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Shortlist JBMO, 2007

Algebra Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Prove that a2−bc2a2+bc+b2−ca2b2+ca+c2−ab2c2+ab≤0\frac{a^{2}-b c}{2 a^{2}+b c}+\frac{b^{2}-c a}{2 b^{2}+c a}+\frac{c^{2}-a b}{2 c^{2}+a b} \leq 0 for any real positive numbers a,b,ca, b, c.

Solution

Solution:

The inequality rewrites as ∑2a2+bc−3bc2a2+bc≤0\sum \frac{2 a^{2}+b c-3 b c}{2 a^{2}+b c} \leq 0, or 3−3∑bc2a2+bc≤03-3 \sum \frac{b c}{2 a^{2}+b c} \leq 0 in other words ∑bc2a2+bc≥1\sum \frac{b c}{2 a^{2}+b c} \geq 1.

Using Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we have
∑bc2a2+bc=∑b2c22a2bc+b2c2≥(∑bc)22abc(a+b+c)+∑b2c2=1 \sum \frac{b c}{2 a^{2}+b c}=\sum \frac{b^{2} c^{2}}{2 a^{2} b c+b^{2} c^{2}} \geq \frac{\left(\sum b c\right)^{2}}{2 a b c(a+b+c)+\sum b^{2} c^{2}}=1
as claimed.

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