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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let aa, bb, cc be positive real numbers such that abc=1abc = 1. Show that
1a3+bc+1b3+ca+1c3+ab(ab+bc+ca)26 \frac{1}{a^{3}+b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c a}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a b} \leq \frac{(a b+b c+c a)^{2}}{6}

Solution

Solution:
By the AM-GM inequality we have a3+bc2a3bc=2a2(abc)=2aa^{3}+b c \geq 2 \sqrt{a^{3} b c} = 2 \sqrt{a^{2}(a b c)} = 2 a and
1a3+bc12a \frac{1}{a^{3}+b c} \leq \frac{1}{2 a}
Similarly, 1b3+ca12b\frac{1}{b^{3}+c a} \leq \frac{1}{2 b}, 1c3+ab12c\frac{1}{c^{3}+a b} \leq \frac{1}{2 c}, and then
1a3+bc+1b3+ca+1c3+ab12a+12b+12c=12ab+bc+caabc(ab+bc+ca)26 \frac{1}{a^{3}+b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c a}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a b} \leq \frac{1}{2 a}+\frac{1}{2 b}+\frac{1}{2 c} = \frac{1}{2} \frac{a b+b c+c a}{a b c} \leq \frac{(a b+b c+c a)^{2}}{6}
Therefore, it is enough to prove (ab+bc+ca)26(ab+bc+ca)26\frac{(a b+b c+c a)^{2}}{6} \leq \frac{(a b+b c+c a)^{2}}{6}. This inequality is trivially shown to be equivalent to 3ab+bc+ca3 \leq a b+b c+c a, which is true because of the AM-GM inequality: 3=(abc)23ab+bc+ca3 = \sqrt[3]{(a b c)^{2}} \leq a b+b c+c a.

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