Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /11 of 54

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it China

Let x1,x2,,x5x_1, x_2, \dots, x_5 be nonnegative real numbers with i=1511+xi=1\sum_{i=1}^5 \frac{1}{1+x_i} = 1.
Prove that i=15xi4+xi21\sum_{i=1}^5 \frac{x_i}{4+x_i^2} \le 1. (posed by Li Shenghong)

Solution

Let yi=11+xiy_i = \frac{1}{1+x_i}, i=1,2,,5i=1, 2, \dots, 5, then xi=1yiyix_i = \frac{1-y_i}{y_i}, i=1,2,,5i=1, 2, \dots, 5 and i=15yi=1\sum_{i=1}^5 y_i = 1.
We have
i=15xi4+xi21i=15yi2+yi5yi22yi+11i=155yi2+5yi5yi22yi+15i=15(1+3yi+15yi22yi+1)5i=153yi+15(yi15)2+4510. \begin{align*} \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{x_i}{4+x_i^2} &\le 1 \Leftrightarrow \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{-y_i^2+y_i}{5y_i^2-2y_i+1} \le 1 \\ &\Leftrightarrow \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{-5y_i^2+5y_i}{5y_i^2-2y_i+1} \le 5 \\ &\Leftrightarrow \sum_{i=1}^{5} \left(-1+\frac{3y_i+1}{5y_i^2-2y_i+1}\right) \le 5 \\ &\Leftrightarrow \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{3y_i+1}{5\left(y_i-\frac{1}{5}\right)^2+\frac{4}{5}} \le 10. \end{align*}
Furthermore,
i=153yi+15(yi15)2+45i=153yi+145=54i=15(3yi+1)=54×(3+5)=10. \begin{align*} \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{3y_i + 1}{5\left(y_i - \frac{1}{5}\right)^2 + \frac{4}{5}} &\le \sum_{i=1}^{5} \frac{3y_i + 1}{\frac{4}{5}} = \frac{5}{4} \sum_{i=1}^{5} (3y_i + 1) \\ &= \frac{5}{4} \times (3+5) = 10. \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.