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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.7 National Olympiad Prove it Romania

The numbers 2322^3 - 2, 3333^3 - 3, 4344^3 - 4, \dots, (2n+1)3(2n+1)(2n+1)^3 - (2n+1), where n2n \ge 2 is an integer, are written on a board. An operation consists in erasing three randomly chosen numbers aa, bb, cc from the board and replacing them with abcab+bc+ca\frac{abc}{ab+bc+ca}. Several operations are performed until two numbers remain on the board. Show that the sum of the last two numbers left on the board is greater than 1616.

Gheorghe Rotariu

Solution

Since 1a+1b+1c=ab+bc+caabc=(abcab+bc+ca)1\frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} + \frac{1}{c} = \frac{ab+bc+ca}{abc} = \left(\frac{abc}{ab+bc+ca}\right)^{-1}, for any given positive numbers aa, bb, cc, it follows that after any operation, the sum of the inverses of the numbers left on the board is equal to the sum of the inverses of the numbers on the board before the operation. Therefore, the sum of the inverses of the last two numbers left on the board is equal to the sum SS of the inverses of the initial numbers.

Notice that 1k3k=1k(k1)(k+1)=12(1(k1)k1k(k+1))\frac{1}{k^3-k} = \frac{1}{k(k-1)(k+1)} = \frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{(k-1)k} - \frac{1}{k(k+1)}\right), for any k>1k > 1, so:
S=1232+1333++1(2n+1)3(2n+1)=12(112123+123134++12n(2n+1)1(2n+1)(2n+2))=12(121(2n+1)(2n+2))=2n2+3n8n2+12n+4 \begin{align*} S &= \frac{1}{2^3 - 2} + \frac{1}{3^3 - 3} + \dots + \frac{1}{(2n+1)^3 - (2n+1)} \\ &= \frac{1}{2} \left( \frac{1}{1 \cdot 2} - \frac{1}{2 \cdot 3} + \frac{1}{2 \cdot 3} - \frac{1}{3 \cdot 4} + \dots + \frac{1}{2n(2n+1)} - \frac{1}{(2n+1)(2n+2)} \right) \\ &= \frac{1}{2} \left( \frac{1}{2} - \frac{1}{(2n+1)(2n+2)} \right) = \frac{2n^2 + 3n}{8n^2 + 12n + 4} \end{align*}
If xx and yy are the last two numbers left on the board, then 1x+1y=x+yxy=2n2+3n8n2+12n+4\frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{y} = \frac{x+y}{xy} = \frac{2n^2+3n}{8n^2+12n+4}. Since 4x+yx+yxy\frac{4}{x+y} \le \frac{x+y}{xy}, for each xx, y>0y > 0, it follows that 4x+y2n2+3n8n2+12n+4<14\frac{4}{x+y} \le \frac{2n^2+3n}{8n^2+12n+4} < \frac{1}{4}, so x+y>16x+y > 16.

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