Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /25 of 133

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let xx, yy be positive real numbers. Find the minimum of
x2+xy+y22+26x+y+34x3. x^{2} + x y + \frac{y^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{6}}{x + y} + \frac{3^{4}}{x^{3}}.

Solution

x2+xy+y22+26x+y+34x3=x22+(x+y)22+26x+y+34x3. x^{2} + x y + \frac{y^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{6}}{x + y} + \frac{3^{4}}{x^{3}} = \frac{x^{2}}{2} + \frac{(x + y)^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{6}}{x + y} + \frac{3^{4}}{x^{3}}.
By applying AM-GM inequality we have
x22+34x3=x26+x26+x26+342x3+342x35(x26)3(342x3)25=152 \frac{x^{2}}{2} + \frac{3^{4}}{x^{3}} = \frac{x^{2}}{6} + \frac{x^{2}}{6} + \frac{x^{2}}{6} + \frac{3^{4}}{2 x^{3}} + \frac{3^{4}}{2 x^{3}} \geq 5 \sqrt[5]{\left(\frac{x^{2}}{6}\right)^{3} \left(\frac{3^{4}}{2 x^{3}}\right)^{2}} = \frac{15}{2}
and the equality holds when x26=342x3\frac{x^{2}}{6} = \frac{3^{4}}{2 x^{3}}. This is when x=3x = 3.
By applying AM-GM inequality we have
(x+y)22+26x+y=(x+y)22+25x+y+25x+y3(x+y)22(25x+y)23=24 \frac{(x + y)^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{6}}{x + y} = \frac{(x + y)^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{5}}{x + y} + \frac{2^{5}}{x + y} \geq 3 \sqrt[3]{\frac{(x + y)^{2}}{2} \left(\frac{2^{5}}{x + y}\right)^{2}} = 24
and the equality holds when (x+y)22=25x+y\frac{(x + y)^{2}}{2} = \frac{2^{5}}{x + y}. This is when x+y=4x + y = 4.
Therefore, the minimum of
x2+xy+y22+26x+y+34x3 x^{2} + x y + \frac{y^{2}}{2} + \frac{2^{6}}{x + y} + \frac{3^{4}}{x^{3}}
is
152+24=632 \frac{15}{2} + 24 = \frac{63}{2}
and it is reached when x=3x = 3 and y=1y = 1.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.