Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /13 of 57

, 2008

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Show that
(x+y+z)(1x+1y+1z)4(xxy+1+yyz+1+zzx+1)2 (x+y+z)\left(\frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}+\frac{1}{z}\right) \geq 4\left(\frac{x}{x y+1}+\frac{y}{y z+1}+\frac{z}{z x+1}\right)^{2}
for all real positive numbers xx, yy and zz.

Solution

Solution:
The idea is to split the inequality in two, showing that
(xy+yz+zx)2 \left(\sqrt{\frac{x}{y}}+\sqrt{\frac{y}{z}}+\sqrt{\frac{z}{x}}\right)^{2}
can be intercalated between the left-hand side and the right-hand side. Indeed, using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality one has
(x+y+z)(1x+1y+1z)(xy+yz+zx)2 (x+y+z)\left(\frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}+\frac{1}{z}\right) \geq \left(\sqrt{\frac{x}{y}}+\sqrt{\frac{y}{z}}+\sqrt{\frac{z}{x}}\right)^{2}
On the other hand, as
xy2xxy+1(xy1)20 \sqrt{\frac{x}{y}} \geq \frac{2x}{x y+1} \Leftrightarrow (\sqrt{x y}-1)^{2} \geq 0
by summation one has
xy+yz+zx2xxy+1+2yyz+1+2zzx+1 \sqrt{\frac{x}{y}}+\sqrt{\frac{y}{z}}+\sqrt{\frac{z}{x}} \geq \frac{2x}{x y+1}+\frac{2y}{y z+1}+\frac{2z}{z x+1}
The rest is obvious.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.