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Algebra Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

Let 0x1x2xn10 \leqslant x_{1} \leqslant x_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant x_{n} \leqslant 1 and 0y1y2yn10 \leqslant y_{1} \leqslant y_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant y_{n} \leqslant 1 be real numbers. We set xn+1=1x_{n+1}=1.

Prove that

i=1n(xiyi)+ni=1n(xi+1xi)yi0 \sum_{i=1}^{n}\left(x_{i}-y_{i}\right)+n \sum_{i=1}^{n}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right) y_{i} \geqslant 0

Solution

We will reason by induction on n1\mathrm{n} \geqslant 1.

- For n=1n=1, consider two real numbers x1,y1[0,1]x_{1}, y_{1} \in [0,1] and set x2=1x_{2}=1. We need to prove that (x1y1)+(x2x1)y10\left(x_{1}-y_{1}\right)+\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right) y_{1} \geqslant 0.

Indeed, we have (x1y1)+(x2x1)y1=(x1y1)+(1x1)y1=x1(1y1)0\left(x_{1}-y_{1}\right)+\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right) y_{1}=\left(x_{1}-y_{1}\right)+\left(1-x_{1}\right) y_{1}=x_{1}\left(1-y_{1}\right) \geqslant 0, which concludes the proof.

- Suppose that for some n1n \geqslant 1 and for all real numbers 0a1a2an10 \leqslant a_{1} \leqslant a_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant a_{n} \leqslant 1 and 0b1b2bn10 \leqslant b_{1} \leqslant b_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant b_{n} \leqslant 1 with an+1=1a_{n+1}=1, we have

i=1n(aibi)+ni=1n(ai+1ai)bi0 \sum_{i=1}^{n}\left(a_{i}-b_{i}\right)+n \sum_{i=1}^{n}\left(a_{i+1}-a_{i}\right) b_{i} \geqslant 0

Consider then real numbers 0x1x2xn+110 \leqslant x_{1} \leqslant x_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant x_{n+1} \leqslant 1 and 0y1y2yn+110 \leqslant y_{1} \leqslant y_{2} \leqslant \cdots \leqslant y_{n+1} \leqslant 1 and set xn+2=1x_{n+2}=1.

By isolating the contributions of x1x_{1} and y1y_{1}, we have

i=1n+1(xiyi)+(n+1)i=1n+1(xi+1xi)yi=i=2n+1(xiyi)+ni=2n+1(xi+1xi)yi+x1y1+i=2n+1(xi+1xi)yi+(n+1)(x2x1)y1 \begin{aligned} & \sum_{i=1}^{n+1}\left(x_{i}-y_{i}\right)+(n+1) \sum_{i=1}^{n+1}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right) y_{i} \\ &= \sum_{i=2}^{n+1}\left(x_{i}-y_{i}\right)+n \sum_{i=2}^{n+1}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right) y_{i}+x_{1}-y_{1}+\sum_{i=2}^{n+1}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right) y_{i} \\ & \quad+(n+1)\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right) y_{1} \end{aligned}

applied to the real numbers ai=xi+1a_{i}=x_{i+1} and bi=yi+1b_{i}=y_{i+1}

x1y1+i=2n+1(xi+1xi)y1+(n+1)(x2x1)y1 since y1yi and xi+1xi for  \geqslant x_{1}-y_{1}+\sum_{i=2}^{n+1}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right) y_{1}+(n+1)\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right) y_{1} \text{ since } y_{1} \leqslant y_{i} \text{ and } x_{i+1} \geqslant x_{i} \text{ for }

all ii

=x1+y1[1+(n+1)(x2x1)+i=2n+1(xi+1xi)]=x1+y1[nx2(n+1)x1]=x1(1y1)+ny1(x2x1)0 \begin{aligned} & =x_{1}+y_{1}\left[-1+(n+1)\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right)+\sum_{i=2}^{n+1}\left(x_{i+1}-x_{i}\right)\right] \\ & =x_{1}+y_{1}\left[n x_{2}-(n+1) x_{1}\right] \\ & =x_{1}\left(1-y_{1}\right)+n y_{1}\left(x_{2}-x_{1}\right) \\ & \geqslant 0 \end{aligned}

which proves the desired result for the value n+1n+1 and completes the proof.
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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.