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Algebra Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it

Let nn be an integer greater than or equal to 2, and let a1,a2,,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n} be strictly positive real numbers such that a1+a2++an=1a_{1}+a_{2}+\ldots+a_{n}=1. Prove that

k=1nak1ak(a1+a2++ak1)2<13 \sum_{k=1}^{n} \frac{a_{k}}{1-a_{k}}\left(a_{1}+a_{2}+\ldots+a_{k-1}\right)^{2}<\frac{1}{3}

Solution

For any integer kk, since 0<ak<10<a_{k}<1, we set sk=a1+a2++aks_{k}=a_{1}+a_{2}+\ldots+a_{k} and bk=aksk12/(1ak)b_{k}=a_{k} s_{k-1}^{2} /\left(1-a_{k}\right), with the convention that s0=0s_{0}=0. We will prove the inequality

bk<(sk3sk13)/3 b_{k}<\left(s_{k}^{3}-s_{k-1}^{3}\right) / 3

This follows from the fact that

 (1) 0<(1ak)((sk1+ak)3sk13)3aksk120<(1ak)ak(3sk12+3sk1ak+ak2)3aksk120<3aksk123ak2sk12+3(1ak)sk1ak2+(1ak)ak33aksk120<3(1aksk1)sk1ak2+(1ak)ak30<3(1sk)sk1ak2+(1ak)ak3, \text { (1) } \begin{aligned} & \Leftrightarrow 0<\left(1-a_{k}\right)\left(\left(s_{k-1}+a_{k}\right)^{3}-s_{k-1}^{3}\right)-3 a_{k} s_{k-1}^{2} \\ & \Leftrightarrow 0<\left(1-a_{k}\right) a_{k}\left(3 s_{k-1}^{2}+3 s_{k-1} a_{k}+a_{k}^{2}\right)-3 a_{k} s_{k-1}^{2} \\ & \Leftrightarrow 0<3 a_{k} s_{k-1}^{2}-3 a_{k}^{2} s_{k-1}^{2}+3\left(1-a_{k}\right) s_{k-1} a_{k}^{2}+\left(1-a_{k}\right) a_{k}^{3}-3 a_{k} s_{k-1}^{2} \\ & \Leftrightarrow 0<3\left(1-a_{k}-s_{k-1}\right) s_{k-1} a_{k}^{2}+\left(1-a_{k}\right) a_{k}^{3} \\ & \Leftrightarrow 0<3\left(1-s_{k}\right) s_{k-1} a_{k}^{2}+\left(1-a_{k}\right) a_{k}^{3}, \end{aligned}

the last inequality being indeed correct. We conclude that

b1+b2++bn<(sn3s03)/3=1/3. b_{1}+b_{2}+\ldots+b_{n}<\left(s_{n}^{3}-s_{0}^{3}\right) / 3=1 / 3 .

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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.