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Algebra Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Find the answer

Given a positive integer nn, find all nn-tuples of real number (x1,x2,,xn)(x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n) such that
f(x1,x2,,xn)=k1=02k2=02kn=02k1x1+k2x2++knxn1 f(x_1,x_2,\cdots,x_n)=\sum_{k_1=0}^{2} \sum_{k_2=0}^{2} \cdots \sum_{k_n=0}^{2} \big| k_1x_1+k_2x_2+\cdots+k_nx_n-1 \big|
attains its minimum.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Given a positive integer n n , we aim to find all n n -tuples of real numbers (x1,x2,,xn) (x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n) such that
f(x1,x2,,xn)=k1=02k2=02kn=02k1x1+k2x2++knxn1 f(x_1, x_2, \cdots, x_n) = \sum_{k_1=0}^{2} \sum_{k_2=0}^{2} \cdots \sum_{k_n=0}^{2} \left| k_1 x_1 + k_2 x_2 + \cdots + k_n x_n - 1 \right|
attains its minimum.

To solve this, we first claim that the minimum is achieved when all xi x_i are equal. Specifically, we seek to show that the minimum occurs at x1=x2==xn=1n+1 x_1 = x_2 = \cdots = x_n = \frac{1}{n+1} .

### Proof:
1. Symmetry Argument:
Let y=x1+x22 y = \frac{x_1 + x_2}{2} . We will prove that
f(x1,x2,x3,,xn)f(y,y,x3,,xn). f(x_1, x_2, x_3, \cdots, x_n) \geq f(y, y, x_3, \cdots, x_n).
For any k,m,cR k, m, c \in \mathbb{R} ,
kx1+mx2+c+mx1+kx2+c(k+m)(x1+x2)+2c=ky+my+c+my+ky+c |kx_1 + mx_2 + c| + |mx_1 + kx_2 + c| \geq |(k+m)(x_1 + x_2) + 2c| = |ky + my + c| + |my + ky + c|
by the triangle inequality.

2. Application of Inequality:
Applying the above inequality, let c=j=3nkjxj1 c = \sum_{j=3}^n k_j x_j - 1 and summing over all c c for all (k3,,kn){0,1,2}n2 (k_3, \cdots, k_n) \in \{0, 1, 2\}^{n-2} where k1k2 k_1 \neq k_2 gives the desired result.

3. Reduction to Single Variable:
Now, let x1=x2==xn=x x_1 = x_2 = \cdots = x_n = x , and we need to minimize
g(x)=f(x,x,x,,x). g(x) = f(x, x, x, \cdots, x).
Let H(n,t) H(n, t) be the number of solutions to k1++kn=t k_1 + \cdots + k_n = t where kj{0,1,2} k_j \in \{0, 1, 2\} for j=1,,n j = 1, \cdots, n . Observe that H(n,t)H(n,n) H(n, t) \leq H(n, n) and H(n,t)=H(n,2nt) H(n, t) = H(n, 2n - t) .

4. Minimization:
Therefore,
g(x)=j=02nH(n,j)jx1=j=02njH(n,j)x1j. g(x) = \sum_{j=0}^{2n} H(n, j) |jx - 1| = \sum_{j=0}^{2n} j H(n, j) \left| x - \frac{1}{j} \right|.
We claim that g(x) g(x) is minimized at x=1n+1 x = \frac{1}{n+1} .

5. Uniqueness:
It remains to show that x1=x2 x_1 = x_2 is forced. In the smoothing process, any move that produces a smaller sum is not possible. If x1=x2 x_1 = x_2 , then there exist k1k2 k_1 \neq k_2 such that k1x1++knxn=1 k_1 x_1 + \cdots + k_n x_n = 1 . Now, let y1,y2 y_1, y_2 such that y1+y2=2x1 y_1 + y_2 = 2x_1 . Then,
k1y1+k2y2+k3x3++knxn1+k2y1+k1y2+k3x3++knxn1>2k1x1+k2x2+k3x3++knxn1, |k_1 y_1 + k_2 y_2 + k_3 x_3 + \cdots + k_n x_n - 1| + |k_2 y_1 + k_1 y_2 + k_3 x_3 + \cdots + k_n x_n - 1| > 2 |k_1 x_1 + k_2 x_2 + k_3 x_3 + \cdots + k_n x_n - 1|,
so the xi x_i 's must be constant.

Thus, the minimum value of the function is attained when x1=x2==xn=1n+1 x_1 = x_2 = \cdots = x_n = \frac{1}{n+1} .

The answer is: (1n+1,1n+1,,1n+1)\boxed{\left( \frac{1}{n+1}, \frac{1}{n+1}, \ldots, \frac{1}{n+1} \right)}.

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.