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Algebra Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Example 5.1.3 Let x1,x2,,xnx_{1}, x_{2}, \cdots, x_{n} be a sequence of positive real numbers, and satisfy x1+x2++xkkk{1,2,,n}x_{1}+x_{2}+\cdots+x_{k} \geq \sqrt{k} \quad \forall k \in\{1,2, \cdots, n\}. Prove the following inequality:
x12+x22++xn214(1+12+13++1n)(USA MO 1994)x_{1}^{2}+x_{2}^{2}+\cdots+x_{n}^{2} \geq \frac{1}{4}\left(1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n}\right) \quad(\text{USA MO 1994})

Solution

Proof: Without loss of generality, assume x1x2xnx_{1} \geq x_{2} \geq \cdots \geq x_{n}. For k{1,2,,n}k \in\{1,2, \cdots, n\}, let bk=1kb_{k}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}}, we will first prove
2i=1nxi2i=1nxibi2 \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}^{2} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i} b_{i}

and
2i=1nxibii=1nbi22 \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i} b_{i} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}^{2}

By Abel's formula, we have
i=1nxi(2xibi)=(x1x2)(2x1b1)+(x2x3)(2x1+2x2b1b2)++(xn1xn)(2i=1n1xii=1n1bi)+xn(2i=1nxii=1nbi)\begin{array}{l} \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}\left(2 x_{i}-b_{i}\right)=\left(x_{1}-x_{2}\right)\left(2 x_{1}-b_{1}\right)+\left(x_{2}-x_{3}\right)\left(2 x_{1}+2 x_{2}-b_{1}-b_{2}\right)+\cdots \\ +\left(x_{n-1}-x_{n}\right)\left(2 \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} x_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} b_{i}\right)+x_{n}\left(2 \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}\right) \end{array}

Since xkxk+1k{1,2,,n}x_{k} \geq x_{k+1} \quad \forall k \in\{1,2, \cdots, n\}, we only need to prove 2i=1nxii=1nbi2 \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}
By the given condition, we only need to prove
i=1k1i2k\sum_{i=1}^{k} \frac{1}{\sqrt{i}} \leq 2 \sqrt{k}

However, the last inequality is obviously true, because
i=1k1ii=1k2i+i1=2i=1k(ii1)=2k\sum_{i=1}^{k} \frac{1}{\sqrt{i}} \leq \sum_{i=1}^{k} \frac{2}{\sqrt{i}+\sqrt{i-1}}=2 \sum_{i=1}^{k}(\sqrt{i}-\sqrt{i-1})=2 \sqrt{k}

This can also be derived by Abel's formula,
i=1nbi(2xibi)=(b1b2)(2x1b1)++(bn1bn)(2i=1n1xii=1n1bi)++bn(2i=1nxii=1nxii=1nbi)\begin{array}{l} \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}\left(2 x_{i}-b_{i}\right)=\left(b_{1}-b_{2}\right)\left(2 x_{1}-b_{1}\right)+\cdots+\left(b_{n-1}-b_{n}\right)\left(2 \sum_{i=1}^{n-1} x_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} b_{i}\right)+ \\ +b_{n}\left(2 \sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n} x_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}\right) \end{array}
bnbk+1,k{1,2,,n}b_{n} \geq b_{k+1}, \forall k \in\{1,2, \cdots, n\}, so all terms are positive.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.