AlgebraDifficulty 6.5National OlympiadProve itSouth Korea
Given a positive integer n≥2, define the set T by T={(i,j):1≤i<j≤n and i=j}. For nonnegative real numbers x1,x2,…,xn satisfying x1+x2+⋯+xn=1, find the maximum (as a function of n) of (i,j)∈T∑xixj.
Solution
Let M(n) be the maximum of ∑(i,j)∈Txixj. We will show that M(n)=2(⌊log2n⌋+1)⌊log2n⌋. For k=⌊log2n⌋, set x20=x21=⋯=x2k=k+11, and xi=0 otherwise. Then we have ∑(i,j)∈Txixj=(2k+1)(k+1)21=2(k+1)k, thus M(n)≥2(⌊log2n⌋+1)⌊log2n⌋. Consider an element (x1,x2,…,xn) which yields M(n) and the number of i's such that xi=0 is maximal. In this case, if xa,xb=0 and a<b, then we have (a,b)∈T. Suppose (a,b)∈/T, then by setting xa′=xa−ϵ, xb′=xb+ϵ, and xi′=xi (i=a,b), the equation x1′+x2′+⋯+xn′=1 still holds and the value ∑(i,j)∈Txi′xj′ becomes a linear function of ϵ. Thus for ϵ=xa′ or ϵ=−xb′, ∑(i,j)∈Txi′xj′≥∑(i,j)∈Txixj, which contradicts the maximality of the number of i's satisfying xi=0. Therefore if C:={i:xi>0}, then i,j∈C and i<j implies (i,j)∈T. Thus if C={i1,i2,…,ik} and i1<i2<⋯<ik, then due to ij≥2ij−1 we have
n>it≥2t−1i1≥2t−1. This means that t−1≤log2n, or equivalently, ∣C∣≤k+1. Applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality yields (i,j)∈T∑xixj=21(i∈C∑xi)2−i∈C∑xi2≤211−∣C∣1(i∈C∑xi)2≤21(1−k+11). In particular we have M(n)≤2(⌊log2n⌋+1)⌊log2n⌋, which completes the proof. □
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