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HMMT February

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let a1,a2,a3,a4,a5a_{1}, a_{2}, a_{3}, a_{4}, a_{5} be real numbers whose sum is 20. Determine with proof the smallest possible value of ∑1≤i<j≤5⌊ai+aj⌋\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq 5}\left\lfloor a_{i}+a_{j}\right\rfloor.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

We claim that the minimum is 72. This can be achieved by taking a1=a2=a3=a4=0.4a_{1}=a_{2}=a_{3}=a_{4}=0.4 and a5=18.4a_{5}=18.4. To prove that this is optimal, note that ∑1≤i<j≤5⌊ai+aj⌋=∑1≤i<j≤5(ai+aj)−{ai+aj}=80−∑1≤i<j≤5{ai+aj}\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq 5}\left\lfloor a_{i}+a_{j}\right\rfloor=\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq 5}\left(a_{i}+a_{j}\right)-\left\{a_{i}+a_{j}\right\}=80-\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq 5}\left\{a_{i}+a_{j}\right\} so it suffices to maximize ∑1≤i<j≤5{ai+aj}=∑i=15{ai+ai+2}+∑i=15{ai+ai+1}\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq 5}\left\{a_{i}+a_{j}\right\}=\sum_{i=1}^{5}\left\{a_{i}+a_{i+2}\right\}+\sum_{i=1}^{5}\left\{a_{i}+a_{i+1}\right\} where a6=a1a_{6}=a_{1} and a7=a2a_{7}=a_{2}. Taking each sum modulo 1, it is clear that both are integers. Thus, the above sum is at most 2⋅4=82 \cdot 4=8, and our original expression is at least 80−8=7280-8=72, completing the proof.

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