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Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Turki has divided a square into finitely many white and green rectangles, each with sides parallel to the sides of the square. Within each white rectangle, he writes down its width divided by its height. Within each green rectangle, he writes down its height divided by its width. Finally, he calculates SS, the sum of these numbers. If the total area of white rectangles equals the total area of green rectangles, determine the minimum possible value of SS.

Solution

Let ss be the sidelength of the original square, mm and nn the numbers of white and green rectangles W1,W2,,WmW_{1}, W_{2}, \ldots, W_{m} and G1,G2,,GnG_{1}, G_{2}, \ldots, G_{n}, respectively, aia_{i} and bib_{i} the width and height of the white rectangle WiW_{i}, respectively, for i=1,2,,mi=1,2, \ldots, m, and cjc_{j} and djd_{j} the width and height of the green rectangle GjG_{j}, respectively, for j=1,2,,nj=1,2, \ldots, n.

The total area of the white rectangles and the total area of the green rectangles satisfy
a1b1+a2b2++ambm=c1d1+c2d2++cndn=s22 a_{1} b_{1}+a_{2} b_{2}+\cdots+a_{m} b_{m}=c_{1} d_{1}+c_{2} d_{2}+\cdots+c_{n} d_{n}=\frac{s^{2}}{2}
We have
S=a1b1+a2b2++ambm+d1c1+d2c2++dncn=a12a1b1+a22a2b2++am2ambm+d12c1d1+d22c2d2++dn2cndn(a1+a2++am)2s22+(d1+d2++dn)2s22 \begin{aligned} S & =\frac{a_{1}}{b_{1}}+\frac{a_{2}}{b_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{a_{m}}{b_{m}}+\frac{d_{1}}{c_{1}}+\frac{d_{2}}{c_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{d_{n}}{c_{n}} \\ & =\frac{a_{1}^{2}}{a_{1} b_{1}}+\frac{a_{2}^{2}}{a_{2} b_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{a_{m}^{2}}{a_{m} b_{m}}+\frac{d_{1}^{2}}{c_{1} d_{1}}+\frac{d_{2}^{2}}{c_{2} d_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{d_{n}^{2}}{c_{n} d_{n}} \\ & \geq \frac{\left(a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m}\right)^{2}}{\frac{s^{2}}{2}}+\frac{\left(d_{1}+d_{2}+\cdots+d_{n}\right)^{2}}{\frac{s^{2}}{2}} \end{aligned}
by Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.

Assume that a1+a2++am<s2a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m}<\frac{s}{2}. Because bisb_{i} \leq s, for i=1,2,,mi=1,2, \ldots, m, we have
s22=a1b1+a2b2++ambm(a1+a2++am)s<s22, \frac{s^{2}}{2}=a_{1} b_{1}+a_{2} b_{2}+\cdots+a_{m} b_{m} \leq\left(a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m}\right) s<\frac{s^{2}}{2},
which is a contradiction. Therefore a1+a2++ams2a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m} \geq \frac{s}{2} and, similarly, d1+d2++dns2d_{1}+d_{2}+\cdots+d_{n} \geq \frac{s}{2}.

Now assume that a1+a2++am<sa_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m}<s. There exists a vertical line LL crossing the original square and not intersecting any of the white rectangles. Therefore, the sum of the heights of the green rectangles intersecting LL is greater than or equal to ss. Hence, either a1+a2++amsa_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{m} \geq s or d1+d2++dnsd_{1}+d_{2}+\cdots+d_{n} \geq s.

We deduce that
S2s2(s2+(s2)2)=52 S \geq \frac{2}{s^{2}}\left(s^{2}+\left(\frac{s}{2}\right)^{2}\right)=\frac{5}{2}
If Turki divides the square into two horizontal rectangles of the same area then S=21+12=52S=\frac{2}{1}+\frac{1}{2}=\frac{5}{2}. Thus the minimum possible value of SS is 52\frac{5}{2}.

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