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Geometry Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let aa, bb, cc be the side lengths of a triangle. Prove that
2(a3+b3+c3)<(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)3(a3+b3+c3). 2 (a^3 + b^3 + c^3) < (a + b + c) (a^2 + b^2 + c^2) \le 3 (a^3 + b^3 + c^3).

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Consider the inequality on the left. We prove this using the triangle inequality according to which a<b+ca < b + c, b<c+ab < c + a, and c<a+bc < a + b. Applying this,
(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)2(a3+b3+c3)=a2(b+c)+b2(c+a)+c2(a+b)a3b3c3=a2(b+ca)+b2(c+ab)+c2(a+bc)>0. \begin{aligned} & (a + b + c)(a^2 + b^2 + c^2) - 2(a^3 + b^3 + c^3) \\ &= a^2(b + c) + b^2(c + a) + c^2(a + b) - a^3 - b^3 - c^3 \\ &= a^2(b + c - a) + b^2(c + a - b) + c^2(a + b - c) > 0. \end{aligned}

The inequality on the right holds more generally for any triple of positive numbers aa, bb, cc, and can be handled by Hölder's inequality, or by strict convexity of the function ttpt \mapsto t^p with p1p \ge 1. Either of these tells us that: if xx, yy, z>0z > 0 and p1p \ge 1, then
(x+y+z)(xp+yp+zp)1/p3(p1)/por equivalently(x+y+z3)pxp+yp+zp3, (x + y + z) \le (x^p + y^p + z^p)^{1/p} 3^{(p-1)/p} \quad \text{or equivalently} \\ \left(\frac{x+y+z}{3}\right)^p \le \frac{x^p+y^p+z^p}{3},
with equality iff x=y=zx = y = z. Apply this first with x=ax = a, y=by = b, z=cz = c and p=3p = 3, to get
a+b+c(a3+b3+c3)1/332/3, a+b+c \le (a^3+b^3+c^3)^{1/3} 3^{2/3},
and next with x=a2x = a^2, y=b2y = b^2, z=c2z = c^2 and p=3/2p = 3/2 to get
a2+b2+c2(a3+b3+c3)2/31/3. a^2+b^2+c^2 \le (a^3+b^3+c^3)^{2/3} 1/3.
Equality holds in both iff a=b=ca = b = c. In any event, forming their product, we get
(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)3(a3+b3+c3). (a+b+c)(a^2+b^2+c^2) \le 3(a^3+b^3+c^3).

Solution 2

A standard ploy used to deal with inequalities involving the side lengths aa, bb, cc of a triangle is to reformulate them in terms of the positive variables
x=a+bc,y=b+ca,z=c+ab; x = a + b - c, \quad y = b + c - a, \quad z = c + a - b;
so that
a=z+x2,b=x+y2,c=y+z2, a = \frac{z+x}{2}, \quad b = \frac{x+y}{2}, \quad c = \frac{y+z}{2},
whence a+b+c=x+y+za + b + c = x + y + z,
a2+b2+c2=12(x2+y2+z2+xy+yz+zx)=12(x2+xy), a^2 + b^2 + c^2 = \frac{1}{2}(x^2 + y^2 + z^2 + xy + yz + zx) = \frac{1}{2}(\sum x^2 + \sum xy),
(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)=12(x3+2xy(x+y)+3xyz) (a+b+c)(a^2+b^2+c^2) = \frac{1}{2}\left(\sum x^3 + 2\sum xy(x+y) + 3xyz\right)
and
a3+b3+c3=18(2x3+3xy(x+y)). a^3 + b^3 + c^3 = \frac{1}{8}(2\sum x^3 + 3\sum xy(x+y)).
To establish the left inequality, notice that
(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)2(a3+b3+c3)=12(x3+2xy(x+y)+3xyz)14(2x3+3xy(x+y))=14(xy(x+y)+6xyz), \begin{aligned} (a+b+c)(a^2+b^2+c^2) - 2(a^3+b^3+c^3) \\ = \frac{1}{2}\left(\sum x^3 + 2\sum xy(x+y) + 3xyz\right) - \frac{1}{4}\left(2\sum x^3 + 3\sum xy(x+y)\right) \\ = \frac{1}{4}\left(\sum xy(x+y) + 6xyz\right), \end{aligned}
which is clearly positive. Hence the left inequality follows.
Also,
3(a3+b3+c3)(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2)=18(2(x3+y3+z3)12xyz+x2(y+z)+y2(z+x)+z2(x+y))=18(x3+y3+z312xyz+(x2+y2+z2)(x+y+z))=18((x3+y3+z33xyz)+((x2+y2+z2)(x+y+z)9xyz))0, \begin{aligned} 3(a^3 + b^3 + c^3) - (a+b+c)(a^2 + b^2 + c^2) \\ = \frac{1}{8}(2(x^3 + y^3 + z^3) - 12xyz + x^2(y+z) + y^2(z+x) + z^2(x+y)) \\ = \frac{1}{8}(x^3 + y^3 + z^3 - 12xyz + (x^2 + y^2 + z^2)(x+y+z)) \\ = \frac{1}{8}((x^3 + y^3 + z^3 - 3xyz) + ((x^2 + y^2 + z^2)(x+y+z) - 9xyz)) \\ \ge 0, \end{aligned}
by three applications of the AM-GM inequality, with equality iff x=y=zx = y = z.
In other words, the second inequality holds.

Solution 3

To establish the inequality on the left, multiply the three inequalities a<b+ca < b+c, b<c+ab < c+a, and c<a+bc < a+b by a2a^2, b2b^2, and c2c^2, respectively. This results in
a3<a2(b+c),b3<b2(c+a),c3<c2(a+b).a^3 < a^2(b+c), \quad b^3 < b^2(c+a), \quad c^3 < c^2(a+b).
Adding these together and then adding a3+b3+c3a^3 + b^3 + c^3 to both sides of the resulting inequality gives the desired inequality. This is essentially the same proof as in Solution 1.
The inequality on the right holds for any triple of positive numbers aa, bb, cc. To establish this, similar to Solution 2, but not switching to xx, yy, zz, we multiply out the middle term and subtract it from 3(a3+b3+c3)3(a^3 + b^3 + c^3), to see that we are left to show that
2(a3+b3+c3)ab2a2bbc2b2cca2c2a0.(9) 2(a^3 + b^3 + c^3) - ab^2 - a^2b - bc^2 - b^2c - ca^2 - c^2a \ge 0. \quad (9)
But
2(a3+b3+c3)ab2a2bbc2b2cca2c2a=(a3+b3a2bb2a)+(b3+c3b2cc2b)+(c3+a3c2aa2c)=(a2b2)(ab)+(b2c2)(bc)+(c2a2)(ca)=(a+b)(ab)2+(b+c)(bc)2+(c+a)(ca)20, \begin{aligned} & 2(a^3 + b^3 + c^3) - ab^2 - a^2b - bc^2 - b^2c - ca^2 - c^2a \\ &= (a^3 + b^3 - a^2b - b^2a) + (b^3 + c^3 - b^2c - c^2b) + (c^3 + a^3 - c^2a - a^2c) \\ &= (a^2 - b^2)(a - b) + (b^2 - c^2)(b - c) + (c^2 - a^2)(c - a) \\ &= (a+b)(a-b)^2 + (b+c)(b-c)^2 + (c+a)(c-a)^2 \ge 0, \end{aligned}
since aa, bb, cc are positive, with equality iff a=b=ca = b = c. Hence the second inequality holds.

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