Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-year-1-of-the-computer-science-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/discrete-mathematics-continuous-mathematics-and-probability-resit/2/e/ii/solution

Write and . Partition an -element set into distinguished pairs, and let interchange the two elements of every pair. It induces an involution on the -element subsets. Every nonfixed subset is paired with its distinct image, so nonfixed subsets contribute an even number to the binomial coefficient .
A fixed subset contains either both or neither of the elements of each distinguished pair. Since it contains elements, it consists of exactly whole pairs. There are such fixed subsets. Counting modulo therefore gives
The same involution explains part (i): a fixed subset cannot have odd size.

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