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Algebra Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Hong Kong

Let aa, bb and cc be positive real numbers such that ab+bc+ca=1ab + bc + ca = 1. Prove that
3a+63b4+3b+63c4+3c+63a41abc. \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{a} + 6\sqrt{3}b} + \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{b} + 6\sqrt{3}c} + \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{c} + 6\sqrt{3}a} \le \frac{1}{abc}.
When does the equality hold?

Solution

(IMO Shortlist 2004 A5 modified) By the power mean inequality, we have
S:=3a+63b4+3b+63c4+3c+63a4313(3a+63b+3b+63c+3c+63a)4=378(ab+bc+ca)+6abc(a+b+c)abc4. \begin{aligned} S &:= \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{a} + 6\sqrt{3}b} + \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{b} + 6\sqrt{3}c} + \sqrt[4]{\frac{\sqrt{3}}{c} + 6\sqrt{3}a} \\ &\le 3\sqrt[4]{\frac{1}{3}\left(\frac{\sqrt{3}}{a} + 6\sqrt{3}b + \frac{\sqrt{3}}{b} + 6\sqrt{3}c + \frac{\sqrt{3}}{c} + 6\sqrt{3}a\right)} \\ &= 3^{\frac{7}{8}}\sqrt[4]{\frac{(ab + bc + ca) + 6abc(a + b + c)}{abc}}. \end{aligned}
Note that ab+bc+ca=1ab + bc + ca = 1 and
abc(a+b+c)=(ab)(bc)+(bc)(ca)+(ca)(ab)13(ab+bc+ca)2=13. abc(a + b + c) = (ab)(bc) + (bc)(ca) + (ca)(ab) \le \frac{1}{3}(ab + bc + ca)^2 = \frac{1}{3}.
Therefore, we have S3783abc4=398(abc)14S \le 3^{\frac{7}{8}}\sqrt[4]{\frac{3}{abc}} = 3^{\frac{9}{8}}(abc)^{-\frac{1}{4}}. It remains to prove abc332abc \le 3^{-\frac{3}{2}}.
Indeed, by the AM-GM inequality, we have
1=ab+bc+ca3a2b2c23. 1 = ab + bc + ca \ge 3\sqrt[3]{a^2 b^2 c^2}.
This clearly implies abc332abc \le 3^{-\frac{3}{2}}. This proves the desired inequality. Equality holds when a=b=c=13a = b = c = \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}.

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