Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 44 of 300 #1444 of 2000

Problem 1444

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Algebra Difficulty 7.1 Find the answer

21 Let nn be a given natural number, n3n \geqslant 3, and for nn given real numbers a1,a2,,ana_{1}, a_{2}, \cdots, a_{n}, denote the minimum value of aiaj(1i<jn)\left|a_{i}-a_{j}\right|(1 \leqslant i<j \leqslant n) as mm. Find the maximum value of mm when
a12++an2=1a_{1}^{2}+\cdots+a_{n}^{2}=1

Official solution

21. Let a1a2ana_{1} \geqslant a_{2} \geqslant \cdots \geqslant a_{n}, then aiaj(ij)ma_{i}-a_{j} \geqslant(i-j) m. 1i<jn(aiaj)2=\sum_{1 \leqslant i<j \leqslant n}\left(a_{i}-a_{j}\right)^{2}= (n1)i=1nai221i<jnaiaj=(n1)i=1nai2[(i=1nai)2i=1nai2]ni=1nai2=(n-1) \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}^{2}-2 \sum_{1 \leqslant i<j \leqslant n} a_{i} a_{j}=(n-1) \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}^{2}-\left[\left(\sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}\right)^{2}-\sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}^{2}\right] \leqslant n \sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}^{2}= n. On the other hand, 1i<jn(aiaj)2m21i<jn(ij)2=m2k=1n1(nk)k2=\sum_{1 \leq i<j \leqslant n}\left(a_{i}-a_{j}\right)^{2} \geqslant m^{2} \sum_{1 \leq i<j \leq n}(i-j)^{2}=m^{2} \sum_{k=1}^{n-1}(n-k) \cdot k^{2}= m2n2(n21)12\frac{m^{2} n^{2}\left(n^{2}-1\right)}{12}. Therefore, nm2n2(n21)12n \geqslant \frac{m^{2} n^{2}\left(n^{2}-1\right)}{12}, which means m12n(n21)m \leqslant \sqrt{\frac{12}{n\left(n^{2}-1\right)}}. Moreover, the equality holds when ai\left|a_{i}\right| forms an arithmetic sequence and i=1nai=0\sum_{i=1}^{n} a_{i}=0. Hence, the maximum value of mm is 12n(n21)\sqrt{\frac{12}{n\left(n^{2}-1\right)}}.

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