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IMO 2021 — Complete Shortlist Question 11

IMO Shortlist · IMO 2021 — Complete Shortlist

Question 11

A thimblerigger has 2021 thimbles numbered from 1 through 2021. The thimbles are arranged in a circle in arbitrary order. The thimblerigger performs a sequence of 2021 moves; in the $k^{\text {th }}$ move, he swaps the positions of the two thimbles adjacent to thimble $k$.

Prove that there exists a value of $k$ such that, in the $k^{\text {th }}$ move, the thimblerigger swaps some thimbles $a$ and $b$ such that $a\lt k\lt b$.