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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Austria

Let xx, yy be positive real numbers such that
x+y+xy=3. x + y + xy = 3.
Prove that
x+y2. x + y \ge 2.
When does equality hold?

Solution

We have
x+y+xy=3xy+x+y+1=4(x+1)(y+1)=4. \begin{aligned} x + y + xy &= 3 \\ \Leftrightarrow xy + x + y + 1 &= 4 \\ \Leftrightarrow (x + 1)(y + 1) &= 4. \end{aligned}
Therefore we can rewrite the inequality in the following way:
x+y2x+1+y+14x+1+y+12(x+1)(y+1). \begin{aligned} &x+y \ge 2 \\ \Leftrightarrow &x+1+y+1 \ge 4 \\ \Leftrightarrow &x+1+y+1 \ge 2\sqrt{(x+1)(y+1)}. \end{aligned}
The last line is an immediate consequence of the AM-GM inequality.
In the last step, equality holds exactly for x+1=y+1x+1=y+1, i.e. x=yx=y. Taking into account the equality x+y=2x+y=2 we obtain x=y=1x=y=1 which is indeed an admissible case of equality and thus the only one.

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