Unofficial archive — problems, solutions & results © IMC, reproduced with permission.

IMC / 2009 / Problems / Day 2, P7

IMC 2009 · Day 2 · P7

medium

Suppose f:RRf : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} is a two times differentiable function satisfying f(0)=1f(0) = 1, f(0)=0f'(0) = 0, and for all x[0,)x \in [0, \infty), f(x)5f(x)+6f(x)0.f''(x) - 5 f'(x) + 6 f(x) \ge 0. Prove that for all x[0,)x \in [0, \infty), f(x)3e2x2e3x.f(x) \ge 3 e^{2x} - 2 e^{3x}.

Solution (official)

We have f(x)2f(x)3(f(x)2f(x))0f''(x) - 2 f'(x) - 3 (f'(x) - 2 f(x)) \ge 0, x[0,)x \in [0, \infty).

Let g(x)=f(x)2f(x)g(x) = f'(x) - 2 f(x), x[0,)x \in [0, \infty). It follows that g(x)3g(x)0,x[0,),g'(x) - 3 g(x) \ge 0, \quad x \in [0, \infty), hence (g(x)e3x)0,x[0,),(g(x) e^{-3x})' \ge 0, \quad x \in [0, \infty), therefore g(x)e3xg(0)=2,x[0,)or equivalentlyg(x) e^{-3x} \ge g(0) = -2, \quad x \in [0, \infty) \quad \text{or equivalently} f(x)2f(x)2e3x,x[0,).f'(x) - 2 f(x) \ge -2 e^{3x}, \quad x \in [0, \infty). Analogously we get (f(x)e2x)2ex,x[0,)or equivalently(f(x) e^{-2x})' \ge -2 e^{x}, \quad x \in [0, \infty) \quad \text{or equivalently} (f(x)e2x+2ex)0,x[0,).(f(x) e^{-2x} + 2 e^{x})' \ge 0, \quad x \in [0, \infty). It follows that f(x)e2x+2exf(0)+2=3,x[0,)or equivalentlyf(x) e^{-2x} + 2 e^{x} \ge f(0) + 2 = 3, \quad x \in [0, \infty) \quad \text{or equivalently} f(x)3e2x2e3x,x[0,).f(x) \ge 3 e^{2x} - 2 e^{3x}, \quad x \in [0, \infty).

How the field did

contestants scored
336
average (of 10)
4.91
solved (≥ 80%)
39.0%
near-0 (≤ 10%)
42.0%
discrimination
0.51

Score distribution (field cohort)

Computed on contestants with a meaningful total (field cohort); discrimination is the corrected item–total correlation.

Similar problems

IMC 2017 · Day 1 · P2hardavg 3.2/10 · solved 26% · near-0 56% · disc 0.63
IMC 2014 · Day 2 · P8hardavg 2.2/10 · solved 18% · near-0 65% · disc 0.28
IMC 2006 · Day 1 · P5very hardavg 1.4/10 · solved 11% · near-0 80% · disc 0.31
IMC 2006 · Day 2 · P9very hardavg 1.3/10 · solved 6% · near-0 68% · disc 0.20