Problem:
Let , , , be real numbers such that
Prove that .
Solution
Solution:
Let , , and . Then , and we would like to prove that . We have
In a similar manner, we get
and
Taking times (1) minus times (2) eliminates the term; we get
Letting , , , we now have , and analogously and . We see that if any of , , and are zero, then they all are. So we have two cases:
Case 1. , that is, , , and . Clearly if one of , , and is , then they all are and we are done. Otherwise, dividing the first equation by the second leads to and . Similarly . But since , the only common value that , , and can have is and we are done.
Case 2. , , and are all nonzero. Multiplying the three equations , , and together, we derive that so . Plugging into the original equations gives
so as desired.
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