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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Singapore

Let 0<a1<a2<<an0 < a_1 < a_2 < \dots < a_n be real numbers. Prove that
(11+a1+11+a2++11+an)21a1+1a2a1+1a3a2++1anan1. \left(\frac{1}{1+a_1} + \frac{1}{1+a_2} + \dots + \frac{1}{1+a_n}\right)^2 \le \frac{1}{a_1} + \frac{1}{a_2-a_1} + \frac{1}{a_3-a_2} + \dots + \frac{1}{a_n-a_{n-1}}.

Solution

By Cauchy-Schwarz inequality,
LHS(1a1+1a2a1++1anan1)(a1(1+a1)2+a2a1(1+a2)2++anan1(1+an)2). \text{LHS} \le \left( \frac{1}{a_1} + \frac{1}{a_2 - a_1} + \dots + \frac{1}{a_n - a_{n-1}} \right) \left( \frac{a_1}{(1+a_1)^2} + \frac{a_2 - a_1}{(1+a_2)^2} + \dots + \frac{a_n - a_{n-1}}{(1+a_n)^2} \right).
Note that a1(1+a1)2a11+a1\frac{a_1}{(1+a_1)^2} \le \frac{a_1}{1+a_1} and for i=2,,ni=2, \dots, n,
aiai1(1+ai)2aiai1(1+ai1)(1+ai)=11+ai111+ai. \frac{a_i - a_{i-1}}{(1+a_i)^2} \le \frac{a_i - a_{i-1}}{(1+a_{i-1})(1+a_i)} = \frac{1}{1+a_{i-1}} - \frac{1}{1+a_i}.
Thus, after telescoping,
a1(1+a1)2+a2a1(1+a2)2++anan1(1+an)2a11+a1+11+a111+an<1 \frac{a_1}{(1+a_1)^2} + \frac{a_2 - a_1}{(1+a_2)^2} + \dots + \frac{a_n - a_{n-1}}{(1+a_n)^2} \le \frac{a_1}{1+a_1} + \frac{1}{1+a_1} - \frac{1}{1+a_n} < 1
and we are done.

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