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Taiwan IMO Selection Camp

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Let aa, bb, cc be positive real numbers satisfying min⁡{a+b,b+c,c+a}>2\min\{a+b, b+c, c+a\} > \sqrt{2} and a2+b2+c2=3a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = 3.
Prove that:
a(b+c−a)2+b(c+a−b)2+c(a+b−c)2≥3(abc)2 \frac{a}{(b+c-a)^2} + \frac{b}{(c+a-b)^2} + \frac{c}{(a+b-c)^2} \ge \frac{3}{(abc)^2}

Solution

From b+c>2b+c > \sqrt{2} we obtain b2+c2>1b^2 + c^2 > 1, so a2=3−(b2+c2)<2a^2 = 3 - (b^2 + c^2) < 2, that is a<2<b+ca < \sqrt{2} < b+c.
Thus we have b+c−a>0b+c-a > 0, and similarly c+a−b>0c+a-b > 0 and a+b−c>0a+b-c > 0.
We will use HÖLDER's inequality:
x1p+1y1p+x2p+1y2p+⋯+xnp+1ynp≥(x1+x2+⋯+xn)p+1(y1+y2+⋯+yn)p \frac{x_1^{p+1}}{y_1^p} + \frac{x_2^{p+1}}{y_2^p} + \cdots + \frac{x_n^{p+1}}{y_n^p} \ge \frac{(x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_n)^{p+1}}{(y_1 + y_2 + \cdots + y_n)^p}
which holds for all positive real numbers pp, x1x_1, x2x_2, ⋯\cdots, xnx_n, y1y_1, y2y_2, ⋯\cdots, yny_n. Applying HÖLDER's inequality with p=2p = 2, n=3n = 3 we obtain:
∑a(b+c−a)2=∑(a2)3a5(b+c−a)2≥(a2+b2+c2)3(∑a5/2(b+c−a))2=27(∑a5/2(b+c−a))2. \begin{aligned} \sum \frac{a}{(b+c-a)^2} &= \sum \frac{(a^2)^3}{a^5 (b+c-a)^2} \\ &\ge \frac{(a^2 + b^2 + c^2)^3}{(\sum a^{5/2} (b+c-a))^2} \\ &= \frac{27}{(\sum a^{5/2} (b+c-a))^2}. \end{aligned}
To estimate the denominator on the right-hand side above, we observe a special case of SCHUR's inequality:
∑a3/2(a−b)(a−c)≥0 \sum a^{3/2} (a-b)(a-c) \ge 0
After rearranging, this gives:
∑a5/2(b+c−a)≤abc(a+b+c) \sum a^{5/2} (b+c-a) \le abc(\sqrt{a} + \sqrt{b} + \sqrt{c})
Then by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we know:
(a+b+c3)4≤a2+b2+c23=1 \left(\frac{\sqrt{a} + \sqrt{b} + \sqrt{c}}{3}\right)^4 \le \frac{a^2 + b^2 + c^2}{3} = 1
that is a+b+c≤3\sqrt{a} + \sqrt{b} + \sqrt{c} \le 3. Hence
∑a(b+c−a)2≥27(abc(a+b+c))2≥3(abc)2 \sum \frac{a}{(b+c-a)^2} \ge \frac{27}{(abc(\sqrt{a} + \sqrt{b} + \sqrt{c}))^2} \ge \frac{3}{(abc)^2}
as desired.

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