AlgebraDifficulty 6.6National OlympiadProve itHong Kong
Let f be a function defined on the positive reals with the following properties: (1) f(1)=1, (2) f(x+1)=xf(x), and (3) f(x)=10g(x), where g(x) is a function defined on the reals satisfying g(ty+(1−t)z)≤tg(y)+(1−t)g(z) for all y and z and for 0≤t≤1.
a. Prove that t[g(n)−g(n−1)]≤g(n+t)−g(n)≤t[g(n+1)−g(n)] where n is an integer and 0≤t≤1.
b. Prove that 34≤f(21)≤342.
Solution
a. We label the inequality as follows. g(ty+(1−t)z)≤tg(y)+(1−t)g(z)(1) Putting y=n−1 and z=n+c in (1), we obtain g(t(n−1)+(1−t)(n+c))≤tg(n−1)+(1−t)g(n+c). Suppose c∈[0,1]. Replacing t by 1+cc∈[0,1], this becomes g(1+cc(n−1)+(n+c))≤1+ccg(n−1)+1+c1g(n+c). Note that the left-hand side is just g(n). Therefore, this is the same as c[g(n)−g(n−1)]≤g(n+c)−g(n). This is exactly the inequality on the left to be proved. For the other inequality, we simply put y=n+1 and z=n in (1). This gives g(t(n+1)+(1−t)n)≤tg(n+1)+(1−t)g(n). Note that the left-hand side is just g(n+t). This is exactly the other desired inequality.
b. Since g(x)=logf(x), the inequality in part (a) can be rewritten as t(logf(n)−logf(n−1))≤logf(n+t)−logf(n)≤t(logf(n+1)−logf(n)). This implies (f(n−1)f(n))t≤f(n)f(n+t)≤(f(n)f(n+1))t. As f(n)=(n−1)f(n−1) and f(n+1)=nf(n), this can be reduced to (n−1)t≤f(n)f(n+t)≤nt.(2)
Now, note that f(2)=1⋅f(1)=1. Putting n=2 and t=21 in (2), we obtain 1≤f(25)≤2. Using f(25)=23f(23)=43f(21), we get 34≤f(21)≤342.
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