Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let aa, bb, cc, dd be real numbers such that ab(c+d)=cd(a+b)ab(c+d) = cd(a+b). Prove that
a+1a2+3+b+1b2+3c1c2+3+d1d2+3. \frac{a+1}{a^2+3} + \frac{b+1}{b^2+3} \ge \frac{c-1}{c^2+3} + \frac{d-1}{d^2+3}.

Solution

Replace (c,d)(c, d) with (c,d)(-c, -d) to rephrase the problem as: subject to the constraint ab(c+d)+cd(a+b)=0ab(c+d) + cd(a+b) = 0, prove that a+1a2+30\sum \frac{a+1}{a^2+3} \ge 0 (1).

Suppose one of the numbers equals 00 and notice that (at least) another is 00 as well – let them be cc and dd. The claim (1) rewrites as
a+1a2+3+b+1b2+323, \frac{a+1}{a^2+3} + \frac{b+1}{b^2+3} \ge -\frac{2}{3},
which holds true as x+1x2+313\frac{x+1}{x^2+3} \ge -\frac{1}{3}, for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

Suppose now that aa, bb, cc, d0d \ne 0 and set x=1ax = \frac{1}{a}, y=1by = \frac{1}{b}, z=1cz = \frac{1}{c} and t=1dt = \frac{1}{d}. Once again, the problem is restated:
x+y+z+t=0    x2+x3x2+10.(2) x + y + z + t = 0 \implies \sum \frac{x^2 + x}{3x^2 + 1} \ge 0. \quad (2)
Let t=max{x,y,z,t}|t| = \max\{|x|, |y|, |z|, |t|\}. The inequality (2) is equivalent to
(6x2+6x3x2+1+1)4    (3x+1)23x2+14 \sum \left( \frac{6x^2 + 6x}{3x^2 + 1} + 1 \right) \ge 4 \iff \sum \frac{(3x+1)^2}{3x^2 + 1} \ge 4
    (3x+1)23x2+1+(3y+1)23y2+1+(3z+1)23z2+14(3t+1)23t2+1=3(1t)23t2+1. \iff \frac{(3x+1)^2}{3x^2+1} + \frac{(3y+1)^2}{3y^2+1} + \frac{(3z+1)^2}{3z^2+1} \ge 4 - \frac{(3t+1)^2}{3t^2+1} = \frac{3(1-t)^2}{3t^2+1}.
Notice that x2+y2+z23t2x^2+y^2+z^2 \le 3t^2 and apply Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to conclude:
(3x+1)23x2+1+(3y+1)23y2+1+(3z+1)23z2+13(x+y+z+1)2x2+y2+z2+13(1t)23t2+1. \frac{(3x+1)^2}{3x^2+1} + \frac{(3y+1)^2}{3y^2+1} + \frac{(3z+1)^2}{3z^2+1} \ge \frac{3(x+y+z+1)^2}{x^2+y^2+z^2+1} \ge \frac{3(1-t)^2}{3t^2+1}.

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