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Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n} be a non increasing sequence of positive real numbers. Prove that
a12+a22++an2a1+a22+1++ann+n1 \sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}+\cdots+a_{n}^{2}} \leq a_{1}+\frac{a_{2}}{\sqrt{2}+1}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n}}{\sqrt{n}+\sqrt{n-1}}
When does equality hold?

Solution

We prove the inequality by induction on n2n \geq 2.

For n=2n=2, let a1a2>0a_{1} \geq a_{2}>0. We have
a12+a22=2a22+(a1a2)2+2a2(a1a2)2a22+(a1a2)2+22a2(a1a2)=(a1a2)+2a2a1+a22+1 \begin{aligned} \sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}} & =\sqrt{2 a_{2}^{2}+\left(a_{1}-a_{2}\right)^{2}+2 a_{2}\left(a_{1}-a_{2}\right)} \\ & \leq \sqrt{2 a_{2}^{2}+\left(a_{1}-a_{2}\right)^{2}+2 \sqrt{2} a_{2}\left(a_{1}-a_{2}\right)}=\left(a_{1}-a_{2}\right)+\sqrt{2} a_{2} \\ & \leq a_{1}+\frac{a_{2}}{\sqrt{2}+1} \end{aligned}

Assume the inequality true for any non increasing sequence of positive nn real numbers and let a1a2an+1>0a_{1} \geq a_{2} \geq \cdots \geq a_{n+1}>0. Denote qn=a12+a22++an2q_{n}=\sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}+\cdots+a_{n}^{2}}. It is clear that qnnan+1q_{n} \geq \sqrt{n} a_{n+1}. We have
a12+a22++an+12=qn2+an+12==(n+1)an+12+(qnnan+1)2+2nan+1(qnnan+1)(n+1)an+12+(qnnan+1)2+2n+1an+1(qnnan+1)n+1an+1+(qnnan+1)=qn+an+1n+1+na1+a22+1++an+1n+1+n \begin{aligned} \sqrt{a_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}} & +\cdots+a_{n+1}^{2}=\sqrt{q_{n}^{2}+a_{n+1}^{2}}= \\ & =\sqrt{(n+1) a_{n+1}^{2}+\left(q_{n}-\sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\right)^{2}+2 \sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\left(q_{n}-\sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\right)} \\ & \leq \sqrt{(n+1) a_{n+1}^{2}+\left(q_{n}-\sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\right)^{2}+2 \sqrt{n+1} a_{n+1}\left(q_{n}-\sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\right)} \\ & \leq \sqrt{n+1} a_{n+1}+\left(q_{n}-\sqrt{n} a_{n+1}\right)=q_{n}+\frac{a_{n+1}}{\sqrt{n+1}+\sqrt{n}} \\ & \leq a_{1}+\frac{a_{2}}{\sqrt{2}+1}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n+1}}{\sqrt{n+1}+\sqrt{n}} \end{aligned}

The equality holds when qi=iak+1q_{i}=\sqrt{i} a_{k+1}, for i=1,2,,n1i=1,2, \ldots, n-1, that is a1=a2==ana_{1}= a_{2}=\cdots=a_{n}.

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