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Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

14. Let a1,a2,,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{n} be positive numbers, and for any 1kn1 \leqslant k \leqslant n, we have a1a2ak1a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{k} \geqslant 1. Prove:
11+a1+2(1+a1)(1+a2)++n(1+a1)(1+a2)(1+an)<2. ( 1971 year \frac{1}{1+a_{1}}+\frac{2}{\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right)}+\cdots+\frac{n}{\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right) \cdots\left(1+a_{n}\right)}<2 . \text { ( } 1971 \text { year }

Solution

14. For any 1kn1 \leqslant k \leqslant n, since 1+a12a1,1+a22a2,,1+1+a_{1} \geqslant 2 \sqrt{a_{1}}, 1+a_{2} \geqslant 2 \sqrt{a_{2}}, \cdots, 1+ ak2aka_{k} \geqslant 2 \sqrt{a_{k}}, noting that a1a2ak1a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{k} \geqslant 1 we get
(1+a1)(1+a2)(1+ak)2ka1a2ak2k\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right) \cdots\left(1+a_{k}\right) \geqslant 2^{k} \sqrt{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{k}} \geqslant 2^{k}

Thus,
11+a1+2(1+a1)(1+a2)++n(1+a1)(1+a2)(1+an)k=1nk2k\frac{1}{1+a_{1}}+\frac{2}{\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right)}+\cdots+\frac{n}{\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right)\left(1+a_{n}\right)} \leqslant \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{k}{2^{k}}

Let S=k=1nk2kS=\sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{k}{2^{k}}. Then
2S=k=1nk2k1=k=0n1k+12k2 S=\sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{k}{2^{k-1}}=\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \frac{k+1}{2^{k}}

Therefore,
S=2SS=1n2n+k=0n112k=2n2n12n1<2S=2 S-S=1-\frac{n}{2^{n}}+\sum_{k=0}^{n-1} \frac{1}{2 k}=2-\frac{n}{2^{n}}-\frac{1}{2^{n-1}}<2

Thus, we obtain
k=1nk(1+a1)(1+a2)(1+ak)k=1nk2k<2\sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{k}{\left(1+a_{1}\right)\left(1+a_{2}\right) \cdots\left(1+a_{k}\right)} \leqslant \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{k}{2^{k}}<2

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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.