Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 7.9 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Let a,b,ca, b, c be real numbers such that 0abc0 \le a \le b \le c. Prove that if
a+b+c=ab+bc+ca>0, a + b + c = ab + bc + ca > 0,
then bc(a+1)2\sqrt{bc}(a + 1) \ge 2. When does the equality hold?

Solution

Let a+b+c=ab+bc+ca=ka + b + c = ab + bc + ca = k. Since (a+b+c)23(ab+bc+ca)(a + b + c)^2 \ge 3(ab + bc + ca), we get that k23kk^2 \ge 3k. Since k>0k > 0, we obtain that k3k \ge 3.
We have bccaabbc \ge ca \ge ab, so from the above relation we deduce that bc1bc \ge 1.
By AM-GM, b+c2bcb + c \ge 2\sqrt{bc} and consequently b+c2b + c \ge 2. The equality holds iff b=cb = c.
The constraint gives us
a=b+cbcb+c1=1bc1b+c11bc12bc1=bc(2bc)2bc1. a = \frac{b + c - bc}{b + c - 1} = 1 - \frac{bc - 1}{b + c - 1} \ge 1 - \frac{bc - 1}{2\sqrt{bc} - 1} = \frac{\sqrt{bc}(2 - \sqrt{bc})}{2\sqrt{bc} - 1}.
For bc=2\sqrt{bc} = 2 condition a0a \ge 0 gives bc(a+1)2\sqrt{bc}(a + 1) \ge 2 with equality iff a=0a = 0 and b=c=2b = c = 2.
For bc<2\sqrt{bc} < 2, taking into account the estimation for aa, we get
abcbc(2bc)2bc1=bc2bc1(2bc). a\sqrt{bc} \ge \frac{bc(2 - \sqrt{bc})}{2\sqrt{bc} - 1} = \frac{bc}{2\sqrt{bc} - 1}(2 - \sqrt{bc}).
Since bc2bc11\frac{bc}{2\sqrt{bc} - 1} \ge 1, with equality for bc=1bc = 1, we get bc(a+1)2\sqrt{bc}(a + 1) \ge 2 with equality iff a=b=c=1a = b = c = 1.
For bc>2\sqrt{bc} > 2 we have bc(a+1)>2(a+1)2\sqrt{bc}(a + 1) > 2(a + 1) \ge 2.
The proof is complete.
The equality holds iff a=b=c=1a = b = c = 1 or a=0a = 0 and b=c=2b = c = 2. \square

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