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Hard Problem Involving Modulus

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December 9, 2010
inductionalgebra unsolvedalgebra

Problem Statement

Let a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n be real numbers lying in [1,1][-1, 1] such that a1+a2++an=0a_1 + a_2 + \cdots + a_n = 0. Prove that there is a k{1,2,,n}k \in \{1, 2, \ldots, n\} such that a1+2a2+3a3++kak2k+14|a_1 + 2a_2 + 3a_3 + \cdots + k a_k | \le \frac{2k+1}4 .