Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2015

Algebra Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Baltic Way

Prove that, for positive xx, yy, zz, the following inequality holds:
(x+y+z)(4x+y+2z)(2x+y+8z)3752xyz. (x + y + z)(4x + y + 2z)(2x + y + 8z) \geq \frac{375}{2}xyz.

Solution

Consider the first two brackets and observe that
(x+y+z)(4x+y+2z)=(2x+y)2+3z(2x+y)+2z2+xy. (x + y + z)(4x + y + 2z) = (2x + y)^2 + 3z(2x + y) + 2z^2 + xy.
Therefore, we can write the inequality in the form
((2x+y)2+3z(2x+y)+2z2xy+1)2x+y+8zz3752. \left( \frac{(2x + y)^2 + 3z(2x + y) + 2z^2}{xy} + 1 \right) \cdot \frac{2x + y + 8z}{z} \geq \frac{375}{2}.
Now fix zz and 2x+y2x + y and move 2x2x and yy closer to each other. Then we see that xyxy increases during this movement and attains its maximum when 2x=y2x = y.
Therefore the inequality follows from the inequality obtained by the substitution of y=2xy = 2x into initial inequality, i.e.
(3x+z)(6x+2z)(4x+8z)375x2z. (3x + z)(6x + 2z)(4x + 8z) \geq 375x^2z.

Letting t=x/zt = x/z, we can rewrite the inequality in the form
8(3t+1)2(t+2)375t20, 8(3t + 1)^2(t + 2) - 375t^2 \geq 0,

which can be easily checked by means of derivatives. One finds the minimum to be attained for t=4/3t = 4/3. (So the minimum in the initial inequality holds for (x,y,z)=(4,8,3).(x, y, z) = (4, 8, 3). \square

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