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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Suppose 0x,y,z0 \le x, y, z, and x+y+z1x+y+z \le 1. Prove that
6xyzx(1x)+y(1y)+z(1z), 6xyz \le x(1-x) + y(1-y) + z(1-z),
and describe the cases of equality.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

By hypothesis, xx, yy, z[0,1]z \in [0, 1], and so 3xyzxy+yz+zx3xyz \le xy + yz + zx. Also, (x+y+z)2x+y+z(x+y+z)^2 \le x+y+z, i.e., x2+y2+z2+2(xy+yz+zx)x+y+zx^2+y^2+z^2+2(xy+yz+zx) \le x+y+z, equivalently,
2(xy+yz+zx)x(1x)+y(1y)+z(1z), 2(xy + yz + zx) \le x(1-x) + y(1-y) + z(1-z),
whence
6xyz2(xy+yz+zx)x(1x)+y(1y)+z(1z), 6xyz \le 2(xy + yz + zx) \le x(1-x) + y(1-y) + z(1-z),
and there is equality iff xyz=xy=xz=yzxyz = xy = xz = yz and x+y+z=0x+y+z = 0 or 11. This means that we have equality iff (x,y,z)(x, y, z) is one of (0,0,0)(0, 0, 0), (0,0,1)(0, 0, 1), (0,1,0)(0, 1, 0) and (1,0,0)(1, 0, 0).

Solution 2

Using the AM-GM inequality and the assumption x+y+z1x+y+z \le 1, we obtain
1xy+z2yz 1 - x \ge y + z \ge 2\sqrt{yz}
1yz+x2zx 1 - y \ge z + x \ge 2\sqrt{zx}
1zx+y2xy. 1 - z \ge x + y \ge 2\sqrt{xy}.
Multiplying these inequalities gives (1x)(1y)(1z)8xyz(1-x)(1-y)(1-z) \ge 8xyz and so
xyz(1x)(1y)(1z)8(xyz)2(2xyz)3 xyz(1-x)(1-y)(1-z) \ge 8(xyz)^2 \ge (2xyz)^3
where we have used 1xyz1 \ge xyz. Using AM-GM again, we obtain
x(1x)+y(1y)+z(1z)3x(1x)y(1y)z(1z)36xyz. x(1-x) + y(1-y) + z(1-z) \ge 3\sqrt[3]{x(1-x)y(1-y)z(1-z)} \ge 6xyz.
For the case of equality it is necessary that x(1x)=y(1y)=z(1z)x(1-x) = y(1-y) = z(1-z) and xyz=0xyz = 0 or 11. If xyz=1xyz = 1, the first three inequalities above have no term equal to zero, hence all of them must be equalities, hence x=y=zx = y = z and x+y+z=1x+y+z = 1. This implies x=y=z=1/3x = y = z = 1/3 contradicting xyz=1xyz = 1. Hence equality implies xyz=0xyz = 0. Therefore, xx, yy, zz can only have the values 00 or 11. As x+y+z1x+y+z \le 1, at most one of them is 11 and we have equality iff (x,y,z)(x, y, z) is one of (0,0,0)(0, 0, 0), (0,0,1)(0, 0, 1), (0,1,0)(0, 1, 0) and (1,0,0)(1, 0, 0).

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