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Algebra Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:

Let x1x_1, x2x_2, ..., xnx_n be positive reals with sum 11. Show that
x12x1+x2+x22x2+x3++xn2xn+x112. \frac{x_1^2}{x_1 + x_2} + \frac{x_2^2}{x_2 + x_3} + \cdots + \frac{x_n^2}{x_n + x_1} \geq \frac{1}{2}.

Solution

Solution:

We have
xi2xi+xi+1xi+12xi+xi+1=(xixi+1)=0. \sum \frac{x_i^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} - \sum \frac{x_{i+1}^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} = \sum (x_i - x_{i+1}) = 0.
Also,
xi2+xi+12xi+xi+112(xi+xi+1) \frac{x_i^2 + x_{i+1}^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} \geq \frac{1}{2} (x_i + x_{i+1})
by the QM-AM inequality. Summing over all ii,
xi2xi+xi+1+xi+12xi+xi+112(xi+xi+1)=1. \sum \frac{x_i^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} + \sum \frac{x_{i+1}^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} \geq \frac{1}{2} \sum (x_i + x_{i+1}) = 1.
Since the two sums are equal, each is at least 12\frac{1}{2}.
Therefore,
xi2xi+xi+112. \sum \frac{x_i^2}{x_i + x_{i+1}} \geq \frac{1}{2}.

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