TITLE: Prove that $\frac{x_1}{x_2}+\frac{x_2}{x_3}+\frac{x_3}{x_4}+\cdots +\frac{x_{n-1}}{x_n}+\frac{x_n}{x_1}<2n-1$
QUESTION [8 upvotes]: Let $x_1,x_2,x_3,\cdots ,x_n (n\ge2)$ be real numbers greater than $1.$ Suppose that $|x_i-x_{i+1}|<1$ for $i=1,2,3,\cdots,(n-1)$. 

Prove that $$\frac{x_1}{x_2}+\frac{x_2}{x_3}+\frac{x_3}{x_4}+\cdots +\frac{x_{n-1}}{x_n}+\frac{x_n}{x_1}<2n-1$$

Please help!!!

REPLY [2 votes]: Proof: I get this proof for two case
(1): if for all $k=1,2,\cdots,n-1$,have $a_{k}\le a_{k+1}$,then we have
$$a_{k}\le a_{k+1}<a_{k}+1$$
so we have
$$a_{i}<a_{i-1}+1<a_{i-2}+2<\cdots<a_{1}+(i-1)$$
then we have
$$\dfrac{a_{1}}{a_{2}}+\dfrac{a_{2}}{a_{3}}+\cdots+\dfrac{a_{n-1}}{a_{n}}+\dfrac{a_{n}}{a_{1}}<(n-1)+\dfrac{a_{1}+(n-1)}{a_{1}}<(n-1)+1+(n-1)=2n-1$$
(2):define set $A=\{k|a_{k}>a_{k+1}\}$,Assmue that $|A|=p$,for $k\in A$,we have
$$a_{k+1}<a_{k}<a_{k+1}+1,\dfrac{a_{k}}{a_{k+1}}<\dfrac{a_{k+1}+1}{a_{k+1}}
<1+\dfrac{1}{a_{k+1}}<2$$
then we have
$$\dfrac{a_{1}}{a_{2}}+\dfrac{a_{2}}{a_{3}}+\cdots+\dfrac{a_{n-1}}{a_{n}}<2p+(n-1-p)=n-1+p$$
and
$$\dfrac{a_{n}}{a_{1}}=\dfrac{(a_{n}-a_{n-1})+(a_{n-1}-a_{n-2})+\cdots+(a_{2}-a_{1})+a_{1}}{a_{1}}<\dfrac{(n-1-p)+a_{1}}{a_{1}}<(n-1-p)+1=n-p$$
so for this case also have
$$\dfrac{a_{1}}{a_{2}}+\dfrac{a_{2}}{a_{3}}+\cdots+\dfrac{a_{n-1}}{a_{n}}+\dfrac{a_{n}}{a_{1}}<n-1+p+n-p=2n-1$$