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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

30. Let an=1+12+13++1na_{n}=1+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{3}+\cdots+\frac{1}{n}. Prove: For all n2n \geqslant 2, we have an2>2(a22+a_{n}^{2}>2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\right. a33++ann)(1998\left.\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n}}{n}\right) \cdot(1998 Moldova Mathematical Olympiad Problem)

Solution

30. Strengthen the proposition proof an2>2(a22+a33++ann)+1na_{n}^{2}>2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n}}{n}\right)+\frac{1}{n}.
(1) When n=2n=2, an2=a22=94a_{n}^{2}=a_{2}^{2}=\frac{9}{4}, and 2(a22)2+12=22\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}\right)^{2}+\frac{1}{2}=2, the inequality holds.
(2) Assume that when n=kn=k, the proposition holds, i.e., ak2>2(a22+a33++akk)a_{k}^{2}>2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{k}}{k}\right). Then, when n=k+1n=k+1, we have
ak+12=(ak+1k+1)2=ak2+2akk+1+1(k+1)2>2(a22+a33++akk)+1k+2k+1(ak+1k+1)1(k+1)2=2(a22+a33++akk+ak+1k+1)+(k+1)2+kk(k+1)2>2(a22+a33++akk+ak+1k+1)+k2+kk(k+1)2=2(a22+a33++akk+ak+1k+1)+1k+1\begin{aligned} a_{k+1}^{2}= & \left(a_{k}+\frac{1}{k+1}\right)^{2}=a_{k}^{2}+\frac{2 a_{k}}{k+1}+\frac{1}{(k+1)^{2}}> \\ & 2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{k}}{k}\right)+\frac{1}{k}+\frac{2}{k+1}\left(a_{k}+\frac{1}{k+1}\right)-\frac{1}{(k+1)^{2}}= \\ & 2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{k}}{k}+\frac{a_{k+1}}{k+1}\right)+\frac{(k+1)^{2}+k}{k(k+1)^{2}}> \\ & 2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{k}}{k}+\frac{a_{k+1}}{k+1}\right)+\frac{k^{2}+k}{k(k+1)^{2}}= \\ & 2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{k}}{k}+\frac{a_{k+1}}{k+1}\right)+\frac{1}{k+1} \end{aligned}

Thus, when n=k+1n=k+1, the proposition holds. In summary, an2>2(a22+a33++ann)a_{n}^{2}>2\left(\frac{a_{2}}{2}+\frac{a_{3}}{3}+\cdots+\frac{a_{n}}{n}\right) holds.

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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.