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Romanian Mathematical Olympiad

Algebra Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it Romania

Prove the inequality
sinπ4n≥22n, sin \frac{\pi}{4n} \ge \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2n},

where nn is a positive integer.

Solution

If a=cos⁡π2n+isin⁡π2na = \cos \frac{\pi}{2n} + i \sin \frac{\pi}{2n}, then ∣a∣=1|a| = 1 and an=ia^n = i. We obtain from here that
i−1=an−1=(a−1)(an−1+an−2+⋯+1), i - 1 = a^n - 1 = (a - 1)(a^{n-1} + a^{n-2} + \dots + 1),
and thus 2≤∣a−1∣⋅n\sqrt{2} \le |a - 1| \cdot n.
On the other hand, ∣a−1∣=∣−2sin⁡2π4n+2isin⁡π4ncos⁡π2n∣=2sin⁡π4n|a - 1| = |-2 \sin^2 \frac{\pi}{4n} + 2i \sin \frac{\pi}{4n} \cos \frac{\pi}{2n}| = 2 \sin \frac{\pi}{4n}, which complete the proof.

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