Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Prove that among any four numbers from the interval 0,π2\langle 0, \frac{\pi}{2} \rangle one can choose two numbers, namely xx and yy, such that
8cosxcosycos(xy)+1>4(cos2x+cos2y). 8 \cos x \cos y \cos(x - y) + 1 > 4 (\cos^2 x + \cos^2 y).

Solution

The given inequality is successively equivalent to
8cosxcosy(cosxcosy+sinxsiny)+1>4cos2x+4cos2y,8 \cos x \cos y (\cos x \cos y + \sin x \sin y) + 1 > 4 \cos^2 x + 4 \cos^2 y,
8cos2xcos2y4cos2x4cos2y+2sin2xsin2y+1>0,8 \cos^2 x \cos^2 y - 4 \cos^2 x - 4 \cos^2 y + 2 \sin 2x \sin 2y + 1 > 0,
2(2cos2x1)(2cos2y1)+2sin2xsin2y1>0,2 (2 \cos^2 x - 1) (2 \cos^2 y - 1) + 2 \sin 2x \sin 2y - 1 > 0,
cos2xcos2y+sin2xsin2y>12,\cos 2x \cos 2y + \sin 2x \sin 2y > \frac{1}{2},
cos(2x2y)>12.\cos (2x - 2y) > \frac{1}{2}.
By the pigeonhole principle, in one of the sets
0,π6,[π6,π3),[π3,π2] \langle 0, \frac{\pi}{6} \rangle, \quad \left[ \frac{\pi}{6}, \frac{\pi}{3} \right), \quad \left[ \frac{\pi}{3}, \frac{\pi}{2} \right]
there are two out of four given numbers. Let these be xx and yy.
Now we have 2x2y<π3|2x - 2y| < \frac{\pi}{3} and cos(2x2y)>12\cos(2x - 2y) > \frac{1}{2}, which proves the claim.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.