Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:

What is the smallest nn for which there is a solution to
sinx1+sinx2++sinxn=0,\sin x_{1} + \sin x_{2} + \ldots + \sin x_{n} = 0,
sinx1+2sinx2++nsinxn=100?\sin x_{1} + 2 \sin x_{2} + \ldots + n \sin x_{n} = 100?

Solution

Solution:

Put x1=x2==x10=3π/2x_{1} = x_{2} = \ldots = x_{10} = 3\pi /2, x11=x12==x20=π/2x_{11} = x_{12} = \ldots = x_{20} = \pi /2. Then
sinx1+sinx2++sinx20=(1111)+(1+1++1)=0, sin x_{1} + \sin x_{2} + \ldots + \sin x_{20} = (-1 - 1 - 1 - \ldots - 1) + (1 + 1 + \ldots + 1) = 0,
and
sinx1+2sinx2++20sinx20=(1+2++10)+(11+12++20)=100. sin x_{1} + 2 \sin x_{2} + \ldots + 20 \sin x_{20} = - (1 + 2 + \ldots + 10) + (11 + 12 + \ldots + 20) = 100.
So there is a solution with n=20n = 20.

If there is a solution with n<20n < 20, then there must be a solution for n=19n = 19 (put any extra xi=0x_{i} = 0). But then
100=(sinx1+2sinx2++19sinx19)10(sinx1+sinx2++sinx19) 100 = (\sin x_{1} + 2 \sin x_{2} + \ldots + 19 \sin x_{19}) - 10 (\sin x_{1} + \sin x_{2} + \ldots + \sin x_{19})
=9sinx18sinx27sinx3sinx9+sinx11+2sinx12++9sinx19. = -9 \sin x_{1} - 8 \sin x_{2} - 7 \sin x_{3} - \ldots - \sin x_{9} + \sin x_{11} + 2 \sin x_{12} + \ldots + 9 \sin x_{19}.
But rhs(9+8++1)+(1+2++9)=90|\text{rhs}| \leq (9 + 8 + \ldots + 1) + (1 + 2 + \ldots + 9) = 90. Contradiction. So there is no solution for n<20n < 20.

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