Problem: Find all real numbers x such that −1<x≤2 and 2−x+2+2x=x2+1x4+1+x+1x+3.
Solution
Solution: Notice that we are solving for x in the domain −1<x≤2. Using Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality on the left hand side, one has 2−x+2+2x=21⋅(4−2x)+2+2x≤(21+1)(2+2x+4−2x)=3. Using the fact that x4+1≥2x2 (because (x2−1)2≥0) and x2+1≥2x (because (x−1)2≥0) we can get: 2(x4+1)≥(x2+1)2≥(x2+1)2(x+1)2. If we substitute this into the right-hand side we get x2+1x4+1+x+1x+3≥2x+1+x+12+1. Finally applying the AM-GM again for 2 positive numbers 2x+1 and x+12 we obtain 2x+1+x+12≥2. Thus the right-hand side is ≥3.
Therefore, we can see that equality must occur in our AM-GM inequality and hence, 2x+1=x+12⇒x=1.
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