Let be a fixed positive integer. Find the maximum possible value of where for all .
Solution
Let be a fixed positive integer. We are tasked with maximizing the following expression:
where for all .
To find the maximum value of the sum, let us first analyze the term . Notice that:
- If , then .
- If , then .
To maximize the sum, set and such that if and if . This assignment utilizes the maximum contribution (in terms of absolute value) provided by each pair where .
### Analysis of
The expression , where , ranges from to .
- When , the term , and hence, the optimal choice for maximizing the sum would be to set both and .
- When , the term , and hence, and should maximize the contribution as well.
For , , contributing nothing to the sum, so any values of and could be used for such pairs.
### Calculating the Sum
The pairs where the sum becomes important are those that improve beyond . These are combinations where:
- .
The number of such possible combinations can be determined by calculating the total contributions.
### Maximization
If we choose for the first indices and the last indices, calculate the contribution for all these combinations to observe the largest possible total, given our constraints. The maximum setting yields:
Assigning these values generates the structure to arrive at the final sum, and through careful allocation and calculation: