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USA IMO, 2003

Algebra Difficulty 7.9 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it United States

Let a,b,ca, b, c be real numbers in the interval (0,π2)(0, \frac{\pi}{2}). Prove that
sin⁡asin⁡(a−b)sin⁡(a−c)sin⁡(b+c)+sin⁡bsin⁡(b−c)sin⁡(b−a)sin⁡(c+a)+sin⁡csin⁡(c−a)sin⁡(c−b)sin⁡(a+b)≥0. \frac{\sin a \sin(a-b) \sin(a-c)}{\sin(b+c)} + \frac{\sin b \sin(b-c) \sin(b-a)}{\sin(c+a)} + \frac{\sin c \sin(c-a) \sin(c-b)}{\sin(a+b)} \ge 0.

Solution

By the Product-to-sum formulas and the Double-angle formulas, we have
sin⁡(α−β)sin⁡(α+β)=12[cos⁡2β−cos⁡2α]=sin⁡2α−sin⁡2β. \begin{aligned} \sin(\alpha - \beta) \sin(\alpha + \beta) &= \frac{1}{2}[\cos 2\beta - \cos 2\alpha] \\ &= \sin^2 \alpha - \sin^2 \beta. \end{aligned}
Hence, we obtain
sin⁡asin⁡(a−b)sin⁡(a−c)sin⁡(a+b)sin⁡(a+c)=sin⁡c(sin⁡2a−sin⁡2b)(sin⁡2a−sin⁡2c) \begin{aligned} & \sin a \sin(a-b) \sin(a-c) \sin(a+b) \sin(a+c) \\ &= \sin c(\sin^2 a - \sin^2 b)(\sin^2 a - \sin^2 c) \end{aligned}
and its analogous forms. Therefore, it suffices to prove that
x(x2−y2)(x2−z2)+y(y2−z2)(y2−x2)+z(z2−x2)(z2−y2)≥0, x(x^2 - y^2)(x^2 - z^2) + y(y^2 - z^2)(y^2 - x^2) + z(z^2 - x^2)(z^2 - y^2) \ge 0,
where x=sin⁡ax = \sin a, y=sin⁡by = \sin b, and z=sin⁡cz = \sin c (hence x,y,z>0x, y, z > 0). Since the last inequality is symmetric with respect to x,y,zx, y, z, we may assume that x≥y≥z>0x \ge y \ge z > 0. It suffices to prove that
x(y2−x2)(z2−x2)+z(z2−x2)(z2−y2)≥y(z2−y2)(y2−x2), x(y^2 - x^2)(z^2 - x^2) + z(z^2 - x^2)(z^2 - y^2) \ge y(z^2 - y^2)(y^2 - x^2),
which is evident as
x(y2−x2)(z2−x2)≥0 x(y^2 - x^2)(z^2 - x^2) \ge 0
and
z(z2−x2)(z2−y2)≥z(y2−x2)(z2−y2)≥y(z2−y2)(y2−x2). z(z^2 - x^2)(z^2 - y^2) \geq z(y^2 - x^2)(z^2 - y^2) \geq y(z^2 - y^2)(y^2 - x^2).

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