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Maximum value of a sum of square roots

Source: Romanian TST 2 2008, Problem 1

June 7, 2008
functioninequalities proposedinequalities

Problem Statement

Let n3 n \geq 3 be an odd integer. Determine the maximum value of \sqrt{|x_{1}\minus{}x_{2}|}\plus{}\sqrt{|x_{2}\minus{}x_{3}|}\plus{}\ldots\plus{}\sqrt{|x_{n\minus{}1}\minus{}x_{n}|}\plus{}\sqrt{|x_{n}\minus{}x_{1}|}, where xi x_{i} are positive real numbers from the interval [0,1] [0,1].