Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Which number is larger, AA or BB, where
A=12015(1+12+13++12015)andB=12016(1+12+13++12016)? A=\frac{1}{2015}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2015}\right) \quad \text{and} \quad B=\frac{1}{2016}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2016}\right) ?
Prove that your answer is correct.

Solution

Solution:
We claim that:
A=12015(1+12+13++12015)>B=12016(1+12+13++12016). A=\frac{1}{2015}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2015}\right)>B=\frac{1}{2016}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2016}\right) .
To prove this, let S=1+12+13++12015S=1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2015}. Then A=12015SA=\frac{1}{2015} S and B=12016(S+12016)B=\frac{1}{2016}\left(S+\frac{1}{2016}\right).
Thus, our proposed inequality can be written as:
12015S>?12016(S+12016) \frac{1}{2015} S \stackrel{?}{>} \frac{1}{2016}\left(S+\frac{1}{2016}\right)
After multiplying both sides by 201520162015 \cdot 2016 to clear some of the denominators, the proposed inequality becomes equivalent to:
2016S>?2015S+20152016 2016 S \stackrel{?}{>} 2015 S+\frac{2015}{2016}
which, after subtracting 2015S2015 S from both sides, is equivalent in turn to:
S>?20152016 S \stackrel{?}{>} \frac{2015}{2016}
But S>1S>1, so it follows that S>20152016S>\frac{2015}{2016}, establishing the last inequality and thereby proving all of the previous inequalities. In particular, the proposed original inequality is correct:
A=12015(1+12+13++12015)>B=12016(1+12+13++12016). A=\frac{1}{2015}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2015}\right)>B=\frac{1}{2016}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2016}\right) .

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