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Algebra Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Find all positive integers n,k1,,knn, k_1, \dots, k_n such that k1++kn=5n4k_1 + \cdots + k_n = 5n-4 and 1k1++1kn=1. \frac{1}{k_1} + \cdots + \frac{1}{k_n} = 1.

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

Solution

By the arithmetic-harmonic mean inequality or the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, (k1++kn)(1k1++1kn)n2. (k_1 + \cdots + k_n)\left(\frac{1}{k_1} + \cdots + \frac{1}{k_n} \right) \geq n^2. We must thus have 5n4n25n-4 \geq n^2, so n4n \leq 4. Without loss of generality, we may suppose that k1knk_1 \leq \cdots \leq k_n. If n=1n=1, we must have k1=1k_1 = 1, which works. Note that hereafter we cannot have k1=1k_1 =1. If n=2n = 2, we have (k1,k2){(2,4),(3,3)}(k_1,k_2) \in \{(2,4), (3,3)\}, neither of which work. If n=3n=3, we have k1+k2+k3=11k_1 +k_2 +k_3 =11, so 2k132 \leq k_1 \leq 3. Hence (k1,k2,k3){(2,2,7),(2,3,6),(2,4,5),(3,3,5),(3,4,4)}, (k_1,k_2,k_3) \in \{(2,2,7),(2,3,6),(2,4,5),(3,3,5),(3,4,4)\}, and only (2,3,6)(2,3,6) works. If n=4n = 4, we must have equality in the AM-HM inequality, which only happens when k1=k2=k3=k4=4k_1 = k_2 = k_3 = k_4 = 4. Hence the solutions are n=1n = 1 and k1=1k_1 = 1, n=3n=3 and (k1,k2,k3)(k_1,k_2,k_3) is a permutation of (2,3,6)(2,3,6), and n=4n=4 and (k1,k2,k3,k4)=(4,4,4,4)(k_1,k_2,k_3,k_4) = (4,4,4,4).

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