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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Let real numbers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n (n2n \ge 2) satisfy 1<a1,a2,,an<1-1 < a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n < 1, and k=1nak21\sum_{k=1}^n a_k^2 \ge 1.
Prove that:
i<j(11ai2+11aj211aiaj)n22 \sum_{i<j} \left( \frac{1}{1-a_i^2} + \frac{1}{1-a_j^2} - \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j} \right) \ge \frac{n^2}{2}

Solution

Using the fact that when x<1|x| < 1, k=0xk=11x\sum_{k=0}^{\infty} x^k = \frac{1}{1-x}, we can deduce that
k=1n11ak2=k=0(i=1nai2k)=k=0(i=1n(aik)2)2n1k=0(i<jaikajk)=2n1k=0(i<j(aiaj)k)=2n1i<j11aiaj, \begin{aligned} \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{1}{1-a_k^2} &= \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \left( \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_i^{2k} \right) = \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \left( \sum_{i=1}^{n} (a_i^k)^2 \right) \\ &\ge \frac{2}{n-1} \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \left( \sum_{i<j} a_i^k a_j^k \right) = \frac{2}{n-1} \sum_{k=0}^{\infty} \left( \sum_{i<j} (a_i a_j)^k \right) \\ &= \frac{2}{n-1} \sum_{i<j} \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j}, \end{aligned}
where equality holds when ai=aj,1i<jna_i = a_j, 1 \le i < j \le n. On the other hand, by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we obtain
(i=1n11ai2)(i=1n(1ai2))n2. \left( \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{1-a_i^2} \right) \left( \sum_{i=1}^{n} (1-a_i^2) \right) \ge n^2.
Then from 1i=1nai2<n1 \le \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_i^2 < n, we obtain
i=1n11ai2n2n1. \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{1-a_i^2} \ge \frac{n^2}{n-1}.
where equality holds when a1=a2==an=±1na_1 = a_2 = \dots = a_n = \pm \frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}. Combining the two inequalities above, we can deduce that
k=1n21ak2n2n1+2n1i<j11aiaj. \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{2}{1-a_k^2} \ge \frac{n^2}{n-1} + \frac{2}{n-1} \sum_{i<j} \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j}.

The above is equivalent to
(n1)k=1n21ak2n22+i<j11aiaj, (n-1) \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{2}{1-a_k^2} \geq \frac{n^2}{2} + \sum_{i<j} \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j},
that is,
i<j(11ai2+11aj2)n22+i<j11aiaj, \sum_{i<j} \left( \frac{1}{1-a_i^2} + \frac{1}{1-a_j^2} \right) \geq \frac{n^2}{2} + \sum_{i<j} \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j},
that is,
i<j(11ai2+11aj211aiaj)n22, \sum_{i<j} \left( \frac{1}{1-a_i^2} + \frac{1}{1-a_j^2} - \frac{1}{1-a_i a_j} \right) \geq \frac{n^2}{2},
with equality holding when a1=a2==an=±1na_1 = a_2 = \dots = a_n = \pm \frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from the original; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.