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Algebra Difficulty 7.6 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it IMO

Let the real numbers a,b,c,da, b, c, d satisfy the relations a+b+c+d=6a+b+c+d=6 and a2+b2+c2+d2=12a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}=12. Prove that
364(a3+b3+c3+d3)(a4+b4+c4+d4)48 36 \leq 4\left(a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}+d^{3}\right)-\left(a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}+d^{4}\right) \leq 48

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

Observe that
4(a3+b3+c3+d3)(a4+b4+c4+d4)=((a1)4+(b1)4+(c1)4+(d1)4)+6(a2+b2+c2+d2)4(a+b+c+d)+4=((a1)4+(b1)4+(c1)4+(d1)4)+52 \begin{gathered} 4\left(a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}+d^{3}\right)-\left(a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}+d^{4}\right)=-\left((a-1)^{4}+(b-1)^{4}+(c-1)^{4}+(d-1)^{4}\right) \\ +6\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right)-4(a+b+c+d)+4 \\ =-\left((a-1)^{4}+(b-1)^{4}+(c-1)^{4}+(d-1)^{4}\right)+52 \end{gathered}
Now, introducing x=a1,y=b1,z=c1,t=d1x=a-1, y=b-1, z=c-1, t=d-1, we need to prove the inequalities
16x4+y4+z4+t44 16 \geq x^{4}+y^{4}+z^{4}+t^{4} \geq 4
under the constraint
x2+y2+z2+t2=(a2+b2+c2+d2)2(a+b+c+d)+4=4 \begin{equation*} x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}+t^{2}=\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right)-2(a+b+c+d)+4=4 \tag{1} \end{equation*}
(we will not use the value of x+y+z+tx+y+z+t though it can be found).
Now the rightmost inequality in (1) follows from the power mean inequality:
x4+y4+z4+t4(x2+y2+z2+t2)24=4 x^{4}+y^{4}+z^{4}+t^{4} \geq \frac{\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}+t^{2}\right)^{2}}{4}=4
For the other one, expanding the brackets we note that
(x2+y2+z2+t2)2=(x4+y4+z4+t4)+q \left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}+t^{2}\right)^{2}=\left(x^{4}+y^{4}+z^{4}+t^{4}\right)+q
where qq is a nonnegative number, so
x4+y4+z4+t4(x2+y2+z2+t2)2=16 x^{4}+y^{4}+z^{4}+t^{4} \leq\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}+t^{2}\right)^{2}=16
and we are done.

Solution 2

First, we claim that 0a,b,c,d30 \leq a, b, c, d \leq 3. Actually, we have
a+b+c=6d,a2+b2+c2=12d2 a+b+c=6-d, \quad a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}=12-d^{2}
hence the power mean inequality
a2+b2+c2(a+b+c)23 a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2} \geq \frac{(a+b+c)^{2}}{3}
rewrites as
12d2(6d)232d(d3)0 12-d^{2} \geq \frac{(6-d)^{2}}{3} \quad \Longleftrightarrow \quad 2 d(d-3) \leq 0
which implies the desired inequalities for dd; since the conditions are symmetric, we also have the same estimate for the other variables.
Now, to prove the rightmost inequality, we use the obvious inequality x2(x2)20x^{2}(x-2)^{2} \geq 0 for each real xx; this inequality rewrites as 4x3x44x24 x^{3}-x^{4} \leq 4 x^{2}. It follows that
(4a3a4)+(4b3b4)+(4c3c4)+(4d3d4)4(a2+b2+c2+d2)=48 \left(4 a^{3}-a^{4}\right)+\left(4 b^{3}-b^{4}\right)+\left(4 c^{3}-c^{4}\right)+\left(4 d^{3}-d^{4}\right) \leq 4\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right)=48
as desired.

Now we prove the leftmost inequality in an analogous way. For each x[0,3]x \in[0,3], we have (x+1)(x1)2(x3)0(x+1)(x-1)^{2}(x-3) \leq 0 which is equivalent to 4x3x42x2+4x34 x^{3}-x^{4} \geq 2 x^{2}+4 x-3. This implies that (4a3a4)+(4b3b4)+(4c3c4)+(4d3d4)2(a2+b2+c2+d2)+4(a+b+c+d)12=36\left(4 a^{3}-a^{4}\right)+\left(4 b^{3}-b^{4}\right)+\left(4 c^{3}-c^{4}\right)+\left(4 d^{3}-d^{4}\right) \geq 2\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right)+4(a+b+c+d)-12=36, as desired.

Solution 3

First, expanding 48=4(a2+b2+c2+d2)48=4\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right) and applying the AM-GM inequality, we have
a4+b4+c4+d4+48=(a4+4a2)+(b4+4b2)+(c4+4c2)+(d4+4d2)2(a44a2+b44b2+c44c2+d44d2)=4(a3+b3+c3+d3)4(a3+b3+c3+d3) \begin{aligned} a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}+d^{4}+48 & =\left(a^{4}+4 a^{2}\right)+\left(b^{4}+4 b^{2}\right)+\left(c^{4}+4 c^{2}\right)+\left(d^{4}+4 d^{2}\right) \\ & \geq 2\left(\sqrt{a^{4} \cdot 4 a^{2}}+\sqrt{b^{4} \cdot 4 b^{2}}+\sqrt{c^{4} \cdot 4 c^{2}}+\sqrt{d^{4} \cdot 4 d^{2}}\right) \\ & =4\left(\left|a^{3}\right|+\left|b^{3}\right|+\left|c^{3}\right|+\left|d^{3}\right|\right) \geq 4\left(a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}+d^{3}\right) \end{aligned}
which establishes the rightmost inequality.
To prove the leftmost inequality, we first show that a,b,c,d[0,3]a, b, c, d \in[0,3] as in the previous solution. Moreover, we can assume that 0abcd0 \leq a \leq b \leq c \leq d. Then we have a+bb+c23(b+c+d)236=4a+b \leq b+c \leq \frac{2}{3}(b+c+d) \leq \frac{2}{3} \cdot 6=4.
Next, we show that 4bb24cc24 b-b^{2} \leq 4 c-c^{2}. Actually, this inequality rewrites as (cb)(b+c4)0(c-b)(b+c-4) \leq 0, which follows from the previous estimate. The inequality 4aa24bb24 a-a^{2} \leq 4 b-b^{2} can be proved analogously.
Further, the inequalities abca \leq b \leq c together with 4aa24bb24cc24 a-a^{2} \leq 4 b-b^{2} \leq 4 c-c^{2} allow us to apply the Chebyshev inequality obtaining
a2(4aa2)+b2(4bb2)+c2(4cc2)13(a2+b2+c2)(4(a+b+c)(a2+b2+c2))=(12d2)(4(6d)(12d2))3. \begin{aligned} a^{2}\left(4 a-a^{2}\right)+b^{2}\left(4 b-b^{2}\right)+c^{2}\left(4 c-c^{2}\right) & \geq \frac{1}{3}\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}\right)\left(4(a+b+c)-\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}\right)\right) \\ & =\frac{\left(12-d^{2}\right)\left(4(6-d)-\left(12-d^{2}\right)\right)}{3} . \end{aligned}
This implies that
(4a3a4)+(4b3b4)+(4c3c4)+(4d3d4)(12d2)(d24d+12)3+4d3d4=14448d+16d34d43=36+43(3d)(d1)(d23) \begin{align*} \left(4 a^{3}-a^{4}\right) & +\left(4 b^{3}-b^{4}\right)+\left(4 c^{3}-c^{4}\right)+\left(4 d^{3}-d^{4}\right) \geq \frac{\left(12-d^{2}\right)\left(d^{2}-4 d+12\right)}{3}+4 d^{3}-d^{4} \\ & =\frac{144-48 d+16 d^{3}-4 d^{4}}{3}=36+\frac{4}{3}(3-d)(d-1)\left(d^{2}-3\right) \tag{2} \end{align*}
Finally, we have d214(a2+b2+c2+d2)=3d^{2} \geq \frac{1}{4}\left(a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}+d^{2}\right)=3 (which implies d>1d>1 ); so, the expression 43(3d)(d1)(d23)\frac{4}{3}(3-d)(d-1)\left(d^{2}-3\right) in the right-hand part of (2) is nonnegative, and the desired inequality is proved.

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