Problem

Source: XVII Olimpíada Matemática Rioplatense (2008)

Tags: algebra unsolved, algebra



On a line, there are $n$ closed intervals (none of which is a single point) whose union we denote by $S$. It's known that for every real number $d$, $0<d\le 1$, there are two points in $S$ that are a distance $d$ from each other. (a) Show that the sum of the lengths of the $n$ closed intervals is larger than $\frac{1}{n}$. (b) Prove that, for each positive integer $n$, the $\frac{1}{n}$ in the statement of part (a) cannot be replaced with a larger number.