AlgebraDifficulty 5.7AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Positive real numbers x, y, z satisfy xyz+xy+yz+zx=x+y+z+1. Prove that 31(1+x1+x2+1+y1+y2+1+z1+z2)≤(3x+y+z)5/8.
Solution
By the given condition, we have 1=x+y+z+1xyz+xy+yz+xz. We may therefore compute 1+x2=x+y+z+1xyz+xy+yz+xz+x2=x+y+z+1xyz+xy+yz+xz+x3+x2y+x2z+x2=x+y+z+1(xyz+yz)+(x2z+xz)+(x2y+xy)+(x3+x2)=x+y+z+1(1+x)(yz+xz+xy+x2)=x+y+z+1(1+x)(x+y)(x+z). By the AM-GM inequality, this implies that 311+x1+x2=31x+y+z+1(x+y)(x+z)≤6x+y+z+1x+y+x+z. Adding the last inequality to its cyclic analogues yields 31(1+x1+x2+1+y1+y2+1+z1+z2)≤3x+y+z+12(x+y+z). It thus suffices to show that 3x+y+z+12(x+y+z)≤(3x+y+z)5/8. Writing s=x+y+z, this is equivalent to (3s)3/4≤41(s+1)=41(3s+3s+3s+1), which holds by the AM-GM inequality, completing the proof.
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