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Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

Given positive real numbers aa, bb, cc, with ab+bc+caa+b+cab + bc + ca \ge a + b + c, prove that

(a+b+c)(ab+bc+ca)+3abc4(ab+bc+ca).(a+b+c)(ab+bc+ca) + 3abc \ge 4(ab+bc+ca).

(I. Gorodnin)

Solution

By the Cauchy-Buniakowski inequality,
(a2+b2+c2)((a(b+c))2+(b(c+a))2+(c(a+b))2)(a(b+c)+b(c+a)+c(a+b))2=4(ab+bc+ca)2. (\sqrt{a}^2 + \sqrt{b}^2 + \sqrt{c}^2)((\sqrt{a}(b+c))^2 + (\sqrt{b}(c+a))^2 + (\sqrt{c}(a+b))^2) \geq (a(b+c) + b(c+a) + c(a+b))^2 = 4(ab + bc + ca)^2.
Hence,
(a+b+c)(a(b+c)2+b(c+a)2+c(a+b)2)4(ab+bc+ca)24(ab+bc+ca)(a+b+c)(a(b+c)2+b(c+a)2+c(a+b)2)4(ab+bc+ca). (a+b+c)(a(b+c)^2+b(c+a)^2+c(a+b)^2) \geq 4(ab+bc+ca)^2 \geq 4(ab+bc+ca)(a+b+c) \Leftrightarrow (a(b+c)^2+b(c+a)^2+c(a+b)^2) \geq 4(ab+bc+ca).
It remains to note that
a(b+c)2+b(c+a)2+c(a+b)2=(a+b+c)(ab+bc+ca)+3abc, a(b+c)^2 + b(c+a)^2 + c(a+b)^2 = (a+b+c)(ab+bc+ca) + 3abc,
which gives the required inequality.

Alternative solution:

Let σ1=a+b+c\sigma_1 = a+b+c, σ2=ab+bc+ca\sigma_2 = ab+bc+ca, σ3=abc\sigma_3 = abc. By the problem condition, σ2σ1\sigma_2 \ge \sigma_1. Since σ123σ2\sigma_1^2 \ge 3\sigma_2 (well-known inequality), we have σ123σ23σ1\sigma_1^2 \ge 3\sigma_2 \ge 3\sigma_1, i.e. σ13\sigma_1 \ge 3.
Now we use Schur's inequality σ13+9σ34σ1σ2\sigma_1^3 + 9\sigma_3 \ge 4\sigma_1\sigma_2. We have σ12σ2σ13\sigma_1^2\sigma_2 \ge \sigma_1^3 and 3σ1σ39σ33\sigma_1\sigma_3 \ge 9\sigma_3, hence σ12σ2+3σ1σ34σ1σ2\sigma_1^2\sigma_2 + 3\sigma_1\sigma_3 \ge 4\sigma_1\sigma_2 and then σ1σ2+3σ34σ2\sigma_1\sigma_2 + 3\sigma_3 \ge 4\sigma_2, as required.

Alternative solution:

Since ab+bc+caa+b+cab+bc+ca \ge a+b+c, it suffices to prove the inequality (a+b+c)2(ab+bc+ca)+3abc(a+b+c)4(ab+bc+ca)2(a+b+c)^2(ab+bc+ca) + 3abc(a+b+c) \ge 4(ab+bc+ca)^2. The last inequality can be easily transformed to
a3b+b3a+a3c+c3a+b3c+c3b2(a2b2+b2c2+c2a2), a^3b + b^3a + a^3c + c^3a + b^3c + c^3b \ge 2(a^2b^2 + b^2c^2 + c^2a^2),
which is true by Muirhead's theorem.

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