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SAUDI ARABIAN IMO Booklet, 2023

Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Positive real numbers a1,a2,…,an,b1,b2,…,bna_1, a_2, \dots, a_n, b_1, b_2, \dots, b_n satisfy a1≥a2≥⋯≥ana_1 \ge a_2 \ge \dots \ge a_n and b1b2…bk≥a1a2…akb_1b_2\dots b_k \ge a_1a_2\dots a_k for each k=1,2,…,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n. Prove that
b1+b2+⋯+bn≥a1+a2+⋯+an. b_1 + b_2 + \dots + b_n \ge a_1 + a_2 + \dots + a_n.

Solution

Note that for each k=1,2,…,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n, we have
b1a1+b2a2+⋯+bkak≥kb1a1b2a2…bkakk≥k, \frac{b_1}{a_1} + \frac{b_2}{a_2} + \dots + \frac{b_k}{a_k} \ge k \sqrt[k]{\frac{b_1}{a_1} \frac{b_2}{a_2} \dots \frac{b_k}{a_k}} \ge k,
which means that
sk=b1−a1a1+b2−a2a2+⋯+bk−akak=b1a1+b2a2+⋯+bkak−k≥0. s_k = \frac{b_1 - a_1}{a_1} + \frac{b_2 - a_2}{a_2} + \cdots + \frac{b_k - a_k}{a_k} = \frac{b_1}{a_1} + \frac{b_2}{a_2} + \cdots + \frac{b_k}{a_k} - k \geq 0.
For each k=1,2,…,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n, we have
sk−sk−1=bk−akak  ⟹  bk−ak=aksk−aksk−1 s_k - s_{k-1} = \frac{b_k - a_k}{a_k} \implies b_k - a_k = a_k s_k - a_k s_{k-1}
where s0=0s_0 = 0. Hence,
(b1−a1)+(b2−a2)+⋯+(bn−an)=a1s1−a2s1+a2s2−a3s2+⋯+ansn−ansn−1=s1(a1−a2)+s2(a2−a3)+⋯+sn−1(an−1−an)+snan≥0, \begin{aligned} & (b_1 - a_1) + (b_2 - a_2) + \cdots + (b_n - a_n) \\ &= a_1 s_1 - a_2 s_1 + a_2 s_2 - a_3 s_2 + \cdots + a_n s_n - a_n s_{n-1} \\ &= s_1(a_1 - a_2) + s_2(a_2 - a_3) + \cdots + s_{n-1}(a_{n-1} - a_n) + s_n a_n \geq 0, \end{aligned}
as desired.

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