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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find the smallest real number c>0c > 0 such that
{x}+{y}<c+xy \{x\} + \{y\} < c + xy
for all real numbers x,y>0x, y > 0 and xy<1xy < 1.

Solution

First, choose x=n+1n+2x = \frac{n+1}{n+2}, y=nn+1y = \frac{n}{n+1} with nZ+n \in \mathbb{Z}^+ then xy=nn+2<1xy = \frac{n}{n+2} < 1. Substituting into the given inequality, we have
{n+1n+2+nn+1<c+nn+2    c>nn+1+1n+2. \begin{cases} \frac{n+1}{n+2} + \frac{n}{n+1} < c + \frac{n}{n+2} \\ \iff c > \frac{n}{n+1} + \frac{1}{n+2}. \end{cases}
Here, for n+n \to +\infty we have c1c \ge 1. Next, we will prove the inequality with c=1c = 1: {x}+{y}<1+xy\{x\} + \{y\} < 1 + xy for all x,y>0x, y > 0 and xy<1xy < 1. Indeed, we have
(1{x})(1{y})>0    {x}+{y}<1+{x}{y}1+xy. (1 - \{x\})(1 - \{y\}) > 0 \implies \{x\} + \{y\} < 1 + \{x\}\{y\} \le 1 + xy.
This inequality is true. Therefore, the minimum value we need to find is c=1c = 1.

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