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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let a,b,ca, b, c be positive numbers such that a2+b2+c2+abc=4a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+a b c=4. Prove that
a+bc+b+ca+c+aba+b+c+1a+1b+1c. \frac{a+b}{c}+\frac{b+c}{a}+\frac{c+a}{b} \geq a+b+c+\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c} .

Solution

Without loss of generality, assume that abca \geq b \geq c. From the condition, we get a1c>0a \geq 1 \geq c > 0. Write the inequality as
a+b+cc+a+b+cb+a+b+cca+b+c+1a+1b+1c+3 \frac{a+b+c}{c}+\frac{a+b+c}{b}+\frac{a+b+c}{c} \geq a+b+c+\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}+3
which is equivalent to
(a+b+c1)(1a+1b+1c1)4 (a+b+c-1)\left(\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}-1\right) \geq 4
Since (a1)(1c)0(a-1)(1-c) \geq 0, we obtain a+c1+aca+c \geq 1+a c and thus 1a+1c1+1ac\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{c} \geq 1+\frac{1}{a c}. Therefore,
(a+b+c1)(1a+1b+1c1)(b+ac)(1b+1ac)=2+bac+acb2+2=4 \begin{aligned} & (a+b+c-1)\left(\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}-1\right) \\ & \geq (b+a c)\left(\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{a c}\right)=2+\frac{b}{a c}+\frac{a c}{b} \geq 2+2=4 \end{aligned}
This completes the proof. Equality holds for a=b=c=1a=b=c=1.

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