Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /14 of 57

, 2008

Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
If the real numbers a,b,c,da, b, c, d are such that 0<a,b,c,d<10 < a, b, c, d < 1, show that
1+ab+bc+cd+da+ac+bd>a+b+c+d 1 + a b + b c + c d + d a + a c + b d > a + b + c + d

Solution

Solution:
If 1a+b+c1 \geq a + b + c then we write the given inequality equivalently as
1(a+b+c)+d[(a+b+c)1]+ab+bc+ca>0[1(a+b+c)](1d)+ab+bc+ca>0 \begin{gathered} 1 - (a + b + c) + d[(a + b + c) - 1] + a b + b c + c a > 0 \\ \Leftrightarrow [1 - (a + b + c)](1 - d) + a b + b c + c a > 0 \end{gathered}
which is of course true.

If instead a+b+c>1a + b + c > 1, then d(a+b+c)>dd(a + b + c) > d i.e.
da+db+dc>d d a + d b + d c > d
We are going to prove that also
1+ab+bc+ca>a+b+c 1 + a b + b c + c a > a + b + c
thus adding (1) and (2) together we'll get the desired result in this case too.

For the truth of (2):
If 1a+b1 \geq a + b, then we rewrite (2) equivalently as
1(a+b)+c[(a+b)1]+ab>0[1(a+b)](1c)+ab>0 \begin{gathered} 1 - (a + b) + c[(a + b) - 1] + a b > 0 \\ \quad \Leftrightarrow [1 - (a + b)](1 - c) + a b > 0 \end{gathered}
which is of course true.

If instead a+b>1a + b > 1, then c(a+b)>cc(a + b) > c, i.e.
ca+cb>c c a + c b > c
But it is also true that
1+ab>a+b 1 + a b > a + b
because this is equivalent to (1a)+b(a1)>0(1 - a) + b(a - 1) > 0, i.e. to (1a)(1b)>0(1 - a)(1 - b) > 0 which holds. Adding (3) and (4) together we get the truth of (2) in this case too and we are done.

You can instead consider the following generalization:

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