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Algebra Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Example 5.1.6 Let a1,a2,,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{n} and b1b2bnb_{1} \leq b_{2} \leq \cdots \leq b_{n} be real numbers, and satisfy
a12+a22++ak2b12+b22++bk2,k=1,2,,n, prove: a1+a2++anb1+b2++bna_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}+\cdots+a_{k}^{2} \leq b_{1}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}+\cdots+b_{k}^{2}, k=1,2, \cdots, n \text{, prove: } a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{n} \leq b_{1}+b_{2}+\cdots+b_{n}

Solution

We prove this problem by induction. It is obvious when n=1n=1. Suppose the statement is true for nn, we will prove it is also true for n+1n+1. In fact, by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we have
(a12+a22++an+12)(b12+b22++bn+12)(a1b1+a2b2++an+1bn+1)2\left(a_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}+\cdots+a_{n+1}^{2}\right)\left(b_{1}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}+\cdots+b_{n+1}^{2}\right) \geq\left(a_{1} b_{1}+a_{2} b_{2}+\cdots+a_{n+1} b_{n+1}\right)^{2}

By the assumption i=1n+1ai2i=1n+1bi2\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_{i}^{2} \leq \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i}^{2}, so i=1n+1bi2i=1n+1aibi\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i}^{2} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_{i} b_{i}. According to Abel's formula,
0i=1n+1bi(biai)=(b1b2)(b1a1)+(b2b3)(b1+b2a1a2)++(bnbn+1)(i=1nbii=1nai)+bn+1(i=1n+1bii=1n+1ai)\begin{array}{l} 0 \leq \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i}\left(b_{i}-a_{i}\right)=\left(b_{1}-b_{2}\right)\left(b_{1}-a_{1}\right)+\left(b_{2}-b_{3}\right)\left(b_{1}+b_{2}-a_{1}-a_{2}\right)+\cdots \\ +\left(b_{n}-b_{n+1}\right)\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}\right)+b_{n+1}\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_{i}\right) \end{array}

In the above sum, each term except the last one is non-positive (since k{1,2,,n}k \in\{1,2, \cdots, n\}, we have bkbk+1b_{k} \leq b_{k+1} and i=1kbii=1kai\sum_{i=1}^{k} b_{i} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{k} a_{i}, by the induction hypothesis). Therefore, we must have
bn+1(i=1n+1bii=1n+1ai)0i=1n+1bii=1n+1aib_{n+1}\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i}-\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_{i}\right) \geq 0 \Leftrightarrow \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} b_{i} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_{i}

Note: The following result is due to Le Huu Dien Khue, which is a stronger result and can be directly obtained by Abel's formula (without induction)
Suppose a1,a2,,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{n} and b1b2bnb_{1} \leq b_{2} \leq \cdots \leq b_{n} are real numbers, and satisfy
a12+a22++ak2b12+b22++bk2k=1,2,,na_{1}^{2}+a_{2}^{2}+\cdots+a_{k}^{2} \leq b_{1}^{2}+b_{2}^{2}+\cdots+b_{k}^{2} \quad k=1,2, \cdots, n, prove
b1+b2++bna12b1+a22b2++an2bnb_{1}+b_{2}+\cdots+b_{n} \geq \frac{a_{1}^{2}}{b_{1}}+\frac{a_{2}^{2}}{b_{2}}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n}^{2}}{b_{n}}

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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.