Olympiad Maths Prep

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, 2011

Algebra Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it Czech-Polish-Slovak Mathematical Match

Let aa, bb, cc be positive real numbers satisfying a2<bca^2 < bc. Prove that
b3+ac2>ab(a+c) b^3 + ac^2 > ab(a + c)

Solution

Adding three AM-GM inequalities
4a3b+b3c+2c3a7a2bc, 4a^3b + b^3c + 2c^3a \geq 7a^2bc,
4b3c+c3a+2a3b7b2ca, 4b^3c + c^3a + 2a^3b \geq 7b^2ca,
4c3a+a3b+2b3c7c2ab 4c^3a + a^3b + 2b^3c \geq 7c^2ab
we get
a3b+b3c+c3aa2bc+b2ca+c2ab(1) a^3b + b^3c + c^3a \geq a^2bc + b^2ca + c^2ab \quad (1)
The assumption a2<bca^2 < bc implies a3b>b2ca-a^3b > -b^2ca and this together with (1) gives
b3c+c3a>a2bc+c2ab b^3c + c^3a > a^2bc + c^2ab
i.e.
b3+ac2>ab(a+c) b^3 + ac^2 > ab(a + c)

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