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Mongolian Mathematical Olympiad

Mongolia algebra

Problem

Let . Prove that holds for all integers and , and determine the condition under which equality holds.
Solution
Let us rewrite the inequality:



Bring all terms to one side:



Group terms:



Factor in the last three terms:



Note that , so:



Now, since , the minimum occurs at or .

First, check :



This is true for or .

Now, check :



Group terms:



So, .

This is true for or .

Now, for , the expression is a convex combination of the two cases above, so the minimum is achieved at the endpoints or .

Therefore, the inequality holds for all if and only if and .

But the problem asks for all (no restriction), so let's check the minimum value.

Consider :



Since , this is true for or .

But for , the inequality is , always true.

For , .

Similarly, for :



Since , this is true for or .

But for , always true.

Therefore, the inequality holds for all if (trivially), and for , for all if and only if and .

But the problem says and asks for all .

But for , the inequality is , i.e., .

For , the inequality is , i.e., .

So, for , the minimum is at or .

Therefore, the inequality holds for all if and only if and for all , which is only possible if is an integer and or , and or .

But the problem says "for all integers and ". Let's check the original expression:

Let us complete the square:



But perhaps a better approach is to consider the expression as a quadratic in :

But this is messy.

Alternatively, consider the difference:

Let

Set , arbitrary.

Try :

for .

This is true for or .

Try :

for .

This is true for or .

Try :

.

So, for or .

Try :



For , or .

For , or .

So, in all cases, the inequality holds for or , or , and or .

Equality holds when and or , or and or .

In summary:

- The inequality holds for all integers and . - Equality holds if and only if either and or , or and or .
Final answer
The inequality holds for all integers m and n and all a between zero and one because (1 − a)(m^2 − m) + a((m + n)^2 − (m + n)) ≥ 0. Equality occurs as follows: if a = 0, then m is either zero or one (any n); if a = 1, then m + n is either zero or one; if 0 < a < 1, then (m, n) is one of (0, 0), (0, 1), (1, −1), (1, 0).

Techniques

Linear and quadratic inequalitiesIntegers