Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Let aa and bb be positive real numbers such that 3a2+2b2=3a+2b3 a^{2}+2 b^{2}=3 a+2 b. Find the minimum value of
A=ab(3a+2)+ba(2b+3) A=\sqrt{\frac{a}{b(3 a+2)}}+\sqrt{\frac{b}{a(2 b+3)}}

Solution

Solution:

By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we have that
5(3a2+2b2)=5(a2+a2+a2+b2+b2)(3a+2b)2 5\left(3 a^{2}+2 b^{2}\right)=5\left(a^{2}+a^{2}+a^{2}+b^{2}+b^{2}\right) \geq (3 a+2 b)^{2}
(or use that the last inequality is equivalent to (ab)20(a-b)^{2} \geq 0).
So, with the help of the given condition we get that 3a+2b53 a+2 b \leq 5. Now, by the AM-GM inequality we have that
A2ab(3a+2)ba(2b+3)=2(3a+2)(2b+3)4 A \geq 2 \sqrt{\sqrt{\frac{a}{b(3 a+2)}} \cdot \sqrt{\frac{b}{a(2 b+3)}}} = \frac{2}{\sqrt[4]{(3 a+2)(2 b+3)}}
Finally, using again the AM-GM inequality, we get that
(3a+2)(2b+3)(3a+2b+52)225 (3 a+2)(2 b+3) \leq \left(\frac{3 a+2 b+5}{2}\right)^{2} \leq 25
so A2/5A \geq 2 / \sqrt{5} and the equality holds if and only if a=b=1a=b=1.

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