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Algebra Difficulty 6.7 National olympiad Prove it China

Find all positive real numbers tt with the following property: there exists an infinite set XX of real numbers such that the inequality
max{x(ad),ya,z(a+d)}>td \max\{|x-(a-d)|, |y-a|, |z-(a+d)|\} > td
holds for all (not necessarily distinct) x,y,zXx, y, z \in X, all real numbers aa and all positive real numbers dd.

Solution

The answer is 0<t<120 < t < \frac{1}{2}.

Firstly, for 0<t<120 < t < \frac{1}{2}, choose λ(0,12t2(1+t))\lambda \in \left(0, \frac{1-2t}{2(1+t)}\right), let xi=λix_i = \lambda^i, X={x1,x2,}X = \{x_1, x_2, \dots\}. We claim that for all (not necessarily distinct) x,y,zXx, y, z \in X, all real numbers aa and all positive real numbers dd, we have the following inequality:
max{x(ad),ya,z(a+d)}>td. \max \{|x-(a-d)|, |y-a|, |z-(a+d)|\} > td.
Suppose on the contrary that there exists aRa \in \mathbb{R}, dR+d \in \mathbb{R}^+ and xi,xj,xkx_i, x_j, x_k, such that
max{xi(ad),xja,xk(a+d)}td. \max \{|x_i-(a-d)|, |x_j-a|, |x_k-(a+d)|\} \le td.
Hence
{tdxi(ad)td,tdxjatd,tdxk(a+d)td, \begin{cases} -td \le x_i - (a-d) \le td, \\ -td \le x_j - a \le td, \\ -td \le x_k - (a+d) \le td, \end{cases}
i.e.
{xi+(1t)daxi+(1+t)d,xjtdaxj+td,xk(1+t)daxk(1t)d,() \begin{cases} x_i + (1-t)d \le a \le x_i + (1+t)d, \\ x_j - td \le a \le x_j + td, \\ x_k - (1+t)d \le a \le x_k - (1-t)d, \end{cases} \quad (*)
which implies that
{xk(1+t)daxi+(1+t)d,xi+(1t)daxj+td,xjtdaxk(1t)d, \begin{cases} x_k - (1+t)d \le a \le x_i + (1+t)d, \\ x_i + (1-t)d \le a \le x_j + td, \\ x_j - td \le a \le x_k - (1-t)d, \end{cases}
note that 0<t<120 < t < \frac{1}{2}, it follows that

{dxkxi2(1+t),dxjxi12t,dxkxj12t. \begin{cases} d \ge \frac{x_k - x_i}{2(1+t)}, \\ d \le \frac{x_j - x_i}{1-2t}, \\ d \le \frac{x_k - x_j}{1-2t}. \end{cases}
By the second and third inequalities and d>0d > 0, we get xi<xj<xkx_i < x_j < x_k, hence i>j>ki > j > k, λj+λi+1λk+1+λi\lambda^j + \lambda^{i+1} \le \lambda^{k+1} + \lambda^i, we get

xjxixkxi=λjλiλkλiλ. \frac{x_j - x_i}{x_k - x_i} = \frac{\lambda^j - \lambda^i}{\lambda^k - \lambda^i} \le \lambda.
By the first and second inequalities, we get xjxi12txkxi2(1+t)\frac{x_j - x_i}{1-2t} \ge \frac{x_k - x_i}{2(1+t)}, hence
xjxixkxi12t2(1+t)>λ, \frac{x_j - x_i}{x_k - x_i} \ge \frac{1-2t}{2(1+t)} > \lambda,
which contradicts the previous inequality! Thus proved our earlier claim about XX.

Secondly, for t12t \ge \frac{1}{2}, we show that for any infinite set XX, for any x<y<zx < y < z in XX, we can choose aRa \in \mathbb{R} and dR+d \in \mathbb{R}^+ such that
max{x(ad),ya,z(a+d)}td. \max \{|x-(a-d)|, |y-a|, |z-(a+d)|\} \le td.
In fact, let d=zx2d = \frac{z-x}{2}, hence x+(1t)d=z(1+t)dx+(1-t)d = z-(1+t)d. Let a=max{x+(1t)d,ytd}a = \max\{x+(1-t)d, y-td\}. Since t12t \ge \frac{1}{2}, we obtain
{yx<2d(1+2t)d,xy<0(2t1)d, \begin{cases} y-x < 2d \le (1+2t)d, \\ x-y < 0 \le (2t-1)d, \end{cases}
i.e.
{ytdx+(1+t)d,x+(1t)dy+td, \begin{cases} y-td \le x+(1+t)d, \\ x+(1-t)d \le y+td, \end{cases}
hence
{x+(1t)dax+(1+t)d,ytday+td,z(1+t)daz(1t)d, \begin{cases} x+(1-t)d \le a \le x+(1+t)d, \\ y-td \le a \le y+td, \\ z-(1+t)d \le a \le z-(1-t)d, \end{cases}
from which we conclude that
max{x(ad),ya,z(a+d)}td. \max\{|x-(a-d)|, |y-a|, |z-(a+d)|\} \le td.
So every t12t \ge \frac{1}{2} does not satisfy the requirement of the problem.

In conclusion, the set of all required tt is (0,12)(0, \frac{1}{2}).

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