Comment: Expanding the left-hand side of the desired inequality gives
k=1∑n(1−∑i=1nixi2k)2⋅kxk2=k=1∑nkxk2−k=1∑n∑i=1nixi22xk2+k=1∑n(∑i=1nixi2)2kxk2=k=1∑nkxk2−∑i=1nixi21k=1∑n2xk21+(∑i=1nixi2)21k=1∑nkxk2=k=1∑nkxk2−∑i=1nixi22+∑i=1nixi21=k=1∑nkxk2−∑i=1nixi21.
We want to show that
k=1∑nkxk2−∑i=1nixi21≤(n+2n−1)2k=1∑nkxk2=k=1∑nkxk2−(n+1)24nk=1∑nkxk2
or
(n+1)24nk=1∑nkxk2≤∑i=1nixi21,
that is,
(k=1∑nkxk2)(k=1∑nkxk2)≤4n(n+1)2.1◯
We present two proofs of the above inequality.
Solution 1. We rewrite 1 as
4n(k=1∑nkxk2)(k=1∑nkxk2)≤(n+1)2.
By the AM-GM inequality, we have
4n(k=1∑nkxk2)(k=1∑nkxk2)=4(k=1∑nknxk2)(k=1∑nkxk2)≤(k=1∑nknxk2+k=1∑nkxk2)2=(k=1∑n(kn+k)xk2)2.
It suffices to show that
kn+k≤n+1
or
0≤nk+k−k2−n=(n−k)(k−1),
which is evident.
Now, we consider the equality case. Note that the last inequality is strict for 1<k<n. Hence, we must have x2=⋯=xn−1=0. For the AM-GM inequality to hold, we must have
k=1∑nknxk2=k=1∑nkxk2 or nx12+xn2=x12+nxn2
with x12+xn2=1. We must have x12=xn2=21 and x2=⋯=xn−1=0.
Solution 2. (By Lynnelle Ye) We write ④ as
(n+1)2−4n(k=1∑nkxk2)(k=1∑nkxk2)≥0.
Note that the left-hand side of the above inequality is the discriminant of the quadratic (in t):
f(t)=n(x12+2x22+⋯+nxn2)t2−(n+1)t+(x12+2x22+⋯+nxn2).
It suffices to show that f(t) has a real root. Because the leading coefficient of f(x) is n(x12+2x22+⋯+nxn2), which is positive, it remains to be shown that f(t)≤0 for some t. Because x12+⋯+xn2=1, we have
f(t)=n(x12+2x22+⋯+nxn2)t2−(n+1)(x12+x22+⋯+xn2)t+(x12+2x22+⋯+nxn2)t=k=1∑n(nkxk2t2−(n+1)xk2t+kxk2)=k=1∑nxk2(nkt−1)(t−k1).
It is easy to see that f(n1)≤0 because for t=n1, each summand
xk2(nkt−1)(t−k1)=nkxk2(k−1)(k−n)≤0,
completing our proof. For the equality case of the given inequality, we must have equality case for the above inequality for every k; that is, xk=0 for 2≤k≤n−1. It is then not difficult to obtain that
x_1^2 = x_2^2 = \frac{1}{2}. \quad \square