Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /2 of 462

Algebra Difficulty 4.3 AIME Prove it Ireland

Suppose xx and yy are real numbers with x0x \ge 0 and y2x(x+1)y^2 \ge x(x+1). Prove that (y1)2x(x1)(y-1)^2 \ge x(x-1).

Solution

Suppose x0x \ge 0 and y2x(x+1)y^2 \ge x(x+1). If 0x10 \le x \le 1, then (y1)20x(x1)(y-1)^2 \ge 0 \ge x(x-1). If x>1x > 1, either yx(x+1)y \ge \sqrt{x(x+1)} or yx(x+1)y \le -\sqrt{x(x+1)}. If yx(x+1)y \ge \sqrt{x(x+1)}, then y>1y > 1, since x>1x > 1. So (y1)2(x(x+1)1)2=x2+x+12x(x+1)(y-1)^2 \ge (\sqrt{x(x+1)}-1)^2 = x^2+x+1-2\sqrt{x(x+1)}. It suffices to prove that this is x(x1)\ge x(x-1). That is, 2x+12x(x+1)2x+1 \ge 2\sqrt{x(x+1)}, when x>1x > 1. Squaring both sides, this reduces to 1>01 > 0, which is true.
The second case is yx(x+1)y \le -\sqrt{x(x+1)}. In this case, we have (y1)2(x(x+1)+1)2=x2+x+1+2x(x+1)>x2+x>x2x(y-1)^2 \ge (\sqrt{x(x+1)}+1)^2 = x^2+x+1+2\sqrt{x(x+1)} > x^2+x > x^2-x, which proves the result.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.