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Algebra Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it Turkey

Show that
i=1naiai4+312i=1n1ai \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{a_i}{\sqrt{a_i^4 + 3}} \le \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{a_i}
for all positive integers nn and positive real numbers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n satisfying the condition a1a2an=1a_1 a_2 \cdots a_n = 1.

Solution

We first observe that x4+3(x+1)2x^4+3 \ge (x+1)^2 as x4+3(x+1)2=(x1)2(x2+2x+2)0x^4+3-(x+1)^2 = (x-1)^2(x^2+2x+2) \ge 0. Therefore it suffices to prove that
i=1naiai+112i=1n1ai \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{a_i}{a_i + 1} \le \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{a_i}
for all positive integers nn and positive real numbers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n satisfying the condition a1a2an=1a_1 a_2 \cdots a_n = 1.

Next we observe that
12xyxyxy+112x+12yxx+1yy+1() \frac{1}{2xy} - \frac{xy}{xy+1} \le \frac{1}{2x} + \frac{1}{2y} - \frac{x}{x+1} - \frac{y}{y+1} \quad (*)
for 0<x1y0 < x \le 1 \le y. This can be seen using the fact that
0(1x)(y1)(2x2y2+x2y+xy2+xy+x+y+1) 0 \le (1-x)(y-1)(2x^2y^2 + x^2y + xy^2 + xy + x + y + 1)
after collecting all the terms to the right side of the inequality and getting a common denominator.

Let fk(x1,x2,,xk)=12i=1k1xii=1kxixi+1f_k(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_k) = \frac{1}{2} \sum_{i=1}^{k} \frac{1}{x_i} - \sum_{i=1}^{k} \frac{x_i}{x_i + 1}. We will prove by induction on kk that x1x2xk=1    fk(x1,x2,,xk)0x_1 x_2 \cdots x_k = 1 \implies f_k(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_k) \ge 0.

* For k=1k=1, x1=1x_1=1 and f1(x1)=0f_1(x_1) = 0.

* Suppose k>1k > 1 and x1x2xk=1x_1 x_2 \cdots x_k = 1. If x1x2xkx_1 \le x_2 \le \cdots \le x_k, then x11xkx_1 \le 1 \le x_k, and using (*) we get fk(x1,x2,,xk)fk1(x1xk,x2,,xk1)0f_k(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_k) \ge f_{k-1}(x_1 x_k, x_2, \dots, x_{k-1}) \ge 0.

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