Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it New Zealand

Problem:
For which positive integers nn, does there exist a sequence of real numbers (x1,x2,,xn)(x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots, x_{n}) such that
- 2<xi<2-2 < x_{i} < 2 for all ii,
- x1+x2+x3++xn=0x_{1} + x_{2} + x_{3} + \dots + x_{n} = 0, and
- x14+x24+x34++xn432x_{1}^{4} + x_{2}^{4} + x_{3}^{4} + \dots + x_{n}^{4} \geqslant 32.

Solution

Solution:
Note that if n=jn = j works then n>jn > j also works for a positive integer jj as we can just set xi=0x_{i} = 0 for ni>jn \geq i > j and have x1,,xnx_{1}, \ldots, x_{n} be the sequence that worked for nn.

Consider n=4n = 4. We take x1,x2=84x_{1}, x_{2} = \sqrt[4]{8} and x3,x4=84x_{3}, x_{4} = -\sqrt[4]{8} and all conditions are satisfied. Thus all n4n \geq 4 works.

Now if n=2n = 2, we note x1,x2<2|x_{1}|,|x_{2}|< 2 and thus x14,x24<16x_{1}^{4},x_{2}^{4}< 16 so x14+x24<32x_{1}^{4} + x_{2}^{4}< 32. Contradiction.

If n=3n = 3, then wlog x1,x20x_{1},x_{2}\geq 0 and x30x_{3}\leq 0 (as flipping the signs won't affect any of the conditions).
Now as x1+x2=x3<2x_{1} + x_{2} = - x_{3}< 2, we get that (x1+x2)4<16(x_{1} + x_{2})^{4}< 16. But if we expand this out we get 16>(x1+x2)4=x14+4x13x2+6x12x22+4x1x23+x24x14+x2416 > (x_{1} + x_{2})^{4} = x_{1}^{4} + 4x_{1}^{3}x_{2} + 6x_{1}^{2}x_{2}^{2} + 4x_{1}x_{2}^{3} + x_{2}^{4}\geq x_{1}^{4} + x_{2}^{4} (as x1,x20x_{1},x_{2}\geq 0).
Thus x14+x24<16x_{1}^{4} + x_{2}^{4}< 16 but also note that x34<16x_{3}^{4}< 16, thus x14+x24+x34<32x_{1}^{4} + x_{2}^{4} + x_{3}^{4}< 32. Contradiction.

Thus, a sequence only exists for integers n4n\geq 4.

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