Let x, y be positive real numbers such that x+y+xy=3. Prove that x+y≥2. When does equality hold?
Solution
We have x+y+xy⇔xy+x+y+1⇔(x+1)(y+1)=3=4=4. Therefore we can rewrite the inequality in the following way: ⇔⇔x+y≥2x+1+y+1≥4x+1+y+1≥2(x+1)(y+1). The last line is an immediate consequence of the AM-GM inequality. In the last step, equality holds exactly for x+1=y+1, i.e. x=y. Taking into account the equality x+y=2 we obtain x=y=1 which is indeed an admissible case of equality and thus the only one.
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Source: MathNet,
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