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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let aRa \in \mathbb{R} and f:(0,)(0,)f : (0, \infty) \to (0, \infty). Prove that the following two statements are equivalent:
(i) limxf(x)xa+ε=0\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{f(x)}{x^{a+\varepsilon}} = 0 and limxf(x)xaε=\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{f(x)}{x^{a-\varepsilon}} = \infty, for all ε>0\varepsilon > 0;
(ii) limxlnf(x)lnx=a\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{\ln f(x)}{\ln x} = a.

Solution

(i)⇒(ii). Let ε>0\varepsilon > 0; according to (i), there exists m1>0m_1 > 0 such that f(x)xa+ε<1,x>m1\frac{f(x)}{x^{a+\varepsilon}} < 1, \forall x > m_1 and m2>0m_2 > 0 such that f(x)xaε>1,x>m2\frac{f(x)}{x^{a-\varepsilon}} > 1, \forall x > m_2. If we denote m=max{m1,m2,1}m = \max\{m_1, m_2, 1\}, then xaε<f(x)<xa+ε,x>mx^{a-\varepsilon} < f(x) < x^{a+\varepsilon}, \forall x > m. This implies aε<lnf(x)lnx<a+ε,x>ma - \varepsilon < \frac{\ln f(x)}{\ln x} < a + \varepsilon, \forall x > m. Since ε>0\varepsilon > 0 is arbitrarily chosen, it follows that limxlnf(x)lnx=a\lim_{x \to \infty} \frac{\ln f(x)}{\ln x} = a.

(ii)⇒(i). Let ε>0\varepsilon > 0. From (ii), we derive the existence of some m>1m > 1 such that
aε2<lnf(x)lnx<a+ε2,x>m. a - \frac{\varepsilon}{2} < \frac{\ln f(x)}{\ln x} < a + \frac{\varepsilon}{2}, \forall x > m.
This yields xaε/2<f(x)<xa+ε/2,x>mx^{a-\varepsilon/2} < f(x) < x^{a+\varepsilon/2}, \forall x > m, and therefore f(x)xa+ε<1xε/2,\frac{f(x)}{x^{a+\varepsilon}} < \frac{1}{x^{\varepsilon/2}}, for all x>mx > m, and f(x)xaε>xε/2,x>m\frac{f(x)}{x^{a-\varepsilon}} > x^{\varepsilon/2}, \forall x > m. But limxxε/2=\lim_{x \to \infty} x^{\varepsilon/2} = \infty and f(x)>0,x>0f(x) > 0, \forall x > 0, from which we obtain the desired conclusion.

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