Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /7 of 20

Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it China

Given integer n>2n > 2, suppose positive real numbers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n satisfy ak1a_k \le 1, k=1,2,,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n.
Let Ak=a1+a2++akkA_k = \frac{a_1 + a_2 + \dots + a_k}{k}, k=1,2,,nk = 1, 2, \dots, n.
Prove k=1nakk=1nAk<n12\left| \sum_{k=1}^n a_k - \sum_{k=1}^n A_k \right| < \frac{n-1}{2}.

Solution

For 1kn11 \le k \le n-1, we have 0<i=1kaik0 < \sum_{i=1}^k a_i \le k and 0<i=k+1naink0 < \sum_{i=k+1}^n a_i \le n-k. By using the fact that xy<max{x,y}|x-y| < \max\{x, y\} for x,y>0x, y > 0, we get
AnAk=(1n1k)i=1kai+1ni=k+1nai=1ni=k+1nai(1k1n)i=1kai<max{1ni=k+1nai,(1k1n)i=1kai}max{1n(nk),(1k1n)k}=1kn. \begin{align*} |A_n - A_k| &= \left| \left(\frac{1}{n} - \frac{1}{k}\right) \sum_{i=1}^{k} a_i + \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=k+1}^{n} a_i \right| \\ &= \left| \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=k+1}^{n} a_i - \left(\frac{1}{k} - \frac{1}{n}\right) \sum_{i=1}^{k} a_i \right| \\ &< \max \left\{ \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=k+1}^{n} a_i, \left(\frac{1}{k} - \frac{1}{n}\right) \sum_{i=1}^{k} a_i \right\} \\ &\le \max \left\{ \frac{1}{n}(n-k), \left(\frac{1}{k} - \frac{1}{n}\right) k \right\} \\ &= 1 - \frac{k}{n}. \end{align*}
Therefore,
k=1nakk=1nAk=nAnk=1nAk=k=1n1(AnAk)k=1n1AnAk<k=1n1(1kn)=n12. \begin{align*} \left| \sum_{k=1}^{n} a_k - \sum_{k=1}^{n} A_k \right| &= \left| nA_n - \sum_{k=1}^{n} A_k \right| \\ &= \left| \sum_{k=1}^{n-1} (A_n - A_k) \right| \le \sum_{k=1}^{n-1} \left| A_n - A_k \right| \\ &< \sum_{k=1}^{n-1} \left(1 - \frac{k}{n}\right) = \frac{n-1}{2}. \end{align*}
This completes the proof. ☐

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.