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China Mathematical Competition (Shaanxi)

Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it China

Suppose 32≤x≤5\frac{3}{2} \le x \le 5. Prove that 2x+1+2x−3+15−3x<2192\sqrt{x+1} + \sqrt{2x-3} + \sqrt{15-3x} < 2\sqrt{19}.

Solution

By Cauchy's inequality, we have
2x+1+2x−3+15−3x=x+1+x+1+2x−3+15−3x≤[(x+1)+(x+1)+(2x−3)+(15−3x)](12+12+12+12)=2x+14≤219, \begin{aligned} & 2\sqrt{x+1} + \sqrt{2x-3} + \sqrt{15-3x} \\ &= \sqrt{x+1} + \sqrt{x+1} + \sqrt{2x-3} + \sqrt{15-3x} \\ &\le \sqrt{[(x+1) + (x+1) + (2x-3) + (15-3x)](1^2 + 1^2 + 1^2 + 1^2)} \\ &= 2\sqrt{x+14} \le 2\sqrt{19}, \end{aligned}
and the equality holds if and only if x+1=2x−3=15−3x\sqrt{x+1} = \sqrt{2x-3} = \sqrt{15-3x} and x=5x = 5. But this is impossible. So 2x+1+2x−3+15−3x<2192\sqrt{x+1} + \sqrt{2x-3} + \sqrt{15-3x} < 2\sqrt{19}.

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