AlgebraDifficulty 7.7National olympiad, round 2Find the answer
Given integer n≥2. Find the minimum value of λ, satisfy that for any real numbers a1, a2, ⋯, an and b, λi=1∑n∣ai−b∣+ni=1∑nai⩾i=1∑n∣ai∣.
A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.
Solution
Given an integer n≥2, we aim to find the minimum value of λ such that for any real numbers a1,a2,…,an and b, the following inequality holds: λi=1∑n∣ai−b∣+ni=1∑nai≥i=1∑n∣ai∣.
To determine the minimum value of λ, we use the triangle inequality in the context of square roots. Specifically, we note that for any real numbers a and b, ∣a∣+∣b∣≥∣a±b∣.
Applying this inequality repeatedly, we obtain: i=1i=j∑n∣ai−b∣+n−1∣aj−b∣+i=1∑nai≥i=1i=j∑nai−(n−1)b+∣(n−1)b−(n−1)aj∣+i=1∑nai.
Simplifying further, we get: i=1i=j∑nai−(n−1)aj+i=1∑nai≥n∣aj∣.
Summing over all j∈{1,2,…,n}, we derive the desired inequality. Equality holds for b=a1=⋯=an−1=−an/(n−1)=0 (and permutations), proving that the optimal constant is: λ=nn−1+n−1.
The answer is: nn−1+n−1.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: Omni-MATH,
licensed Apache-2.0.
Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.