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IRL ABooklet

Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National Olympiad Prove it Ireland

For positive real numbers aa, bb, cc that satisfy a+b+c=3a + b + c = 3, prove the following:

a.
ab+bc+ca≤3 a\sqrt{b} + b\sqrt{c} + c\sqrt{a} \le 3

b.
a3b+b3c+c3a+ab3+bc3+ca3≤6 \sqrt{a^3 b} + \sqrt{b^3 c} + \sqrt{c^3 a} + \sqrt{ab^3} + \sqrt{bc^3} + \sqrt{ca^3} \le 6

Solution

a. First note that
2(a+b+c)2−6(ab+bc+ca)=(a−b)2+(b−c)2+(c−a)2≥0 2(a + b + c)^2 - 6(ab + bc + ca) = (a - b)^2 + (b - c)^2 + (c - a)^2 \geq 0
hence ab+bc+ca≤13(a+b+c)2=3ab + bc + ca \le \frac{1}{3}(a + b + c)^2 = 3. Now use Cauchy-Schwarz with vectors (a,b,c)(\sqrt{a}, \sqrt{b}, \sqrt{c}) and (ab,bc,ca)(\sqrt{ab}, \sqrt{bc}, \sqrt{ca}) to get
ab+bc+ca≤a+b+c⋅ab+bc+ca≤3⋅3=3. a\sqrt{b} + b\sqrt{c} + c\sqrt{a} \le \sqrt{a + b + c} \cdot \sqrt{ab + bc + ca} \le \sqrt{3} \cdot \sqrt{3} = 3.

b. Homogenising the inequality we want to prove that
a3b+b3c+c3a+ab3+bc3+ca3≤23(a+b+c)2. \sqrt{a^3 b} + \sqrt{b^3 c} + \sqrt{c^3 a} + \sqrt{ab^3} + \sqrt{bc^3} + \sqrt{ca^3} \le \frac{2}{3}(a + b + c)^2.
We introduce T(a,b):=a2+b2+4ab−3a3b−3ab3T(a, b) := a^2 + b^2 + 4ab - 3\sqrt{a^3 b} - 3\sqrt{ab^3}, multiply the above by 3 and rearrange to obtain T(a,b)+T(b,c)+T(c,a)≥0T(a, b) + T(b, c) + T(c, a) \ge 0. To show T(a,b)≥0T(a, b) \ge 0, we define x=ax = \sqrt{a} and y=by = \sqrt{b}. This gives
T(a,b)=x4+y4+4x2y2−3x3y−3xy3=(x−y)2(x2−xy+y2)≥0. T(a, b) = x^4 + y^4 + 4x^2 y^2 - 3x^3 y - 3x y^3 = (x - y)^2(x^2 - x y + y^2) \ge 0.
Similarly T(b,c)≥0T(b, c) \ge 0 and T(c,a)≥0T(c, a) \ge 0. This proves the result.

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