Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:
If aa and bb are positive real numbers, what is the minimum value of the expression
a+b(1a+1b)? \sqrt{a+b}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{b}}\right) ?

Solution

Solution:
222 \sqrt{2}

By the AM-GM Inequality, we have
a+b2ab=2(ab)1/4 \sqrt{a+b} \geq \sqrt{2 \sqrt{a b}} = \sqrt{2} (a b)^{1 / 4}
and
1a+1b21a1b=2(ab)1/4 \frac{1}{\sqrt{a}} + \frac{1}{\sqrt{b}} \geq 2 \sqrt{\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}} \cdot \frac{1}{\sqrt{b}}} = \frac{2}{(a b)^{1 / 4}}
where both inequalities become equalities if and only if a=ba = b. Multiplying the two inequalities, we get
a+b(1a+1b)22 \sqrt{a+b}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{a}}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{b}}\right) \geq 2 \sqrt{2}

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