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Geometry Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Croatia

Let aa, bb and cc be the side-lengths of a triangle with perimeter 11. Prove that
a2+b2+b2+c2+c2+a2<1+22. \sqrt{a^2 + b^2} + \sqrt{b^2 + c^2} + \sqrt{c^2 + a^2} < 1 + \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}.
(APMO 2003)

Solution

Without loss of generality, we may assume abca \ge b \ge c.
The triangle inequality and a+b+c=1a + b + c = 1 imply that a<b+c=1aa < b + c = 1 - a, i.e. a<12a < \frac{1}{2}.
Since bab \le a, it follows that a2+b22a2=a2<22\sqrt{a^2 + b^2} \le \sqrt{2a^2} = a\sqrt{2} < \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}.
Since cbc \le b, it follows that b2+c2b2+bc<b2+bc+c24=(b+c2)2b^2 + c^2 \le b^2 + bc < b^2 + bc + \frac{c^2}{4} = \left(b + \frac{c}{2}\right)^2, i.e. b2+c2<b+c2\sqrt{b^2 + c^2} < b + \frac{c}{2}.

Analogously we conclude a2+c2<a+c2\sqrt{a^2 + c^2} < a + \frac{c}{2}. Summing the obtained inequalities we get
a2+b2+b2+c2+a2+c2<22+(b+c2)+(a+c2)=1+22. \sqrt{a^2 + b^2} + \sqrt{b^2 + c^2} + \sqrt{a^2 + c^2} < \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} + \left(b + \frac{c}{2}\right) + \left(a + \frac{c}{2}\right) = 1 + \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}.

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