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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Determine the smallest real number aa satisfying
ak=1nakcos(a1++ak), a \ge \sum_{k=1}^{n} a_k \cos(a_1 + \dots + a_k),
for all positive integers nn and all positive real numbers a1,,ana_1, \dots, a_n that add up to at most π\pi.

Solution

The required minimum is 11. To show that 11 is an upper bound, let nn be a positive integer, and let a1,,ana_1, \dots, a_n be positive real numbers such that a1++anπa_1+\dots+a_n \le \pi. If a1π/2a_1 \ge \pi/2, then the sum in question is non-positive, so let a1<π/2a_1 < \pi/2, and let mm be the largest positive integer such that a1++am<π/2a_1 + \dots + a_m < \pi/2. Then
k=1nakcos(a1++ak)k=1makcos(a1++ak)0π/2cosxdx=1, \sum_{k=1}^{n} a_k \cos(a_1 + \dots + a_k) \le \sum_{k=1}^{m} a_k \cos(a_1 + \dots + a_k) \le \int_{0}^{\pi/2} \cos x \, dx = 1,
since the sum in the middle is the lower Darboux-Riemann sum of the cosine, corresponding to the subdivision 0<a1<a1+a2<<a1++am<π/20 < a_1 < a_1 + a_2 < \dots < a_1 + \dots + a_m < \pi/2, and the cosine is decreasing on [0,π/2][0, \pi/2].

To show that 11 is the least upper bound, for every positive integer nn, let a1==an=π/(2n)a_1 = \dots = a_n = \pi/(2n). Since a1++an=π/2a_1 + \dots + a_n = \pi/2 and
limnk=1nakcos(a1++ak)=limnπ2nk=1ncoskπ2n=0π/2cosxdx=1, \lim_{n \to \infty} \sum_{k=1}^{n} a_k \cos(a_1 + \dots + a_k) = \lim_{n \to \infty} \frac{\pi}{2n} \sum_{k=1}^{n} \cos \frac{k\pi}{2n} = \int_{0}^{\pi/2} \cos x \, dx = 1,
the conclusion follows.

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