Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Prove that for all positive real numbers aa, bb and cc the following inequality holds
ab+c+bc+a+ca+b+ab+bc+caa2+b2+c252. \frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{c+a} + \frac{c}{a+b} + \sqrt{\frac{ab+bc+ca}{a^2+b^2+c^2}} \ge \frac{5}{2}.

Solution

Because of simplicity let A=a2+b2+c2A = a^2 + b^2 + c^2 and B=ab+bc+caB = ab + bc + ca. The CSB inequality gives us
(ab+c+bc+a+ca+b)(a(b+c)+b(c+a)+c(a+b))(a+b+c)2, \left( \frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{c+a} + \frac{c}{a+b} \right) (a(b+c) + b(c+a) + c(a+b)) \ge (a+b+c)^2,
i.e.
ab+c+bc+a+ca+bA+2B2B=A2B+1. \frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{c+a} + \frac{c}{a+b} \ge \frac{A+2B}{2B} = \frac{A}{2B} + 1.
Therefore,
ab+c+bc+a+ca+b+ab+bc+caa2+b2+c2A2B+1+BA. \frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{c+a} + \frac{c}{a+b} + \sqrt{\frac{ab+bc+ca}{a^2+b^2+c^2}} \ge \frac{A}{2B} + 1 + \sqrt{\frac{B}{A}}.
Finally, the inequality of arithmetic and geometric means implies
A2B+12BA+12BA3AB8BA3=32, \frac{A}{2B} + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{B}{A}} + \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\frac{B}{A}} \ge 3\sqrt[3]{\frac{AB}{8BA}} = \frac{3}{2},
and the given inequality is proved.

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