Let and be positive integers. On the board different positive integers not exceeding are written. Prove that the equation
has at least solutions , where are some (not necessarily different) numbers written on the board.
Solution
For positive integer denote by the number of pairs , where are numbers on the board and . Since the sum of two numbers on the board cannot be less than or greater than , the number of solutions of equation is . Applying the AM-QM inequality to gives
Since each pair , where are numbers on the board, is counted exactly once in the sum , the sum is equal to the number of pairs . Hence
which proves the claim.
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