Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 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
sinasin(ab)sin(ac)sin(b+c)+sinbsin(bc)sin(ba)sin(c+a)+sincsin(ca)sin(cb)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(αβ)sin(α+β)=12[cos2βcos2α]=sin2αsin2β. \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
sinasin(ab)sin(ac)sin(a+b)sin(a+c)=sinc(sin2asin2b)(sin2asin2c) \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(x2y2)(x2z2)+y(y2z2)(y2x2)+z(z2x2)(z2y2)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=sinax = \sin a, y=sinby = \sin b, and z=sincz = \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 xyz>0x \ge y \ge z > 0. It suffices to prove that
x(y2x2)(z2x2)+z(z2x2)(z2y2)y(z2y2)(y2x2), 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(y2x2)(z2x2)0 x(y^2 - x^2)(z^2 - x^2) \ge 0
and
z(z2x2)(z2y2)z(y2x2)(z2y2)y(z2y2)(y2x2). 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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