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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Ukraine

Let xx, yy, zz be real numbers from segment [0;1][0; 1]. Prove that
(x4+y4+z4)+(x5+y5+z5)+(xy)6+(yz)6+(zx)66. (x^4 + y^4 + z^4) + (x^5 + y^5 + z^5) + (x - y)^6 + (y - z)^6 + (z - x)^6 \le 6.

Solution

Firstly, we will prove that if α\alpha, β[0,1]\beta \in [0, 1], then α4+β5+(αβ)62\alpha^4 + \beta^5 + (\alpha - \beta)^6 \le 2. Indeed, tntt^n \le t for all real t[0,1]t \in [0, 1] and any positive integer nn. Suppose that αβ\alpha \ge \beta (case αβ\alpha \le \beta is considered analogously). Then 0αβ10 \le \alpha - \beta \le 1, so (αβ)6αβ(\alpha - \beta)^6 \le \alpha - \beta. Also, α4α\alpha^4 \le \alpha and β5β\beta^5 \le \beta. Summing up the previous inequalities we obtain:
α4+β5+(αβ)6α+β+αβ=2α2. \alpha^4 + \beta^5 + (\alpha - \beta)^6 \le \alpha + \beta + \alpha - \beta = 2\alpha \le 2.
Now let xx, yy, z[0,1]z \in [0, 1]. By the latter claim:
x4+y5+(xy)62,y4+z5+(yz)62,z4+x5+(zx)62. x^4 + y^5 + (x-y)^6 \le 2, \quad y^4 + z^5 + (y-z)^6 \le 2, \quad z^4 + x^5 + (z-x)^6 \le 2.
After summing up we get the desired inequality.

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