Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /5 of 10

, 2018

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let aa, bb, cc be real numbers such that a+b+c+ab+bc+ca+abc7a+b+c+ab+bc+ca+abc \geq 7. Prove that
a2+b2+2+b2+c2+2+c2+a2+26 \sqrt{a^{2}+b^{2}+2}+\sqrt{b^{2}+c^{2}+2}+\sqrt{c^{2}+a^{2}+2} \geq 6

Solution

First, by AM-GM we can show that
x2+y2+1xy+x+y for all x,y,zR. x^{2}+y^{2}+1 \geq xy+x+y \text{ for all } x, y, z \in \mathbb{R}.
Hence, a2+b2+2ab+a+b+1=(a+1)(b+1)\sqrt{a^{2}+b^{2}+2} \geq \sqrt{|ab|+|a|+|b|+1} = \sqrt{(|a|+1)(|b|+1)}. Construct similar inequalities and take the sum, we get
a2+b2+2+b2+c2+2+c2+a2+2(a+1)(b+1)+(b+1)(c+1)+(c+1)(a+1). \begin{aligned} & \sqrt{a^{2}+b^{2}+2}+\sqrt{b^{2}+c^{2}+2}+\sqrt{c^{2}+a^{2}+2} \\ & \geq \sqrt{(|a|+1)(|b|+1)}+\sqrt{(|b|+1)(|c|+1)}+\sqrt{(|c|+1)(|a|+1)}. \end{aligned}
By AM-GM for three numbers, we get
(a+1)(b+1)+(b+1)(c+1)+(c+1)(a+1)3(a+1)(b+1)(c+1)3=3abc+ab+bc+ca+a+b+c+133abc+ab+bc+ca+a+b+c+1337+13=6 \begin{aligned} & \sqrt{(|a|+1)(|b|+1)}+\sqrt{(|b|+1)(|c|+1)}+\sqrt{(|c|+1)(|a|+1)} \\ & \geq 3 \sqrt[3]{(|a|+1)(|b|+1)(|c|+1)} \\ & = 3 \sqrt[3]{|abc|+|ab|+|bc|+|ca|+|a|+|b|+|c|+1} \\ & \geq 3 \sqrt[3]{abc+ab+bc+ca+a+b+c+1} \geq 3 \sqrt[3]{7+1} = 6 \end{aligned}
By combining these two inequalities, we finish the proof. The equality occurs when a=b=c=1a=b=c=1.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.