Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2008

Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Find all real numbers xx for which the inequality
∣∣∣2−x∣−x∣−8∣≤2008 |||2 - x| - x| - 8| \le 2008
holds.

Solution

We consider two cases depending on the sign of 2−x2-x.

If x≥2x \ge 2, then we have ∣2−x∣=−(2−x)|2-x| = -(2-x) and the inequality can be rewritten as ∣∣x−2−x∣−8∣≤2008||x-2-x|-8| \le 2008 or, equivalently, 6≤20086 \le 2008. So for all real numbers x≥2x \ge 2 the inequality holds.

Now, let x<2x < 2. In this case we have
∣∣2−2x∣−8∣≤2008. ||2 - 2x| - 8| \le 2008.
Let us consider two further cases depending on the sign of 2−2x2-2x.

If x≥1x \ge 1, we have ∣2−2x∣=−(2−2x)|2-2x| = -(2-2x) and so ∣2x−10∣≤2008|2x-10| \le 2008. Obviously, this inequality holds for 1≤x<21 \le x < 2.

Finally, only the case x<1x < 1 remains. The condition implies ∣−2x+2−8∣≤2008|-2x+2-8| \le 2008 or ∣2x+6∣≤2008|2x+6| \le 2008. This is equivalent to
−2008≤2x+6≤2008. -2008 \le 2x + 6 \le 2008.
Since x<1x < 1 we have 2x+6<2+6=82x + 6 < 2 + 6 = 8, so the right inequality holds. The left inequality implies −2014≤2x-2014 \le 2x or −1007≤x-1007 \le x. From this we derive the condition −1007≤x<1-1007 \le x < 1.

Hence, the inequality holds for all x≥−1007x \ge -1007.

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