Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1 of 3

Combinatorics Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Silk Road Mathematics Competition

Prove that among every 42 numbers from the interval [1,106][1, 10^6] it is possible to choose four numbers in such a way that for any permutation (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) of these numbers, the following inequality holds:
25(ab+cd)(ad+bc)16(ac+bd)2. 25(ab + cd)(ad + bc) \geq 16(ac + bd)^2.

Solution

Let 1x1x2x421061 \leq x_1 \leq x_2 \leq \dots \leq x_{42} \leq 10^6 be the given numbers. Suppose that x2k+1x2k+2>4x2kx2k1x_{2k+1}x_{2k+2} > 4x_{2k}x_{2k-1} for every k=1,2,,20k = 1, 2, \dots, 20. Multiplying all these inequalities for every k=1,2,,20k = 1, 2, \dots, 20 we obtain x41x42>420x1x2420x_{41}x_{42} > 4^{20}x_1x_2 \geq 4^{20}, hence x42>220>106x_{42} > 2^{20} > 10^6, contradiction. Therefore, there is kk (1k201 \leq k \leq 20) such that x2k+2x2k+14x2kx2k1x_{2k+2}x_{2k+1} \leq 4x_{2k}x_{2k-1} (*). Let's prove that (x2k1,x2k,x2k+1,x2k+2)(x_{2k-1}, x_{2k}, x_{2k+1}, x_{2k+2}) satisfies the constraints. In fact, let (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) be some permutation of these numbers. From (*) it follows that 4acbd4ac \geq bd, 4bdac4bd \geq ac. Then
25(ab+cd)(ad+bc)16(ac+bd)2=25(ac(b2+d2)+bd(a2+c2))100abcd+(68abcd16a2c216b2d2)=25ac(bd)2+25bd(ac)2+4(4acbd)(4bdac)0, \begin{aligned} & 25(ab + cd)(ad + bc) - 16(ac + bd)^2 = \\ & \quad 25(ac(b^2 + d^2) + bd(a^2 + c^2)) - 100abcd + (68abcd - 16a^2c^2 - 16b^2d^2) = \\ & \quad 25ac(b-d)^2 + 25bd(a-c)^2 + 4(4ac-bd)(4bd-ac) \geq 0, \end{aligned}
proved.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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