For every positive integer , determine the greatest possible value of the quotient
where .
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
It is convenient to write , so that . We show that the maximum of the resulting expression
is attained when . The value in this case is . We first rewrite the expression as follows:
We will therefore be done if we can show that
attains its maximum for whenever . This can be achieved in many ways, for example as follows: the general mean inequality yields
and
Solution 2
Using the same notation as in the previous solution, the binomial theorem gives us
We group terms pairwise ( and forming a pair):
Now we only need to show that
attains its maximum when . Note that the potential extra term for even is also of this form, up to a factor 2:
Since by the inequality between the arithmetic and geometric mean (with equality for ), this can again be achieved by showing that
attains its maximum for whenever , as in the first solution.