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k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

WOOT early bird pricing is in effect, don’t miss out! If you took MathWOOT Level 2 last year, no worries, it is all new problems this year! Our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program is for high school level competitors. AoPS designed these courses to help our top students get the deep focus they need to succeed in their specific competition goals. Check out the details at this link for all our WOOT programs in math, computer science, chemistry, and physics.

Looking for summer camps in math and language arts? Be sure to check out the video-based summer camps offered at the Virtual Campus that are 2- to 4-weeks in duration. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]April 3rd (Webinar), 4pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learning with AoPS: Perspectives from a Parent, Math Camp Instructor, and University Professor
[*]April 8th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MATHCOUNTS State Discussion
April 9th (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learn about Video-based Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus
[*]April 10th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MathILy and MathILy-Er Math Jam: Multibackwards Numbers
[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

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0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Peer-to-Peer Programs Forum
jwelsh   157
N Dec 11, 2023 by cw357
Many of our AoPS Community members share their knowledge with their peers in a variety of ways, ranging from creating mock contests to creating real contests to writing handouts to hosting sessions as part of our partnership with schoolhouse.world.

To facilitate students in these efforts, we have created a new Peer-to-Peer Programs forum. With the creation of this forum, we are starting a new process for those of you who want to advertise your efforts. These advertisements and ensuing discussions have been cluttering up some of the forums that were meant for other purposes, so we’re gathering these topics in one place. This also allows students to find new peer-to-peer learning opportunities without having to poke around all the other forums.

To announce your program, or to invite others to work with you on it, here’s what to do:

1) Post a new topic in the Peer-to-Peer Programs forum. This will be the discussion thread for your program.

2) Post a single brief post in this thread that links the discussion thread of your program in the Peer-to-Peer Programs forum.

Please note that we’ll move or delete any future advertisement posts that are outside the Peer-to-Peer Programs forum, as well as any posts in this topic that are not brief announcements of new opportunities. In particular, this topic should not be used to discuss specific programs; those discussions should occur in topics in the Peer-to-Peer Programs forum.

Your post in this thread should have what you're sharing (class, session, tutoring, handout, math or coding game/other program) and a link to the thread in the Peer-to-Peer Programs forum, which should have more information (like where to find what you're sharing).
157 replies
jwelsh
Mar 15, 2021
cw357
Dec 11, 2023
k i C&P posting recs by mods
v_Enhance   0
Jun 12, 2020
The purpose of this post is to lay out a few suggestions about what kind of posts work well for the C&P forum. Except in a few cases these are mostly meant to be "suggestions based on historical trends" rather than firm hard rules; we may eventually replace this with an actual list of firm rules but that requires admin approval :) That said, if you post something in the "discouraged" category, you should not be totally surprised if it gets locked; they are discouraged exactly because past experience shows they tend to go badly.
-----------------------------
1. Program discussion: Allowed
If you have questions about specific camps or programs (e.g. which classes are good at X camp?), these questions fit well here. Many camps/programs have specific sub-forums too but we understand a lot of them are not active.
-----------------------------
2. Results discussion: Allowed
You can make threads about e.g. how you did on contests (including AMC), though on AMC day when there is a lot of discussion. Moderators and administrators may do a lot of thread-merging / forum-wrangling to keep things in one place.
-----------------------------
3. Reposting solutions or questions to past AMC/AIME/USAMO problems: Allowed
This forum contains a post for nearly every problem from AMC8, AMC10, AMC12, AIME, USAJMO, USAMO (and these links give you an index of all these posts). It is always permitted to post a full solution to any problem in its own thread (linked above), regardless of how old the problem is, and even if this solution is similar to one that has already been posted. We encourage this type of posting because it is helpful for the user to explain their solution in full to an audience, and for future users who want to see multiple approaches to a problem or even just the frequency distribution of common approaches. We do ask for some explanation; if you just post "the answer is (B); ez" then you are not adding anything useful.

You are also encouraged to post questions about a specific problem in the specific thread for that problem, or about previous user's solutions. It's almost always better to use the existing thread than to start a new one, to keep all the discussion in one place easily searchable for future visitors.
-----------------------------
4. Advice posts: Allowed, but read below first
You can use this forum to ask for advice about how to prepare for math competitions in general. But you should be aware that this question has been asked many many times. Before making a post, you are encouraged to look at the following:
[list]
[*] Stop looking for the right training: A generic post about advice that keeps getting stickied :)
[*] There is an enormous list of links on the Wiki of books / problems / etc for all levels.
[/list]
When you do post, we really encourage you to be as specific as possible in your question. Tell us about your background, what you've tried already, etc.

Actually, the absolute best way to get a helpful response is to take a few examples of problems that you tried to solve but couldn't, and explain what you tried on them / why you couldn't solve them. Here is a great example of a specific question.
-----------------------------
5. Publicity: use P2P forum instead
See https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5h2489297_peertopeer_programs_forum.
Some exceptions have been allowed in the past, but these require approval from administrators. (I am not totally sure what the criteria is. I am not an administrator.)
-----------------------------
6. Mock contests: use Mock Contests forum instead
Mock contests should be posted in the dedicated forum instead:
https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c594864_aops_mock_contests
-----------------------------
7. AMC procedural questions: suggest to contact the AMC HQ instead
If you have a question like "how do I submit a change of venue form for the AIME" or "why is my name not on the qualifiers list even though I have a 300 index", you would be better off calling or emailing the AMC program to ask, they are the ones who can help you :)
-----------------------------
8. Discussion of random math problems: suggest to use MSM/HSM/HSO instead
If you are discussing a specific math problem that isn't from the AMC/AIME/USAMO, it's better to post these in Middle School Math, High School Math, High School Olympiads instead.
-----------------------------
9. Politics: suggest to use Round Table instead
There are important conversations to be had about things like gender diversity in math contests, etc., for sure. However, from experience we think that C&P is historically not a good place to have these conversations, as they go off the rails very quickly. We encourage you to use the Round Table instead, where it is much more clear that all posts need to be serious.
-----------------------------
10. MAA complaints: discouraged
We don't want to pretend that the MAA is perfect or that we agree with everything they do. However, we chose to discourage this sort of behavior because in practice most of the comments we see are not useful and some are frankly offensive.
[list] [*] If you just want to blow off steam, do it on your blog instead.
[*] When you have criticism, it should be reasoned, well-thought and constructive. What we mean by this is, for example, when the AOIME was announced, there was great outrage about potential cheating. Well, do you really think that this is something the organizers didn't think about too? Simply posting that "people will cheat and steal my USAMOO qualification, the MAA are idiots!" is not helpful as it is not bringing any new information to the table.
[*] Even if you do have reasoned, well-thought, constructive criticism, we think it is actually better to email it the MAA instead, rather than post it here. Experience shows that even polite, well-meaning suggestions posted in C&P are often derailed by less mature users who insist on complaining about everything.
[/list]
-----------------------------
11. Memes and joke posts: discouraged
It's fine to make jokes or lighthearted posts every so often. But it should be done with discretion. Ideally, jokes should be done within a longer post that has other content. For example, in my response to one user's question about olympiad combinatorics, I used a silly picture of Sogiita Gunha, but it was done within a context of a much longer post where it was meant to actually make a point.

On the other hand, there are many threads which consist largely of posts whose only content is an attached meme with the word "MAA" in it. When done in excess like this, the jokes reflect poorly on the community, so we explicitly discourage them.
-----------------------------
12. Questions that no one can answer: discouraged
Examples of this: "will MIT ask for AOIME scores?", "what will the AIME 2021 cutoffs be (asked in 2020)", etc. Basically, if you ask a question on this forum, it's better if the question is something that a user can plausibly answer :)
-----------------------------
13. Blind speculation: discouraged
Along these lines, if you do see a question that you don't have an answer to, we discourage "blindly guessing" as it leads to spreading of baseless rumors. For example, if you see some user posting "why are there fewer qualifiers than usual this year?", you should not reply "the MAA must have been worried about online cheating so they took fewer people!!". Was sich überhaupt sagen lässt, lässt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
-----------------------------
14. Discussion of cheating: strongly discouraged
If you have evidence or reasonable suspicion of cheating, please report this to your Competition Manager or to the AMC HQ; these forums cannot help you.
Otherwise, please avoid public discussion of cheating. That is: no discussion of methods of cheating, no speculation about how cheating affects cutoffs, and so on --- it is not helpful to anyone, and it creates a sour atmosphere. A longer explanation is given in Seriously, please stop discussing how to cheat.
-----------------------------
15. Cutoff jokes: never allowed
Whenever the cutoffs for any major contest are released, it is very obvious when they are official. In the past, this has been achieved by the numbers being posted on the official AMC website (here) or through a post from the AMCDirector account.

You must never post fake cutoffs, even as a joke. You should also refrain from posting cutoffs that you've heard of via email, etc., because it is better to wait for the obvious official announcement. A longer explanation is given in A Treatise on Cutoff Trolling.
-----------------------------
16. Meanness: never allowed
Being mean is worse than being immature and unproductive. If another user does something which you think is inappropriate, use the Report button to bring the post to moderator attention, or if you really must reply, do so in a way that is tactful and constructive rather than inflammatory.
-----------------------------

Finally, we remind you all to sit back and enjoy the problems. :D

-----------------------------
(EDIT 2024-09-13: AoPS has asked to me to add the following item.)

Advertising paid program or service: never allowed

Per the AoPS Terms of Service (rule 5h), general advertisements are not allowed.

While we do allow advertisements of official contests (at the MAA and MATHCOUNTS level) and those run by college students with at least one successful year, any and all advertisements of a paid service or program is not allowed and will be deleted.
0 replies
v_Enhance
Jun 12, 2020
0 replies
k i Stop looking for the "right" training
v_Enhance   50
N Oct 16, 2017 by blawho12
Source: Contest advice
EDIT 2019-02-01: https://blog.evanchen.cc/2019/01/31/math-contest-platitudes-v3/ is the updated version of this.

EDIT 2021-06-09: see also https://web.evanchen.cc/faq-contest.html.

Original 2013 post
50 replies
v_Enhance
Feb 15, 2013
blawho12
Oct 16, 2017
A Interesting Puzzle Again
Iwato   0
9 minutes ago
Source: One of my classmates, Zhu MingYu
Given n∈ N+, for all m≤n, proof that: At least one of the mininum points of φ(m) is staying in [n,2n]. For more, to check the bound value and if it's strict. By the way, to consider the situation under the range that m is bigger than n, and the total condition or the particular ones(about Euler's function's Value Distribution). At least, the Betrand-Chebyshv and Legendre's Conjecture(the latter idea is a improvement of the beyond one, which wassuspected by myself before I know this :D) are deserved to consider.
0 replies
Iwato
9 minutes ago
0 replies
PD is the angle bisector of <BPC
the_universe6626   3
N 18 minutes ago by ja.
Source: Janson MO 6 P1
Let $ABC$ be an acute triangle with $AB<AC$. The angle bisector of $\angle{BAC}$ intersects $BC$ at $D$, and the perpendicular to $AD$ at $D$ intersects $AB$ and $AC$ at $E, F$ respectively. Suppose $(AEF)$ and $(ABC)$ intersect again at $P\neq A$, prove that $PD$ is the angle bisector of $\angle{BPC}$.

(Proposed by quacksaysduck)
3 replies
the_universe6626
Feb 21, 2025
ja.
18 minutes ago
help me guyss
Bet667   1
N 25 minutes ago by Bet667
i want to learn functionl equation.Can you guys give me some advise to learn functional equations :starwars:
1 reply
Bet667
Yesterday at 3:49 PM
Bet667
25 minutes ago
Inspired by old results
sqing   2
N an hour ago by sqing
Source: Own
Let $  a,b,c>0 $ and $a+ 2b+c =1.$ Prove that
$$\frac 1a + \frac 1{2b} + \frac 1c+abc \geq\frac{487}{54} $$Let $  a,b,c>0 $ and $2a+ b+2c = 1.$ Prove that
$$\frac 1a + \frac 2b + \frac 1c+abc \geq\frac{1945}{108} $$
2 replies
sqing
2 hours ago
sqing
an hour ago
Modular Arithmetic Handout
MathCosine   16
N 2 hours ago by MathCosine
Hi everyone,

I recently created a handout on modular arithmetic for a local math club. I thought it would help quite a lot with understanding basic properties, as modular arithmetic is a very popular intermediate step in number theory problems, so I decided to leave it here as a resource for anyone who needs it. Feel free to share it around, and hope it helps!

Sincerely,
MathCosine
16 replies
MathCosine
Apr 7, 2025
MathCosine
2 hours ago
idk12345678 Math Contest
idk12345678   0
2 hours ago
Welcome to the 1st idk12345678 Math Contest.
You have 4 hours. You do not have to prove your answers.
Post your answers in a hide tag and I will tell you your score.*


The contest is attached to the post

Clarifications


*I mightve done them wrong feel free to ask about an answer
0 replies
idk12345678
2 hours ago
0 replies
How to get good at comp math
fossasor   9
N 3 hours ago by Inaaya
I'm a rising ninth grader who wasn't in the school math league this year, and basically put aside comp math for a year. Unfortunately, that means that now that I'm in high school and having the epiphany about how important comp math actually is, and how much it would help my chances of getting involved in other math-related programs. In addition, I do enjoy math in general, and suspect that things like the AMCs are probably going to be some of the best practice I can get. What this all means is that I'm trying to go from mediocre to orz, 2 years after I probably should have started if I wanted to be any good.

So my question is: how do I get good at comp math?

This year, my scores on AMC 10 (and these are the highest I've ever gotten) were a 73.5 and an 82.5 (AMC 8 was 21/25, but that doesn't matter much). This is not good enough to qualify for AIME, and I probably need to raise my performance on each by at least 10 points. I've been decently good in the past at Number Theory, but I need to work on Geo and Combinatorics, and I'm trying to find the best resources to do that. My biggest flaw is probably not knowing many algorithms like Stars and Bars, and the path is clear here (learn them) but I'm still not sure which ones I need to know.

I'm aware that some of this advice is going to be something like "Practice 5 hours a day and start hardgrinding" or something along those lines. Unfortunately, I have other extracurriculars I need to balance, and for me, time is a limiting resource. My parents are somewhat frowning upon me doing a lot of comp math, which limits my time as well. I have neither the time nor motivation to do more than an hour a day, and in practice, I don't think I can be doing that consistently. As such, I would need to make that time count.

I know this is a very general question, and that aops is chock-full of detailed advice for math competitions. However, I'd appreciate it if anyone here could help me out, or show me the best resources I should use to get started. What mocks are any good, or what textbooks should I use? Where do I get the best practice with the shortest time? Is there some place I can find a list of useful formulas that have appeared in math comps before?

All advice is welcome!

9 replies
fossasor
5 hours ago
Inaaya
3 hours ago
1990 AMC 12 #24
dft   17
N 3 hours ago by Bread10
All students at Adams High School and at Baker High School take a certain exam. The average scores for boys, for girls, and for boys and girls combined, at Adams HS and Baker HS are shown in the table, as is the average for boys at the two schools combined. What is the average score for the girls at the two schools combined?
\[ \begin{tabular}{c c c c} 
{} & \textbf{Adams} & \textbf{Baker} & \textbf{Adams and Baker}  \\
\textbf{Boys:} & 71 & 81 & 79   \\
\textbf{Girls:} & 76 & 90 & ?   \\
\textbf{Boys and Girls:} & 74 & 84 &   \\
\end{tabular}
 \]
$ \textbf{(A)}\ 81 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 82 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 83 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 84 \quad\textbf{(E)}\ 85 $
17 replies
dft
Dec 31, 2011
Bread10
3 hours ago
2025 Math and AI 4 Girls Competition: Win Up To $1,000!!!
audio-on   35
N 4 hours ago by Lightybird
Join the 2025 Math and AI 4 Girls Competition for a chance to win up to $1,000!

Hey Everyone, I'm pleased to announce the dates for the 2025 MA4G Competition are set!
Applications will open on March 22nd, 2025, and they will close on April 26th, 2025 (@ 11:59pm PST).

Applicants will have one month to fill out an application with prizes for the top 50 contestants & cash prizes for the top 20 contestants (including $1,000 for the winner!). More details below!

Eligibility:
The competition is free to enter, and open to middle school female students living in the US (5th-8th grade).
Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude, activities and aspirations in STEM.

Event dates:
Applications will open on March 22nd, 2025, and they will close on April 26th, 2025 (by 11:59pm PST)
Winners will be announced on June 28, 2025 during an online award ceremony.

Application requirements:
Complete a 12 question problem set on math and computer science/AI related topics
Write 2 short essays

Prizes:
1st place: $1,000 Cash prize
2nd place: $500 Cash prize
3rd place: $300 Cash prize
4th-10th: $100 Cash prize each
11th-20th: $50 Cash prize each
Top 50 contestants: Over $50 worth of gadgets and stationary


Many thanks to our current and past sponsors and partners: Hudson River Trading, MATHCOUNTS, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Automation Anywhere, JP Morgan Chase, D.E. Shaw, and AI4ALL.

Math and AI 4 Girls is a nonprofit organization aiming to encourage young girls to develop an interest in math and AI by taking part in STEM competitions and activities at an early age. The organization will be hosting an inaugural Math and AI 4 Girls competition to identify talent and encourage long-term planning of academic and career goals in STEM.

Contact:
mathandAI4girls@yahoo.com

For more information on the competition:
https://www.mathandai4girls.org/math-and-ai-4-girls-competition

More information on how to register will be posted on the website. If you have any questions, please ask here!


35 replies
audio-on
Jan 26, 2025
Lightybird
4 hours ago
amc 10 cooked
PaperMath   118
N 5 hours ago by parnikap
Guys any tips to staying calm? (please don't reply with take a deep breath)
118 replies
1 viewing
PaperMath
Nov 5, 2024
parnikap
5 hours ago
9 Practice AIME Exam
Melissa.   17
N 5 hours ago by fake123
(This practice test is designed to be slightly harder than the real test. I would recommend you take this like a real test, using a 3 hour time limit and no calculator.)

Let me know any suggestions for improvement on test quality, difficulty, problem selection, problem placement, test topics, etc. for the next tests that I make!

Practice AIME

1.
Positive integers a, b, and c satisfy a + b + c = 49 and ab + bc + ca = 471. Find the value of the product abc.

2.
Find the integer closest to the value of (69^(1/2) + 420^(1/2))^2.

3.
Let G and A be two points that are 243 units apart. Suppose A_1 is at G, and for n > 1, A_n is the point on line GA such that A_nA_(n-1) = 243, and A_n is farther from A than G. Let L be the locus of points T such that GT + A_6T = 2025. Find the maximum possible distance from T to line GA as T varies across L.

4.
Find the value of (69 + 12 * 33^(1/2))^(1/2) + (69 - 12 * 33^(1/2))^(1/2).

5.
Find the sum of the numerator and denominator of the probability that two (not necessarily distinct) randomly chosen positive integer divisors of 900 are relatively prime, when expressed as a fraction in lowest terms.

6.
Find the limit of (1x^2 + 345x^6)/(5x^6 + 78x + 90) as x approaches infinity.

7.
Find the slope of the line tangent to the graph of y = 6x^2 + 9x + 420 at the point where y = 615 and x is positive.

8.
Find the smallest positive integer n such that the sum of the positive integer divisors of n is 1344.

9.
Find the first 3 digits after the decimal point in the decimal expansion of the square root of 911.

10.
Let n be the smallest positive integer in base 10 such that the base 2 expression of 60n contains an odd number of 1’s. Find the sum of the squares of the digits of n.

11.
Find the sum of the 7 smallest positive integers n such that n is a multiple of 7, and the repeating decimal expansion of 1/n does not have a period of 6.

12.
Let n be an integer from 1 to 999, inclusive. How many different numerators are possible when n/1000 is written as a common fraction in lowest terms?

13.
How many ways are there to divide a pile of 15 indistinguishable bricks?

14.
Let n be the unique 3-digit positive integer such that the value of the product 100n can be expressed in bases b, b + 1, b + 2, and b + 3 using only 0’s and 1’s, for some integer b > 1. Find n.

15.
For positive integers n, let f(n) be the sum of the positive integer divisors of n. Suppose a positive integer k is untouchable if there does not exist a positive integer a such that f(a) = k + a. For example, the integers 2 and 5 are untouchable, by the above definition. Find the next smallest integer after 2 and 5 that is untouchable.

Answer key:
WARNING: SPOILERS!!!
17 replies
Melissa.
Apr 8, 2025
fake123
5 hours ago
9 Will I make AMO?
imagien_bad   7
N Yesterday at 10:50 PM by alcumusftwgrind
Hi everyone, I got a 100.5 on AMC 12A 2024 what is my chance to make USAMO 2025? (i did not do 12B btw)
7 replies
imagien_bad
Nov 23, 2024
alcumusftwgrind
Yesterday at 10:50 PM
Rutgers Expo in Problem Solving 2025 by OMMC
DottedCaculator   2
N Yesterday at 10:32 PM by Inaaya
Hello to all creative problem solvers,

Do you want a life changing math experience?
Do you want to see me in real life?

Check out the
Rutgers Expo in Problem Solving (REPS) by OMMC!

What is OMMC?

OMMC is presenting to you its next major event: in-person this time! This spring, OMMC is hosting its THIRD IN-PERSON event, where we will be presenting various speakers of math, holding breakout sessions, games and friendly competitions, and providing a math hub for people all over to learn and enjoy. No math experience is needed, and elementary, middle and high schoolers can all register!

The Rutgers Expo in Problem Solving will take place on Saturday, April 19th, 2025, 1 PM Eastern Time.
The venue is the Science Engineering Complex at Rutgers New-Brunswick. This is 96 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854.


Event includes:

[list]
[*]Math speakers, including university professors
[*]Activities including estimathon and mini math competition WITH PRIZES
[*]Itinerary coming soon!
[/list]

This event is completely FREE to all students!
Fill out the registration form linked below to sign-up for this event and answer some important questions.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAr2Nul9MBO_adVzHN9Rsrc8yQEjzxPXZHZ-LUFf-zWcwR7A/viewform?usp=preview


Students from anywhere can attend, as long as you can commute to the venue. Email us at ommcofficial@gmail.com for any questions or concerns.

We can’t wait to see you there!
- REPS Team

OMMC’S 2025 EVENTS ARE SPONSORED BY:

[list]
[*]Nontrivial Fellowship
[*]Citadel
[*]Jane Street
[/list]

2 replies
DottedCaculator
Yesterday at 8:46 PM
Inaaya
Yesterday at 10:32 PM
Intro/intermediate books in terms of importance
Aaron_Q   6
N Yesterday at 9:20 PM by Aaron_Q
Hey everyone,
what are your opinions on the most critical (NEED to learn) intro/intermediate books?
i might be cooked
6 replies
Aaron_Q
Tuesday at 11:19 PM
Aaron_Q
Yesterday at 9:20 PM
IMO ShortList 1998, algebra problem 1
orl   37
N Apr 5, 2025 by Marcus_Zhang
Source: IMO ShortList 1998, algebra problem 1
Let $a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{n}$ be positive real numbers such that $a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots +a_{n}<1$. Prove that

\[ \frac{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n} \left[ 1 - (a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n}) \right] }{(a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n})( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})} \leq \frac{1}{ n^{n+1}}. \]
37 replies
orl
Oct 22, 2004
Marcus_Zhang
Apr 5, 2025
IMO ShortList 1998, algebra problem 1
G H J
Source: IMO ShortList 1998, algebra problem 1
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orl
3647 posts
#1 • 6 Y
Y by maXplanK, Adventure10, megarnie, Mango247, and 2 other users
Let $a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{n}$ be positive real numbers such that $a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots +a_{n}<1$. Prove that

\[ \frac{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n} \left[ 1 - (a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n}) \right] }{(a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n})( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})} \leq \frac{1}{ n^{n+1}}. \]
Attachments:
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by orl, Oct 23, 2004, 12:50 PM
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orl
3647 posts
#2 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Please post your solutions. This is just a solution template to write up your solutions in a nice way and formatted in LaTeX. But maybe your solution is so well written that this is not required finally. For more information and instructions regarding the ISL/ILL problems please look here: introduction for the IMO ShortList/LongList project and regardingsolutions :)
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grobber
7849 posts
#3 • 6 Y
Y by lolm2k, Adventure10, Aopamy, Jalcwel, Mango247, Sadece_Threv
Put $a_{n+1}=1-(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)$. The inequality becomes $\frac{a_1a_2\ldots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)\ldots (1-a_{n+1})}\le \frac 1{n^{n+1}}$, where $a_i$ are positive and $\sum_1^{n+1}a_i=1$. This is a mere application of AM-GM to the denominators $A_i=1-a_i=a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_{i-1}+a_{i+1}+\ldots+a_n+a_{n+1}$. We get $A_i\ge n\sqrt[n]{\frac{\prod a_k}{a_i}}$. After multiplying all of these we get the desired result.
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SnowEverywhere
801 posts
#4 • 5 Y
Y by Binomial-theorem, maXplanK, Adventure10, Mango247, kiyoras_2001
Its too bad that not all inequalities are like this one...

Solution

Define $a_{n+1}$ such that $\sum^{n+1}_{k=1} a_k = 1$. Cross multiplication and substitution yields that the desired inequality is equivalent to

\[n^{n+1} \le \frac{(1-a_1)(1-a_2) \dots (1-a_{n+1})}{a_1 a_2 \dots a_{n+1}} \quad (*)\]
By AM-GM we have that

\[n\sqrt[n] {\frac{a_1 a_2 \dots a_{n+1}}{a_i}} \le a_1 + a_2 + \dots + a_{i-1} + a_{i+1} + \dots + a_{n+1} = 1-a_i\]
Multiplying the above for each $i$ and dividing by $a_1 a_2 \dots a_{n+1}$ yields $(*)$ and the proof is complete.
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peregrinefalcon88
299 posts
#5 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
Proceeding in a manner similar to the above posts,

$ n^{n+1}\le\frac{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)\dots (1-a_{n+1})}{a_1 a_2\dots a_{n+1}}$

is easily proven via smoothing with $(a, b) \rightarrow (\frac{a+b}{2}, \frac{a+b}{2})$. The algebra of verifying the smoothing is tedious but straight forward.
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Mate007
69 posts
#6 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
$a_1+a_2+...+a_n/n>=( a_1.a_2...a_n)^1/n$. It becomes
$1/n^n>= a_1.a_2...a_n/a_1+a_2+...+a_n$
Take is as (1).
Now there is an inequality known as weitrass inequality. It will give
$1-(a_1+a_2+...+a_n)<=(1-a_1)...(1-a_n)$
Which will become
$1-(a_1+a_2+...+a_n)/(1-a_1)...(1-a_n)<=1$
Take it as (2).
Multiply (1) and(2).you will.get it less than $1/n^n$ which is all less than $1/n^{n+1}$.
Hence shown
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by Mate007, Feb 9, 2018, 12:40 PM
Reason: E
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anantmudgal09
1979 posts
#7 • 3 Y
Y by srijonrick, Adventure10, georgemason12
More storage
1998 A1 wrote:
Let $a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{n}$ be positive real numbers such that $a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots +a_{n}<1$. Prove that

\[ \frac{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n} \left[ 1 - (a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n}) \right] }{(a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n})( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})} \leq \frac{1}{ n^{n+1}}. \]

Silly :P

Call $1-(a_1+\dots+a_n)$ as $b$ (it really is decoration). Then we just want $(1-a_1) \dots (1-a_n)(1-b) \ge n^{n+1}a_1\dots a_nb$. However, notice that $1-a_i=a_1+\dots+a_{i-1}+a_{i+1}+\dots+a_n+b \geqslant n\sqrt[n]{a_1\dots a_{i-1}a_{i+1}\dots a_nb}$ and multiplying all of them gives the result. $\blacksquare$
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GeronimoStilton
1521 posts
#8
Y by
Let $a_i=a,a_j=b$ have fixed sum $c<1$. Note
\[\frac{ab}{(1-a)(1-b)}\le t\iff ab\le t-tc+tab\iff ab(1-t)\le t(1-c)\]where $t$ is the maximum of the expression.
Clearly $t<1$ and so equality would have to be achieved at $a=b$. Thus by a smoothing argument each $a_i$ is equal. Let $\sum_i a_i=c$ so the desired is
\[\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}\ge \frac{\frac{c^n}{n^n}[1-c]}{c\cdot (1-\frac cn)^n}=\frac{c^{n-1}[1-c]}{(n-c)^n}\iff (n-c)^n\ge n^{n+1}c^{n-1}[1-c].\]The result is obvious at $n=1$ so we can assume $n>1$.
Let $c=\frac{n}{n+1}-\frac{d}{n+1}$ so we need to check
\[\left(n^2+d\right)^n \ge n^{n+1}\left(n-d\right)^{n-1}\left(1+d\right)\]and have $-1<d<n$. Since the result is true at the extrema, it suffices to check cases where the derivatives of both sides are equal. In these cases,
\[n(n^2+d)^{n-1}=-(n-1)n^{n+1}(n-d)^{n-2}\cdot (1+d)+n^{n+1}(n-d)^{n-1}.\]Equivalently,
\[(n^2+d)^{n-1}=n^n(n-d)^{n-2}\cdot [(n-d)-(n-1)(1+d)]=n^n(n-d)^{n-2}\cdot [1-nd].\]Equality can only hold at $d=0$ because $d>0$ increases the left side and decreases the right side whereas $d<0$ increases the right side and decreases the left side. But at $d=0$ the result is obvious, so we are done.
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AwesomeYRY
579 posts
#9
Y by
Previous Wrong Solution :blush:

Write $a_{n+1}=1-a_1-a_2\ldots a_n >0$. Thus, our expression becomes
\[\prod_{i=1}^{n+1} \frac{a_i}{1-a_i} = e^{\sum \ln(\frac{a_i}{1-a_i})}\]Note that $\ln(\frac{x}{1-x})$ has a second derivative of $\frac{1}{x(1-x)}$ and is thus convex over $0<x<1$, thus, by jensens
\[\sum \ln(\frac{a_i}{1-a_i}) \geq (n+1)\cdot \ln(\frac{1}{n})\]Thus, \[\prod_{i=1}^{n+1} \frac{a_i}{1-a_i}\geq e^{(n+1)\cdot \ln(\frac{1}{n})} = \left(\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n+1}\]and we are done $\blacksquare$.

Edit: The second derivative is in fact
\[\frac{2x-1}{(x-1)^2x^2}\]New Correct Solution
Write $a_{n+1}=1-a_1-a_2\ldots a_n >0$.
Now, note that
\[\prod_{i=1}^{n+1} \sum_{j\neq i} a_i \leq \prod_{i=1}^{n+1} n\cdot \sqrt[n]{\prod_{j\neq i}a_i} \leq n^{n+1} \cdot \prod a_i\]But wait! this is the denominator of our new expression. The given expression becomes
\[\frac{\prod a_i}{\prod (1-a_i)}=\frac{\prod a_i}{\prod (\sum_{j\neq i} a_j)}\leq \frac{\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}}{n^{n+1}\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}}=\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}\]and we are done.
This post has been edited 4 times. Last edited by AwesomeYRY, Jun 2, 2021, 3:50 PM
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DottedCaculator
7330 posts
#10
Y by
Solution
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bluelinfish
1446 posts
#11
Y by
We do the trick of letting $a_{n+1}=1-(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)$. Then we must have $a_1+\ldots+a_{n+1}=1$, and we want to prove that $$\frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)\ldots(1-a_{n+1})}\le \frac{1}{n^{n+1}}.$$Now notice that $$1-a_i=(a_1+\ldots+a_{n+1})-a_i\ge n\sqrt[n]{\frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{a_i}}.$$Applying this to all the terms in the denominator gives us \begin{align*} \frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)\ldots(1-a_{n+1})} & \le \frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{n^{n+1}\sqrt[n]{\frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{a_1}}\ldots \sqrt[n]{\frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{a_{n+1}}}} \\ &= \frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{n^{n+1}\sqrt[n]{a_1^n\ldots a_{n+1}^n}} \\ &= \frac{a_1\ldots a_{n+1}}{n^{n+1}(a_1\ldots a_{n+1})} \\ &= \frac{1}{n^{n+1}}.\end{align*}The proof is complete.

Remark: Try stupid stuff first. Don't be like me who takes two hours to solve the problem because I realize that if we take the natural log of both sides, we essentially need to prove that if $f(x)=\ln\left(\frac{x}{1-x}\right)$, we have $$f(a_1)+\ldots+f(a_{n+1})\le (n+1)f\left(\frac{1}{n}\right).$$Then I find $$f''(x)=\frac{2x-1}{(x(x-1))^2}$$so Jensen doesn't work, but I see that there is exactly one inflection point in $(0,1)$, so $n-1$ EV is applicable (you should not need $n-1$ EV on an A1)... You can see how this approach of trying fancy things first fails miserably.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by bluelinfish, Jun 21, 2021, 8:57 PM
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circlethm
98 posts
#12
Y by
Solution. Define $a_{n + 1} = 1 - (a_1 + \cdots + a_n)$, and note that $a_{n + 1} > 0$ and $a_1 + \cdots + a_{n + 1} = 1$. Then by AM-GM we have
\begin{align*}
1 - a_i &= a_1 + \cdots + a_{i - 1} + a_{i + 1} + \cdots + a_{n + 1} \\ &\geq n(a_1\cdots a_{i - 1} a_{i + 1} \cdots a_{n + 1})^{\frac{1}{n}}.
\end{align*}Taking the product over $i$,
$$
 \prod_i (1 - a_i) \geq n^{n + 1} a_1 \cdots a_{n + 1},
$$that is,
$$
\frac{a_1 \cdots a_n (1 - (a_1 + a_2 + \cdots + a_n))}{(a_1 + \cdots + a_n)(1 - a_1) \cdots (1 - a_n)} \leq \frac{1}{n^{n + 1}}.
$$
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rafaello
1079 posts
#13
Y by
So, by GM-HM,
$$\sqrt[n]{\left(\frac{1}{a_1}-1\right) \left(\frac{1}{a_2}-1\right)\ldots \left(\frac{1}{a_n}-1\right)}\geq \frac{n}{\frac{a_1}{1-a_1}+\frac{a_2}{1-a_2}+\ldots+\frac{a_n}{1-a_n}}.$$Now it is suffices to show that
$$\left(\frac{1}{\frac{a_1}{1-a_1}+\frac{a_2}{1-a_2}+\ldots+\frac{a_n}{1-a_n}}\right)^n\geq n\left(\frac{1}{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}-1\right).$$
By Jensen's inequality, $$\frac{a_1}{1-a_1}+\frac{a_2}{1-a_2}+\ldots+\frac{a_n}{1-a_n}\leq n\frac{\frac{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}{n}}{1-\frac{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}{n}}=\frac{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}{1-\frac{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}{n}}=\frac{n(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)}{n-(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)}.$$Therefore it is suffices to show that
$$\left(\frac{1}{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n} \geq n\left(\frac{1}{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}-1\right).$$Let $t=\frac{1}{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}>1$.
We need
\[ \left(t-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n} \geq n\left(t-1\right).\]Define $f:\mathbb{R}_{>1}\to \mathbb{R}$, such that $f(t)=\left(t-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n} - n\left(t-1\right)$.

We want to find the minimum of $f$.
We have $f'(t)=n\left(t-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n-1}-n$ and $f''(t)=n(n-1)\left(t-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n-2}>0 \forall t>1$.
Also note that $f'(t)=0\Longleftrightarrow t=\frac{n+1}{n}$ and thus the minimum of the function $f$ is
$$f\left(\frac{n+1}{n}\right)=\left(\frac{n+1}{n}-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n} - n\left(\frac{n+1}{n}-1\right)=1-1=0.$$Hence, we have proven the inequality \[ \left(t-\frac{1}{n}\right)^{n} \geq n\left(t-1\right),\]where the equality holds iff $t=\frac{n+1}{n}$. We conclude that that the equality in our original inequality holds iff $a_1=a_2=\ldots=a_n=\frac{1}{n+1}$. We are done.
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asdf334
7586 posts
#14
Y by
It is equivalent to showing that $\left(\frac{1}{a_1}-1\right)\left(\frac{1}{a_2}-1\right)\dots\left(\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}-1\right)\geq n^{n+1}$ for positive reals $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_{n+1}$ with $n\geq 1$ that sum to $1$ (in the problem, $a_{n+1}$ is replaced with $1-(a_1+a_2+\dots+a_n)$).

Then $$\frac{1}{a_1}-1=\frac{a_2+\dots+a_{n+1}}{a_1}\geq \frac{n\sqrt[n]{a_2a_3\dots a_{n+1}}}{a_1}$$and multiplying together gives the desired result. Equality holds when $a_1=a_2=a_3=\dots=a_{n+1}=\frac{1}{n+1}$.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by asdf334, Jan 1, 2022, 5:10 PM
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awesomehuman
496 posts
#15
Y by
For $k\leq n$, let $b_n=a_n$, and let $b_{n+1}=1-\sum_{k=0}^n a_k$. Note
$$\sum_{k=1}^{n+1} b_k=1$$and all $b_k$ are positive.
By AM-GM, for all $1\geq k\leq n+1$,
$$\sum_{j\neq k}b_k\geq n\sqrt[n]{\prod_{j\neq k}b_k}$$So,
$$\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} \sum_{j\neq k}b_j\geq \prod_{k=1}^{n+1} n\sqrt[n]{\prod_{j\neq k}b_j}$$$$\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} \sum_{j\neq k}b_j\geq n^{n+1}\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} \sqrt[n]{\prod_{j\neq k}b_j}$$$$\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} 1-b_k\geq n^{n+1}\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} b_k$$$$\frac{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} 1-b_k}{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} b_k}\geq n^{n+1}$$$$\frac{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} b_k}{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} 1-b_k}\leq \frac{1}{n^{n+1}}$$$$\frac{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} b_k}{\prod_{k=1}^{n+1} 1-b_k}\leq \frac{1}{n^{n+1}}$$$$\frac{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n} \left[ 1 - (a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n}) \right] }{(a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n})( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})} \leq \frac{1}{ n^{n+1}}$$
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megarnie
5556 posts
#16
Y by
ISL marabot solve

Let $1-(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)=a_{n+1}$ and take the reciprocal to get that the original inequality is equivalent to \[\left(\frac{1-a_1}{a_1}\right)\cdot \left(\frac{1-a_2}{a_2}\right)\cdots \left(\frac{1-a_{n+1}}{a_{n+1}}\right)\ge n^{n+1}.\]
Now we have $1-a_i=\sum_{k=1, k\ne i}^{n+1} a_k\ge n\sqrt[n]{\prod_{k=1, k\ne i}^{n+1} a_k}$.

So the numerator is greater than or equal to $n^{n+1}a_1\cdot a_2\cdots a_{n+1}$. Dividing by the denominator gives the desired result.
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ETS1331
107 posts
#17
Y by
First, throw out the $n = 1$ case and define $a_0 = 1 - \sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} a_i$. Then, we have $\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} a_i = 1$, and we want to show that \[ \prod\limits_{i=0}^{n} \frac{a_i}{1-a_i} \leq \frac{1}{n^{n+1}} \]and notice that equality holds when $a_0 = a_1 = \cdots = a_n = \frac{1}{n+1}$. Now, we smooth. Say that there is some set of values $(a_0,a_1,\ldots,a_n)$ such that the value of the product is maximal, and assume for the sake of contradiction that there exist some $a_i \neq a_j$. Then, we are done if \[ \frac{a_i}{1-a_i}\frac{a_j}{1-a_j} \leq \left(\frac{a_i+a_j}{2-a_i-a_j}\right)^2 \]as that would imply that there was some larger value of the product by taking the values \[ \left(a_0,a_1,\ldots,a_{i-1},\frac{a_i+a_j}{2},a_{i+1},\ldots,a_{j-1},\frac{a_i+a_j}{2},a_{j+1},\ldots,a_n\right) \]Now, we prove that this set is actually larger. We use the subsitution $a_i + a_j = 2u$ and $a_i - a_j = 2v$. Then, we can rewrite the equation we want to prove as \[ \frac{a_i}{1-a_i}\frac{a_j}{1-a_j} \leq \left(\frac{a_i+a_j}{2-a_i-a_j}\right)^2 \Rightarrow \frac{u^2 - v^2}{(1-u)^2 - v^2} < \frac{u^2}{(1-u)^2}  \]after some algebra, which further rearranges into \[ \frac{u^2 - (1-u)^2}{(1-u)^2 - v^2} < \frac{u^2 - (1-u)^2}{(1-u)^2} \]which is true because $2u = a_i + a_j < 1$.
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mihaig
7339 posts
#18
Y by
grobber wrote:
Put $a_{n+1}=1-(a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n)$. The inequality becomes $\frac{a_1a_2\ldots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)\ldots (1-a_{n+1})}\le \frac 1{n^{n+1}}$, where $a_i$ are positive and $\sum_1^{n+1}a_i=1$. This is a mere application of AM-GM to the denominators $A_i=1-a_i=a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_{i-1}+a_{i+1}+\ldots+a_n+a_{n+1}$. We get $A_i\ge n\sqrt[n]{\frac{\prod a_k}{a_i}}$. After multiplying all of these we get the desired result.

Very nice idea
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lrjr24
966 posts
#19
Y by
Let $a_{n+1}=1-(a_1+a_2+ \cdots a_n)$. We have that the inequality becomes $\left( \frac{1}{a_1}-1 \right) \left( \frac{1}{a_2}-1 \right) \cdots \left( \frac{1}{a_{n+1}}-1 \right) \ge n^{n+1}$. We note that $$\frac{1}{a_1}-1 = \frac{a_2+a_3 + \cdots + a_{n+1}}{a_1} \ge \frac{n \sqrt[n]{a_2a_3 \cdots a_{n+1}}}{a_1}$$and multiplying similar inequalities gives the result.
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awesomeming327.
1692 posts
#20
Y by
Let $a_{n+1}$ be the positive real number such that $a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots +a_{n+1}=1.$ The desired inequality becomes \[ (na_{1}) (na_{2}) \cdots (na_{n}) (na_{n+1}) \le ( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})(1-a_{n+1}) \]By AM-GM we have \[1-a_{i}=a_1+a_2+\dots+a_{n+1}-a_i\ge n\cdot \sqrt[n]{\frac{a_1a_2\cdots a_{n+1}}{a_i}}\]Multiplying the analogous gives the result.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by awesomeming327., Dec 28, 2022, 4:06 PM
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asdf334
7586 posts
#21 • 2 Y
Y by Mango247, Mango247
Define $1-(a_1+a_2+\dots+a_n)=a_{n+1}$; the LHS is equal to
\[\frac{a_1a_2\dots a_{n+1}}{\prod_{\text{cyc}}(a_1+a_2+\dots+a_n)}\le \frac{a_1a_2\dots a_{n+1}}{\prod_{\text{cyc}}(n\sqrt[n]{a_1a_2\dots a_n})}=\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}\]so we are done. $\blacksquare$
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by asdf334, Jul 12, 2022, 9:03 PM
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sman96
136 posts
#22
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ISL Marabot solve

Let, $a_{n+1} = 1-\sum\limits_{i=1}^na_i$. So, $\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n+1}a_i =1$.
Now for each $1\leq k \leq n+1$,
\begin{align*}
\sqrt[n]{\prod_{i\neq k}a_i} &\leq \dfrac{\sum_{i\neq k}a_i}n\\
\implies \sqrt[n]{\prod_{i\neq k}a_i} &\leq \dfrac{(1-a_k)}n
\end{align*}And, multiplying all of these gives,
\begin{align*}
\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}a_i &\leq \dfrac{\prod\limits_{i=1}^{n+1} (1-a_i)}{n^{n+1}}\\
\implies \dfrac{\prod\limits_{i=1}^{n+1}a_i}{\prod\limits_{i=1}^{n+1} (1-a_i)} &\leq \dfrac1{n^{n+1}} \\
\end{align*}Which is what we wanted. $\blacksquare$
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cj13609517288
1881 posts
#23
Y by
Let $a=a_1+a_2+\dots+a_n$. Taking $\ln$ of both sides, we can first optimize $$\sum_{\text{cyc}}\ln\left(\frac{a_1}{1-a_1}\right).$$Using log properties, we find that the second derivative of the term we are summing is $$-\frac{1}{x^2}+\frac{1}{(1-x)^2}$$which is zero at $x=\frac12$, so there is exactly one inflection point, meaning that we can use $n-1$ EV to have WLOG $a_1=a_2=\dots=a_{n-1}$. Our wanted inequality is now $$\frac{a_1^{n-1}\cdot a_n\cdot(1-a)}{a\cdot(1-a_1)^{n-1}\cdot(1-a_n)}\le\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}.$$By AM-GM, we can instead just show that $$(n-1)\cdot\frac{a_1}{1-a_1}+\frac{a_n}{1-a_n}+\frac{1-a}{a}\le\frac{n+1}{n}.$$Adding $n+1$ to both sides, we want $$\frac{n-1}{1-a_1}+\frac{1}{1-a_n}+\frac{1}{(n-1)a_1+a_n}\le\frac{(n+1)^2}{n}.$$We can resort to differentiating the LHS with respect to $a_n$ to get $$\frac{1}{(1-a_n)^2}-\frac{1}{((n-1)a_1+a_n)^2}$$which is zero when $a_n=\frac{1-a_1(n-1)}{2}$. The second derivative is positive for the whole interval, so that root is the global minimum for the interval. Plugging this back in, we want to show that $$\frac{n-1}{1-a_1}+\frac{4}{1+a_1(n-1)}\le\frac{(n+1)^2}{n}.$$We can do this using another direct differentiation with respect to $a_1$. We get $$\frac{n-1}{\left(1-a_1\right)^2}-\frac{4\left(n-1\right)}{\left(\left(n-1\right)a_1+1\right)^2}$$and we have to check $$a_1=0,\frac1{n+1},\frac1{n-1}.$$It is easy to check that the wanted inequality does hold true for all of these, so we are done.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by cj13609517288, Nov 6, 2022, 11:39 PM
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Taco12
1757 posts
#24 • 1 Y
Y by centslordm
Let $a_{n+1}=1-\sum_{i=1}^n a_i$, so $\sum_{i=1}^{n+1} a_i = 1$. It then suffices to show $$\prod_{i=1}^{n+1} \left(\frac{1-a_i}{a_i}\right) \geq n^{n+1},$$which is clearly true by AM-GM on the numerator. $\blacksquare$
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Ritwin
155 posts
#25 • 1 Y
Y by LLL2019
This abomination of a solution is caused by the fact that I did not see the clean way.

Solution
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HamstPan38825
8857 posts
#26
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Let $a_{n+1} = 1-a_1-a_2-\cdots-a_n$. Then, the inequality is equivalent to $$\frac{a_1a_2\cdots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)\cdots (1-a_{n+1})} \leq \frac 1{n^{n+1}}.$$However, observe that $$1-a_1 = a_2+a_3+\cdots+a_{n+1} \geq n\sqrt[n]{a_2a_3\cdots a_{n+1}},$$so multiplying this inequality cyclically in the denominator yields the result.
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vsamc
3787 posts
#27
Y by
Solution
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bobthegod78
2982 posts
#28
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Let $a_{n+1} = 1- \sum a_i$. Then it remains to show $$\prod \frac{a_i}{1-a_i} \leq \frac 1{n^{n+1}}.$$This is easy with AM-GM, as $$\prod \frac{a_i}{1-a_i} \leq \prod \frac{a_i^{(n+1)/n}}{n \cdot \prod a_i} = \frac 1{n^{n+1}}.$$
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F10tothepowerof34
195 posts
#29
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Let $a_{n+1}=1-\sum_{i=1}^na_i$, thus the inequality is equal to: $\frac{\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}a_i}{(a_1+... a_n)\cdots (a_1+...a_{n+1})}$
Furthermore notice that:\begin{align*} a_1+\dots +a_n\ge n\sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=1}^n a_i}\end{align*}$
$ \begin{align*}\vdots\end{align*}\begin{align*}a_1+\dots +a_{n-1}+a_{n+1}\ge n\sqrt[n]{a_1\cdots a_{n-1}a_{n+1}} \end{align*}By multiplying the inequalities: $LHS\ge n^{n+1}\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}a_i$
Thus $LHS \le\frac{\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}a_{n}}{n^{n+1}\prod_{i=1}^{n+1}a_n}=\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}$. QED
And we are done! :play_ball:
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bobthegod78
2982 posts
#30
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Let $a_{n+1} = 1-\sum_{i=1}^n a_i$. We claim the maximum can be achieved when all the variables are equal. Assume not. WLOG, $a_1 \neq a_2$. Let $x=a_1, y=a_2$. But consider
\[
\frac{\left( \frac{x+y}2 \right)^2}{\left(1 - \frac{x+y}2 \right)^2} - \frac{xy}{(1-x)(1-y)} = \frac{(x-y)^2 (1-x-y)}{(1-x)(1-y)(2-x-y)^2} \ge 0,
\]so making them equal (with the same sum) results in a product at least as big as the original one. The conclusion follows.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by bobthegod78, Jun 5, 2023, 7:33 PM
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huashiliao2020
1292 posts
#31
Y by
orl wrote:
Let $a_{1},a_{2},\ldots ,a_{n}$ be positive real numbers such that $a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots +a_{n}<1$. Prove that \[ \frac{a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n} \left[ 1 - (a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n}) \right] }{(a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots + a_{n})( 1 - a_{1})(1 - a_{2}) \cdots (1 - a_{n})} \leq \frac{1}{ n^{n+1}}. \]

Putting $a_{n+1}=1-\sum_{k=1}^{n}a_k$, it suffices to prove that $\prod_{i=1}^{n}\frac{(1-a_i)}{a_i}\ge n^{n+1}$. Note that 1-a_i=the sum of all a_j's from 1 to n excluding a_i. Then this inequality follows immediately from $\prod_{i=1}^{n}\frac{(1-a_i)}{a_i}=\frac{\prod_{i}(\sum_{j\ne i}a_j)}{\prod_{i}a_i}\ge \frac{(n-1)^n\prod_{i}(\prod_{j\ne i}a_j)^{\frac{1}{n-1}})}{\prod_{i}a_i}=(n-1)^n$, where the greater or equal to is just the AM-GM. Each of these steps are reversible, so we're done. $\blacksquare$
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by huashiliao2020, Jun 7, 2023, 2:19 AM
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vsamc
3787 posts
#32
Y by
@above, I think the product should go from $i=1$ to $i=n+1$, no? And then you would get $\prod_{i=1}^{n+1} \geq n^{n+1}$ instead of $\prod_{i=1}^{n}\frac{1-a_i}{a_i} \geq (n-1)^n$.
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huashiliao2020
1292 posts
#33
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Sorry, yeah. The Latexing took a long time so I couldn't notice what was wrong. The index would be changed over by 1 (1->n+1) and like you said.
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ryanbear
1055 posts
#34
Y by
Let $a_{n+1}=1-a_1-a_2-...-a_n$.
$\frac{a_1a_2...a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)...(1-a_{n+1})}=\Pi_{k=1}^{n+1} \frac{a_k}{1-a_k}$. Note that for $x \neq y$, $\frac{(\frac{x+y}{2})^2}{(1-\frac{x+y}{2})(1-\frac{x+y}{2})} < \frac{xy}{(1-x)(1-y)}$, so turning $x$ and $y$ into their averages makes the product smaller. So all the numbers being equal is the minimum case, which results in $\frac{1}{n^{n+1}}$.
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ezpotd
1252 posts
#35
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Replace $\sum a_i$ with $a_{n + 1}$, now we have the better condition $a_1 + \cdots a_{n} = 1$, prove $\prod \frac{a_i}{1 - a_i} \le \frac{1}{n-1^n}$. We proceed by smoothing, we show replacing any two $a_i$ with their average does not decrease the product. We desire $\frac{x}{1 - x}\frac{y}{1 - y} \le (\frac{\frac{x + y}{2}}{ 1 - \frac{x + y}{2}})^2 $, equivalently $xy(2 - (x + y))^2 \le (1 - x)(1 - y)(x + y)^2$, standard expansion gives the desired as $xy((x + y)^2 - 4(x + y) + 4) \le (xy - x - y + 1)(x + y)^2$, cancellation gives $(x + y)^3 + 4xy \le 4(x + y)xy  + (x + y)^2$. We can write this as $x^3 + y^3 \le (x-y)^2 + xy^2 + yx^2$. We can now write the left hand side as $(x + y)(x - y)^2 + xy^2 + yx^2$, since $x + y \le  1$, the bound is now obvious.

Thus applying this operation to the largest and smallest elements of $a_i$ repeatedly, we can see $a_i$ approaches $\frac 1n$. Assume there exists some tuple $b_i$ for which the product is a factor of $x$ greater than the claimed maximum. After applying the operation some arbitrarily large number of times, we can eventually reach a tuple $c_i$ for which each element is a factor $y$ away from $\frac 1n$ for arbitrarily small $y$, so we can then bound the product for $c_i$ as $z$ away from desired for arbitrarily small $z$, choosing $z < x$ forces a contradiction.
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pie854
243 posts
#36
Y by
Note that there exists a number $a_{n+1}\in (0,1)$ such that $a_1+a_2+\dots+a_n+a_{n+1}=1$. Then we need to prove the nicer inequality $$\frac{a_1a_2\cdots a_{n+1}}{(1-a_1)(1-a_2)\cdots (1-a_{n+1})} \leq \frac{1}{n^{n+1}}.$$But this is the same as proving \begin{align*} & \frac{a_2+a_3+\dots+a_{n+1}}n \cdot \frac{a_1+a_3+\dots+a_{n+1}}n \cdot \frac{a_1+a_2+a_4+\dots+a_{n+1}}n \cdots \frac{a_1+a_2+\dots+a_{n-1}+a_{n+1}}n \cdot \frac{a_1+a_2+\dots+a_{n-1}+a_n}n \\ & \qquad \geq \sqrt[n]{a_2a_3 \cdots a_{n+1}}\sqrt[n]{a_1a_3 \cdots a_{n+1}}\sqrt[n]{a_1a_2 a_4 \cdots a_{n+1}}\cdots \sqrt[n]{a_1a_2\cdots a_{n-1}a_{n+1}}\sqrt[n]{a_1a_2 \cdots a_{n-1}a_n}\end{align*}which is just AM-GM.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by pie854, Nov 1, 2024, 6:39 AM
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Maximilian113
531 posts
#37
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Let $a_0 = 1-(a_1+a_2+\cdots + a_n) > 0.$ Then the inequality is equivalent to $$n^{n+1} \leq \prod_{i=0}^{n} \frac{a_0+a_1+\cdots + a_n - a_i}{ a_i}$$which is true by AM-GM. QED
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Marcus_Zhang
977 posts
#38
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Storage
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