Find all positive real numbers t with the following property: there exists an infinite set X of real numbers such that the inequality max{∣x−(a−d)∣,∣y−a∣,∣z−(a+d)∣}>td holds for all (not necessarily distinct) x,y,z∈X, all real numbers a and all positive real numbers d.
Solution
The answer is 0<t<21.
Firstly, for 0<t<21, choose λ∈(0,2(1+t)1−2t), let xi=λi, X={x1,x2,…}. We claim that for all (not necessarily distinct) x,y,z∈X, all real numbers a and all positive real numbers d, we have the following inequality: max{∣x−(a−d)∣,∣y−a∣,∣z−(a+d)∣}>td. Suppose on the contrary that there exists a∈R, d∈R+ and xi,xj,xk, such that max{∣xi−(a−d)∣,∣xj−a∣,∣xk−(a+d)∣}≤td. Hence ⎩⎨⎧−td≤xi−(a−d)≤td,−td≤xj−a≤td,−td≤xk−(a+d)≤td, i.e. ⎩⎨⎧xi+(1−t)d≤a≤xi+(1+t)d,xj−td≤a≤xj+td,xk−(1+t)d≤a≤xk−(1−t)d,(∗) which implies that ⎩⎨⎧xk−(1+t)d≤a≤xi+(1+t)d,xi+(1−t)d≤a≤xj+td,xj−td≤a≤xk−(1−t)d, note that 0<t<21, it follows that
⎩⎨⎧d≥2(1+t)xk−xi,d≤1−2txj−xi,d≤1−2txk−xj. By the second and third inequalities and d>0, we get xi<xj<xk, hence i>j>k, λj+λi+1≤λk+1+λi, we get
xk−xixj−xi=λk−λiλj−λi≤λ. By the first and second inequalities, we get 1−2txj−xi≥2(1+t)xk−xi, hence xk−xixj−xi≥2(1+t)1−2t>λ, which contradicts the previous inequality! Thus proved our earlier claim about X.
Secondly, for t≥21, we show that for any infinite set X, for any x<y<z in X, we can choose a∈R and d∈R+ such that max{∣x−(a−d)∣,∣y−a∣,∣z−(a+d)∣}≤td. In fact, let d=2z−x, hence x+(1−t)d=z−(1+t)d. Let a=max{x+(1−t)d,y−td}. Since t≥21, we obtain {y−x<2d≤(1+2t)d,x−y<0≤(2t−1)d, i.e. {y−td≤x+(1+t)d,x+(1−t)d≤y+td, hence ⎩⎨⎧x+(1−t)d≤a≤x+(1+t)d,y−td≤a≤y+td,z−(1+t)d≤a≤z−(1−t)d, from which we conclude that max{∣x−(a−d)∣,∣y−a∣,∣z−(a+d)∣}≤td. So every t≥21 does not satisfy the requirement of the problem.
In conclusion, the set of all required t is (0,21).
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