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Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Let f:R+R+f: \mathbb{R}^+ \to \mathbb{R}^+ be a non-constant function. Prove that there exist a,bR+a, b \in \mathbb{R}^+ such that
f(a)+f(b)>2f(ab). f(a) + f(b) > 2f(\sqrt{ab}).

Solution

Assume the contrary that for all a,bR+a, b \in \mathbb{R}^+ we have that f(a)+f(b)2f(ab)f(a) + f(b) \le 2f(\sqrt{ab}). Let P(a,b)P(a, b) denote that assertion. First, P(a,1a)P(a, \frac{1}{a}) gives us f(a)+f(1a)2f(1)f(a) + f(\frac{1}{a}) \le 2f(1), and as ff is positive, we obtain that it is bounded. We will show by mathematical induction that for any arbitrary aR+a \in \mathbb{R}^+
f(a2n)2n(f(a)f(1))+f(1).() f(a^{2^n}) \le 2^n(f(a) - f(1)) + f(1). \quad (*)
We obtain the base case by directly evaluating P(a2,1)P(a^2, 1), which yields f(a2)2f(a)f(1)=2(f(a)f(1))+f(1)f(a^2) \le 2f(a) - f(1) = 2(f(a) - f(1)) + f(1). Assume that the statement holds for some n=k1n = k - 1. From P(a2k,1)P(a^{2^k}, 1), we obtain f(a2k)2f(a2k1)f(1)f(a^{2^k}) \le 2f(a^{2^{k-1}}) - f(1). From the inductive hypothesis, we have that f(a2k1)2k1(f(a)f(1))+f(1)f(a^{2^{k-1}}) \le 2^{k-1}(f(a) - f(1)) + f(1). By chaining the inequalities we obtain f(a2k)2k(f(a)f(1))+f(1)f(a^{2^k}) \le 2^k(f(a) - f(1)) + f(1), which we needed to show. Assume that there exists an aa such that f(a)<f(1)f(a) < f(1). As (*) holds true for any arbitrary aR+a \in \mathbb{R}^+, we obtain that for a large enough nn we will have that f(a2n)2n(f(a)f(1))+f(1)<0f(a^{2^n}) \le 2^n(f(a) - f(1)) + f(1) < 0, a contradiction with the fact that our function is positive. Therefore, f(a)f(1)f(a) \ge f(1) for all aR+a \in \mathbb{R}^+. Assume that for some aa we have that f(a)>f(1)f(a) > f(1). Since we have that f(1a)f(1)f(\frac{1}{a}) \ge f(1), revisiting P(a,1a)P(a, \frac{1}{a}) we obtain that 2f(1)<f(a)+f(1a)2f(1)2f(1) < f(a) + f(\frac{1}{a}) \le 2f(1), a contradiction. We obtain that the equality f(a)=f(1)f(a) = f(1) must hold true for all aa, but this contradicts the assumption that ff is non-constant.

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