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Croatian Mathematical Competitions

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Croatia

Prove that for all a,b,c>0a, b, c > 0 such that a+b+c≤3a + b + c \le 3 the following inequality holds
a+1a(a+2)+b+1b(b+2)+c+1c(c+2)≥2. \frac{a+1}{a(a+2)} + \frac{b+1}{b(b+2)} + \frac{c+1}{c(c+2)} \ge 2.
(Tangenta magazine, 2010)

Solution

From the A–H inequality we get
a+1a(a+2)+b+1b(b+2)+c+1c(c+2)≥9a(a+2)a+1+b(b+2)b+1+c(c+2)c+1=9(a+1)2−1a+1+(b+1)2−1b+1+(c+1)2−1c+1=9(a+1)+(b+1)+(c+1)−(1a+1+1b+1+1c+1) \begin{aligned} \frac{a+1}{a(a+2)} + \frac{b+1}{b(b+2)} + \frac{c+1}{c(c+2)} &\ge \frac{9}{\frac{a(a+2)}{a+1} + \frac{b(b+2)}{b+1} + \frac{c(c+2)}{c+1}} \\ &= \frac{9}{\frac{(a+1)^2-1}{a+1} + \frac{(b+1)^2-1}{b+1} + \frac{(c+1)^2-1}{c+1}} \\ &= \frac{9}{(a+1) + (b+1) + (c+1) - \left(\frac{1}{a+1} + \frac{1}{b+1} + \frac{1}{c+1}\right)} \end{aligned}
Since (a+1)+(b+1)+(c+1)=a+b+c+3≤6(a+1) + (b+1) + (c+1) = a+b+c+3 \le 6 and
1a+1+1b+1+1c+1≥9(a+1)+(b+1)+(c+1)≥96=32 \frac{1}{a+1} + \frac{1}{b+1} + \frac{1}{c+1} \ge \frac{9}{(a+1) + (b+1) + (c+1)} \ge \frac{9}{6} = \frac{3}{2}
we can conclude
9(a+1)+(b+1)+(c+1)−(1a+1+1b+1+1c+1)≥96−32=2 \frac{9}{(a+1) + (b+1) + (c+1) - \left(\frac{1}{a+1} + \frac{1}{b+1} + \frac{1}{c+1}\right)} \ge \frac{9}{6 - \frac{3}{2}} = 2
which finishes the proof.

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