SEEMOUS 2015 Contest Problems and Solutions

Problem 1. Prove that for every x (0,1) the following inequality holds:

1
2 2 2
1 (cos y) dy x (sin x) .
0
Solution 1. Clearly
1 x
2 2
1 (cos y) dy 1 (cos y) dy .
0 0
Define a function F :[0,1] by setting:
x
F ( x ) 1 (cos y )2 dy x 2 (sin x )2 .
0
Since F (0) 0 , it suffices to prove F '( x ) 0 . By the fundamental theorem of Calculus, we have

F '( x ) 1 (cos x )2 x sin x cos x .

x 2 (sin x )2
Thus, it is enough to prove that
(1 (cos x)2 )( x 2 (sin x)2 ) ( x sin x cos x)2 .
But this is a straightforward application of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.

1 x

1 cos y dy 1 cos y dy for each fixed x 0,1 . Observe that

2 2
Solution 2. Clearly
0 0
x

1 cos y dy is the arc length of the function f y sin y on the interval 0, x which is clearly
2

strictly greater than the length of the straight line between the points 0, 0 and x,sin x which in turn

x 2 sin x .
2
is equal to

Problem 2. For any positive integer n , let the functions f n : be defined by f n1( x) f1( f n ( x)) ,
where f1( x) 3x 4 x3 . Solve the equation f n ( x ) 0 .

Solution. First, we prove that x 1 f n ( x) 1 holds for every positive integer n. It suffices to

demonstrate the validity of this implication for . But, by assuming x 1 , it readily follows that

f1 ( x) x 3 4 x 2 3 4 x 2 1 , which completes the demonstration. We conclude that every

solution of the equation f n ( x ) 0 lies in the closed interval [1,1] . For an arbitrary such x , set

x sin t where t arcsin x [ , ] . We clearly have f1(sin t ) sin3t , which gives
2 2
f n ( x) sin3n t sin(3n arcsin x).
Thus, f n ( x ) 0 if and only if sin(3n arcsin x) 0 , i.e. only when 3n arcsin x k for some k Z .
Therefore, the solutions of the equation f n ( x ) 0 are given by
x sin kn ,
3
1 3 n
3n 1
where k acquires every integer value from up to .
2 2
 Problem 3. For an integer n 2 , let A, B, C, D ( ) be matrices satisfying:
AC BD I n ,
AD BC On ,
where I n is the identity matrix and On is the zero matrix in ( ) .
Prove that:
a) CA DB I n and DA CB On ,
b) det( AC ) 0 and (l)n det( BD) 0 .
Solution. a) We have
AC BD i( AD BC ) I n ( A iB)(C iD) I n ,
which implies that the matrices A iB and C iD are inverses to one another. Thus,
(C iD )( A iB ) I n CA DB i ( DA CB ) I n
CA DB I n , DA CB On .
b) We have
det((A iB )C ) det( AC iBC )
AD BC On
det(AC iAD )
det( A(C iD ).
On the other hand,
(C iD )( AiB ) I n
detC det((C iD)(A iB )C ) det((C iD) A(C iD))
det( A) | det(C iD) |2 .
Thus,
det( AC ) (detA)2 |det(C iD) |2 0 .
Similarly
det(( A iB ) D ) det( AD iBD )
AD BC On
det( BC iBD )
( l)n det( B(C iD)).
This implies that
(C iD )( AiB ) I n
detD det((C iD)( A iB) D) ( l)n det((C iD) B(C iD))
( 1)n det( B) | det(C iD) |2 .
Thus, (1)n det( BD) (detB)2 | det(C iD) |2 0 .
 Problem 4. Let I be an open interval which contains 0, and f : I be a function of class
C 2016 ( I ) such that f (0) 0, f (0) 1, f (0) f (0) ... f (2015) (0) 0, f (2016) (0) 0.
i) Prove that there is 0 such that
0 f ( x ) x, x (0, ). (1.1)
ii) With determined as in i), define the sequence ( an ) by

a , a 1 f (a ), n 1.
2 n 1 n (1.2)

Study the convergence of the series anr , for r .
n 1

Solution. i) We claim that there exists 0 such that f ( x ) 0 for any x (0, ). For this, observe
that, since f is of class C1 and f (0) 1 0, there exists 0 such that f ( x ) 0 on (0, ). Since
f (0) 0 and f is strictly increasing on (0, ), the claim follows.
Next, we prove that there exists 0 such that f ( x ) x for any x (0, ). Since
f (2016) (0) 0 and f is of class C 2016 , there is 0 such that f (2016) (t ) 0, for any t (0, ). By
the Taylor's formula, for any x (0, ), there is 0,1 such that
f (0) f (2015) (0) 2015 f (2016) ( x ) 2016
f ( x ) f (0) 1! x ... 2015!
x 2016!
x , (1.3)
hence
f (2016) ( x ) 2016
g ( x) 2016!
x 0, x (0, ).

Taking min , 0, the item i) is completely proven.

ii) We will prove first that the sequence (an ) given by (1.2) converges to 0. Indeed, by relation (1.1)
it follows that
0 an 1 an , n 1,
hence the sequence (an ) is strictly decreasing and lower bounded by 0. It follows that (an ) converges
to some [0, ) . Passing to the limit in (1.2) , one gets f ( ). Taking into account (1.1), we deduce
2
that 0.
In what follows, we calculate
lim nan2015.
n
From an 0, using the Stolz-Cesro Theorem, we conclude that
( n 1) n
lim nan2015 lim n lim lim 1
n 2015 2015 1
1 1 1 1
n n n
an2015 an 1 an f ( an ) 2015 an2015

( xf ( x ))2015
lim 1 lim .
x 0
1 1 x 0 x
2015
f ( x )2015
f ( x )2015 x 2015
 2015
2 f ( 2016) (x) 2017
x x
Observe that, by (1.3)
xf x 2015 2016 ! .
x 2015 f ( x) 2015 f ( 2016) (x) 2016 2014
x (x x f ( x) f ( x) )
2013 2014

2016!
Since f is of class C 2016 , lim f (2016) ( x ) f (2016) (0) and
x 0
( xf ( x ))2015
lim 2016! 0.
x 0 x
2015
f ( x )2015 2015 f (2016) (0)

It means, by the comparison criterion, that the series anr and 1
r
converge and/or diverge
n 1 n 1 n 2015

simultaneously, hence the series anr converges for r 2015, and diverges for r 2015.
n 1