Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 8 / 56 of 180 #1756 of 2000

Problem 1756

IMO Shortlist mid-range; USAMO P2/P5
Combinatorics Difficulty 8.2 Prove it

Let a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n be a sequence of real numbers, and let mm be a fixed positive integer less than nn. We say an index kk with 1kn1\le k\le n is good if there exists some \ell with 1m1\le \ell \le m such that ak+ak+1+...+ak+10a_k+a_{k+1}+...+a_{k+\ell-1}\ge0, where the indices are taken modulo nn. Let TT be the set of all good indices. Prove that kTak0\sum\limits_{k \in T}a_k \ge 0.

[i]Proposed by Mark Sellke[/i]

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, read the official solution, then mark yourself honestly — the ladder only means something if the record is true.

Official solution

1. Key Claim: Suppose i,i+1,,i+k1i, i+1, \ldots, i+k-1 are all good, and i+ki+k is bad. Then,
ai+ai+1++ai+k10. a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_{i+k-1} \ge 0.

2. Proof of Key Claim: We proceed by induction on kk.

- Base Case: For k=0k = 0, the statement 000 \ge 0 is trivially true.

- Inductive Step: Assume the claim holds for k1k-1. We need to show it holds for kk.

Since ii is good, there exists some 1m1 \le \ell \le m such that
ai+ai+1++ai+10. a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_{i+\ell-1} \ge 0.
We consider two cases:

- Case 1: 1k1 \le \ell \le k. By the induction hypothesis, we have
ai++ai++1++ai+k10. a_{i+\ell} + a_{i+\ell+1} + \cdots + a_{i+k-1} \ge 0.
Adding these two inequalities, we get
ai+ai+1++ai+k10. a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_{i+k-1} \ge 0.

- Case 2: k+1\ell \ge k+1. Since i+ki+k is bad, we have
ai+k+ai+k+1++ai+1<0. a_{i+k} + a_{i+k+1} + \cdots + a_{i+\ell-1} < 0.
Therefore,
ai+ai+1++ai+k1(ai+k+ai+k+1++ai+1)>0. a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_{i+k-1} \ge -(a_{i+k} + a_{i+k+1} + \cdots + a_{i+\ell-1}) > 0.
Thus, the claim holds in both cases.

\blacksquare

3. **Handling the Case T<n|T| < n**: If T<n|T| < n, we can split TT into contiguous blocks. By the key claim, the sum of aia_i over each block is nonnegative. Therefore, the total sum kTak0\sum_{k \in T} a_k \ge 0.

4. **Handling the Case T=n|T| = n**: If all indices are good, we use induction on mm.

- Base Case: For m=1m = 1, every ai0a_i \ge 0, so kTak0\sum_{k \in T} a_k \ge 0.

- Inductive Step: Assume the statement holds for m1m-1. We need to show it holds for mm.

Let SS be the set of indices that are good but become bad when mm is replaced with m1m-1. We have the following claims:

- Claim 1: If iSi \in S, then for any j[i+1,i+m1]j \in [i+1, i+m-1],
aj+aj+1++ai+m10. a_j + a_{j+1} + \cdots + a_{i+m-1} \ge 0.

- Claim 2: If i∉Si \not\in S, there exists some jj such that
ai+ai+1++aj0, a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_j \ge 0,
and none of i,i+1,,ji, i+1, \ldots, j are in SS.

Proof of Claim 1: This follows from the fact that ai++aj1<0a_i + \cdots + a_{j-1} < 0 and ai++ai+m10a_i + \cdots + a_{i+m-1} \ge 0.

Proof of Claim 2: Suppose the smallest jj such that ai+ai+1++aj0a_i + a_{i+1} + \cdots + a_j \ge 0 satisfies S\ell \in S for some [i,j]\ell \in [i, j]. Then,
a++aj<0, a_\ell + \cdots + a_j < 0,
so
ai++a10. a_i + \cdots + a_{\ell-1} \ge 0.
We can keep removing elements like this until none of the indices are in SS.

Back to the induction: The first part of the claim implies that the intervals [i,i+m1][i, i+m-1] are disjoint for iSi \in S, so the sum of aia_i for those intervals is nonnegative. The rest of the indices have sums that are nonnegative and do not go into these intervals. Thus, we may delete these intervals, and the problem reduces to the case where all the indices are good with mm replaced with m1m-1. The inductive hypothesis now finishes the proof.

\blacksquare

The final answer is kTak0 \boxed{ \sum_{k \in T} a_k \ge 0 } .

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.