2013 Canadian MO Problems/Problem 4

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Problem

Let $n$ be a positive integer. For any positive integer $j$ and positive real number $r$, define \[f_j(r) =\min (jr, n)+\min\left(\frac{j}{r}, n\right),\text{ and }g_j(r) =\min (\lceil jr\rceil, n)+\min\left(\left\lceil\frac{j}{r}\right\rceil, n\right),\] where $\lceil x\rceil$ denotes the smallest integer greater than or equal to $x$. Prove that \[\sum_{j=1}^n f_j(r)\leq n^2+n\leq \sum_{j=1}^n g_j(r)\] for all positive real numbers $r$.

Solution

First thing to note on both functions is the following:

$f_j(1/r) =\min (\frac{j}{r}, n)+\min\left(jr, n\right)=f_j(1/r)$,

and $g_j(1/r) =\min (\lceil frac{j}{r}\rceil, n)+\min\left(\left\lceil\jr\right\rceil, n\right) = f_j(r)$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)


Case 1: $r=1$

Since $j \le n$ in the sum, the f_j(r) =\min (jr, n)+\min\left(\frac{j}{r}, n\right)

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