}. Then we can find
two elements of S such that one divides other.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP in Function Form

Theorem
If f : P → H is a function where |P| > |H|, then there exists two
values x, y ∈ P such that f (x) = f (y ).

Example
Let S be any (n + 1)-subset of {1, 2, . . . , 2n}. Then we can find
two elements of S such that one divides other.

Theorem
Erdos Theorem: If n + 1 integers are selected from the set
{1, 2, . . . , 2n}, one of them divides another integer that has been
selected.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Function Form

Remark
S0 = {n + 1, n + 2, . . . , 2n} is an n-subset of {1, 2, . . . , 2n} in
which no element divides another element.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Function Form

Remark
S0 = {n + 1, n + 2, . . . , 2n} is an n-subset of {1, 2, . . . , 2n} in
which no element divides another element.

Example
Let s = ha1 , a2 , . . . , an i be a sequence of n integers. There there is
a segment of s1 in which the consecutive terms add up to a
multiple of n.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Function Form

Remark
S0 = {n + 1, n + 2, . . . , 2n} is an n-subset of {1, 2, . . . , 2n} in
which no element divides another element.

Example
Let s = ha1 , a2 , . . . , an i be a sequence of n integers. There there is
a segment of s1 in which the consecutive terms add up to a
multiple of n.

Example
A basket of fruit is being arranged out of apples, bananas and
oranges. What is the smallest number of pieces of fruit that should
be put into the basket to guarantee that either there are at least 8
apples or at least 6 bananas or at least 9 oranges?

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Strong Form

Theorem
Let q1 , q2 , . . . , qn be positive integers. If q1 + q2 + · · · + qn − n + 1
objects are distributed into n boxes, then either the first box
contains at least q1 objects or the second box contains at least q2
objects, and so on or the nth box contains at least qn objects.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Strong Form

Theorem
Let q1 , q2 , . . . , qn be positive integers. If q1 + q2 + · · · + qn − n + 1
objects are distributed into n boxes, then either the first box
contains at least q1 objects or the second box contains at least q2
objects, and so on or the nth box contains at least qn objects.

Corollary
Let n and r be positive integers. If n(r − 1) + 1 objects are
distributed into n boxes, then at least one of the boxes contains r
or more objects.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Averaging Principle

Theorem
If the average of n non negative integers q1 , q2 , . . . , qn is greater
than r − 1, then at least one of the integer is ≥ r .

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Averaging Principle

Theorem
If the average of n non negative integers q1 , q2 , . . . , qn is greater
than r − 1, then at least one of the integer is ≥ r .

A different averaging principle is the following:

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

PHP Averaging Principle

Theorem
If the average of n non negative integers q1 , q2 , . . . , qn is greater
than r − 1, then at least one of the integer is ≥ r .

A different averaging principle is the following:

Theorem
If the average of n non negative integers q1 , q2 , . . . , qn is less than
r + 1, then at least one of the integer is less than r + 1.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

Ramsey Theorem

Example
Suppose every pair of vertices of a hexagon is joined by a line
segment, which is colored red or blue. Prove that the line
segments form at least one monochromatic triangle, that is, a
triangle with all its sides having the same color.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle

 PHP

Ramsey Theorem

Example
Suppose every pair of vertices of a hexagon is joined by a line
segment, which is colored red or blue. Prove that the line
segments form at least one monochromatic triangle, that is, a
triangle with all its sides having the same color.

Theorem
Of six (or more) people, either there are three, each pair of whom
are acquainted, or there are three, each pair of whom are
unacquainted.

Dr. Tarkeshwar Singh Pigeonhole Principle