Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Serbia

Problem:

Let x,y,zx, y, z be positive real numbers such that xy+yz+zx=x+y+zx y + y z + z x = x + y + z. Prove the inequality
1x2+y+1+1y2+z+1+1z2+x+11 \frac{1}{x^{2} + y + 1} + \frac{1}{y^{2} + z + 1} + \frac{1}{z^{2} + x + 1} \leqslant 1
When does equality hold in the previous inequality?

Solution

Solution:

The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the triples (x,y,1)(x, \sqrt{y}, 1) and (1,y,z)(1, \sqrt{y}, z) gives 1x2+y+11+y+z2(x+y+z)2\frac{1}{x^{2} + y + 1} \leqslant \frac{1 + y + z^{2}}{(x + y + z)^{2}}. Analogously, 1y2+z+11+z+x2(x+y+z)2\frac{1}{y^{2} + z + 1} \leqslant \frac{1 + z + x^{2}}{(x + y + z)^{2}} and 1z2+x+11+x+y2(x+y+z)2\frac{1}{z^{2} + x + 1} \leqslant \frac{1 + x + y^{2}}{(x + y + z)^{2}} hold. Adding these inequalities we obtain
1x2+y+1+1y2+z+1+1z2+x+13+x+y+z+x2+y2+z2(x+y+z)2=S \frac{1}{x^{2} + y + 1} + \frac{1}{y^{2} + z + 1} + \frac{1}{z^{2} + x + 1} \leqslant \frac{3 + x + y + z + x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}}{(x + y + z)^{2}} = S
It remains to prove that S1S \leqslant 1, and this is equivalent to 3+x+y+z2(xy+yz+zx)=2(x+y+z)3 + x + y + z \leqslant 2(x y + y z + z x) = 2(x + y + z) by the condition of the problem, i.e. x+y+z3x + y + z \geqslant 3. This, however, follows from x+y+z=xy+yz+zx(x+y+z)23x + y + z = x y + y z + z x \leqslant \frac{(x + y + z)^{2}}{3}.
Equality holds only for x=y=z=1x = y = z = 1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from sr; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.