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HMMT, 2014

Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Find the largest real number cc such that
∑i=1101xi2≥cM2 \sum_{i=1}^{101} x_{i}^{2} \geq c M^{2}
whenever x1,…,x101x_{1}, \ldots, x_{101} are real numbers such that x1+⋯+x101=0x_{1}+\cdots+x_{101}=0 and MM is the median of x1,…,x101x_{1}, \ldots, x_{101}.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: 515150\frac{5151}{50} OR 103.02 OR 103150103 \frac{1}{50}

Suppose without loss of generality that x1≤⋯≤x101x_{1} \leq \cdots \leq x_{101} and M=x51≥0M = x_{51} \geq 0.

Note that f(t)=t2f(t) = t^{2} is a convex function over the reals, so we may "smooth" to the case x1=⋯=x50≤x51=⋯=x101x_{1} = \cdots = x_{50} \leq x_{51} = \cdots = x_{101} (the x51=⋯x_{51} = \cdots is why we needed to assume x51≥0x_{51} \geq 0). Indeed, by Jensen's inequality, the map x1,x2,…,x50→x1+⋯+x5050,…,x1+⋯+x5050x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots, x_{50} \rightarrow \frac{x_{1}+\cdots+x_{50}}{50}, \ldots, \frac{x_{1}+\cdots+x_{50}}{50} will decrease or fix the LHS, while preserving the ordering condition and the zero-sum condition.

Similarly, we may without loss of generality replace x51,…,x101x_{51}, \ldots, x_{101} with their average (which will decrease or fix the LHS, but also either fix or increase the RHS). But this simplified problem has x1=⋯=x50=−51rx_{1} = \cdots = x_{50} = -51 r and x51=⋯=x101=50rx_{51} = \cdots = x_{101} = 50 r for some r≥0r \geq 0, and by homogeneity, CC works if and only if
C≤50(51)2+51(50)2502=51(101)50=515150. C \leq \frac{50(51)^{2} + 51(50)^{2}}{50^{2}} = \frac{51(101)}{50} = \frac{5151}{50}.

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