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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Let xx, yy and zz be positive numbers. Prove that
xy4+z4+yz4+x4+zx4+y4(x+y+z)74227 \frac{x}{\sqrt{\sqrt[4]{y}+\sqrt[4]{z}}}+\frac{y}{\sqrt{\sqrt[4]{z}+\sqrt[4]{x}}}+\frac{z}{\sqrt{\sqrt[4]{x}+\sqrt[4]{y}}} \geq \frac{\sqrt[4]{(\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}+\sqrt{z})^{7}}}{\sqrt{2 \sqrt{27}}}

Solution

Solution:
Replacing x=a2x = a^{2}, y=b2y = b^{2}, z=c2z = c^{2}, where aa, bb, cc are positive numbers, our inequality is equivalent to
a2b+c+b2c+a+c2a+b(a+b+c)74227 \frac{a^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}}}+\frac{b^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a}}}+\frac{c^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}} \geq \frac{\sqrt[4]{(a+b+c)^{7}}}{\sqrt{2 \sqrt{27}}}
Using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the left hand side we get
a2b+c+b2c+a+c2a+b(a+b+c)2b+c+c+a+a+b \frac{a^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}}}+\frac{b^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a}}}+\frac{c^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}} \geq \frac{(a+b+c)^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}}+\sqrt{\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a}}+\sqrt{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}}
Using Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for three positive numbers α\alpha, β\beta, γ\gamma, we have
α+β+γ3(α+β+γ) \sqrt{\alpha}+\sqrt{\beta}+\sqrt{\gamma} \leq \sqrt{3(\alpha+\beta+\gamma)}
Using this result twice, we have
b+c+c+a+a+b6(a+b+c)63(a+b+c) \begin{aligned} \sqrt{\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}}+\sqrt{\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a}}+\sqrt{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}} & \leq \sqrt{6(\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c})} \\ & \leq \sqrt{6 \sqrt{3(a+b+c)}} \end{aligned}
Combining (1) and (2) we get the desired result.

Alternative solution by PSC. We will use Hölder's inequality in the form
(a11+a12+a13)(a21+a22+a23)(a31+a32+a33)(a41+a42+a43)((a11a21a31a41)1/4+(a12a22a32a42)1/4+(a13a23a33a43)1/4)4 \begin{aligned} & \left(a_{11}+a_{12}+a_{13}\right)\left(a_{21}+a_{22}+a_{23}\right)\left(a_{31}+a_{32}+a_{33}\right)\left(a_{41}+a_{42}+a_{43}\right) \\ & \quad \geq\left(\left(a_{11} a_{21} a_{31} a_{41}\right)^{1 / 4}+\left(a_{12} a_{22} a_{32} a_{42}\right)^{1 / 4}+\left(a_{13} a_{23} a_{33} a_{43}\right)^{1 / 4}\right)^{4} \end{aligned}
where aija_{ij} are positive numbers. Using this appropriately we get
(1+1+1)((b+c)+(c+a)+(a+b))(a2b+c+b2c+a+c2a+b)2(a+b+c)4 \begin{aligned} &(1+1+1)((\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c})+(\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a})+(\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}))\left(\frac{a^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}}}+\frac{b^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a}}}+\frac{c^{2}}{\sqrt{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}}\right)^{2} \\ & \geq(a+b+c)^{4} \end{aligned}
By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we have
(b+c)+(c+a)+(a+b)=2(a+b+c)23(a+b+c) (\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c})+(\sqrt{c}+\sqrt{a})+(\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b})=2(\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{c}) \leq 2 \sqrt{3(a+b+c)}
Combining these two inequalities we get the desired result.

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