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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it North Macedonia

Let xx, yy, zz be positive integers such that xyzxx \neq y \neq z \neq x. Prove that (x+y+z)(xy+yz+zx2)9xyz(x+y+z)(xy+yz+zx-2) \geq 9xyz.
When does the equality hold?

Solution

Since xx, yy, zz are distinct positive integers, the required inequality is symmetric and WLOG we can suppose that xy+1z+2x \geq y+1 \geq z+2. We consider 2 possible cases:

Case 1. yz+2y \geq z+2. Since xy+1z+3x \geq y+1 \geq z+3 it follows that
(xy)21,(yz)24,(xz)29 (x-y)^2 \geq 1, \quad (y-z)^2 \geq 4, \quad (x-z)^2 \geq 9
which are equivalent to
x2+y22xy+1,y2+z22yz+4,x2+z22xz+9 x^2+y^2 \geq 2xy+1, \quad y^2+z^2 \geq 2yz+4, \quad x^2+z^2 \geq 2xz+9
or otherwise
x22y22xyz+z,xy2+xz22xyz+4x,yx2+yz22xyz+9y \geq x^2 - 2y^2 \geq 2xyz + z, \quad xy^2 + xz^2 \geq 2xyz + 4x, \quad yx^2 + yz^2 \geq 2xyz + 9y
Adding up the last three inequalities we have
xy(x+y)+yz(y+z)+zx(z+x)6xyz+4x+9y+z xy(x+y)+yz(y+z)+zx(z+x) \geq 6xyz+4x+9y+z
which implies that (x+y+z)(xy+jz+zx2)9xyz+2x+7yz(x+y+z)(xy+jz+zx-2) \geq 9xyz+2x+7y-z.
Since xz+3x \geq z+3 it follows that 2x+7yz02x+7y-z \geq 0 and our inequality follows.

Case 2. y=z+1y=z+1. Since xy+1z+2x \geq y+1 \geq z+2 it follows that xz+2x \geq z+2, and replacing y=z+1y=z+1 in the required inequality we have to prove
(x+z+1+z)(x(z+1)+(z+1)z+xz2)9x(z+1)z (x+z+1+z)(x(z+1)+(z+1)z+xz-2) \geq 9x(z+1)z
which is equivalent to
(x+2z+1)(z2+2zx+z+x2)9x(z+1)z0 (x+2z+1)(z^2+2zx+z+x-2)-9x(z+1)z \geq 0
Doing easy algebraic manipulations, this is equivalent to prove
(xz2)(xz+1)(2z+1)0 (x-z-2)(x-z+1)(2z+1) \geq 0
which is satisfied since xz+2x \geq z+2.
The equality is achieved only in the Case 2 for x=z+2x=z+2, so we have equality when (x,y,z)=(k+2,k+1,k)(x,y,z)=(k+2,k+1,k) and all the permutations for any positive integer kk.

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