Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let aa, bb, cc be positive integers. Show that
(1+acbi=1b1c+i)ba!(b+c)!(a+b)!c!(1+cabi=1b1a+i)b. \left( 1 + \frac{a-c}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{1}{c+i} \right)^{-b} \le \frac{a!\,(b+c)!}{(a+b)!\,c!} \le \left( 1 + \frac{c-a}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{1}{a+i} \right)^{b}.

Solution

The fraction in the middle can also be written this way
x=a!(b+c)!(a+b)!c!=(c+1)(c+2)(c+b)(a+1)(a+2)(a+b)=i=1bc+ia+i. x = \frac{a!\,(b+c)!}{(a+b)!\,c!} = \frac{(c+1)(c+2)\cdots(c+b)}{(a+1)(a+2)\cdots(a+b)} = \prod_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i}.
Because 1+caa+i=c+ia+i1 + \frac{c-a}{a+i} = \frac{c+i}{a+i}, we have
1+cabi=1b1a+i=1bi=1b(1+caa+i)=1bi=1bc+ia+i. 1 + \frac{c-a}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{1}{a+i} = \frac{1}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \left( 1 + \frac{c-a}{a+i} \right) = \frac{1}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i}.
The AM-GM inequality gives
i=1bc+ia+i1bi=1bc+ia+i i.e. i=1bc+ia+i(1bi=1bc+ia+i)b. \sqrt**{\prod_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i}} \le \frac{1}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i} \quad \text{ i.e. } \quad \prod_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i} \le \left( \frac{1}{b} \sum_{i=1}^{b} \frac{c+i}{a+i} \right)^{b}.
This establishes the inequality on the right. Swapping the roles of aa and cc, then taking the reciprocal, gives the left hand inequality.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.