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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Austria

Let aa, bb, cc, dd be positive numbers. Prove that
(a2+b2+c2+d2)2(a+b)(b+c)(c+d)(d+a). (a^2 + b^2 + c^2 + d^2)^2 \geq (a+b)(b+c)(c+d)(d+a).
When does equality hold?

Solution

By the inequality between the arithmetic and the geometric mean, we have
(a+b)(b+c)(c+d)(d+a)((a+b)+(b+c)+(c+d)+(d+a)4)4=24(a+b+c+d4)4. (a+b)(b+c)(c+d)(d+a) \leq \left( \frac{(a+b)+(b+c)+(c+d)+(d+a)}{4} \right)^4 = 2^4 \left( \frac{a+b+c+d}{4} \right)^4.
By the inequality between the quadratic and the arithmetic mean, we have
24(a+b+c+d4)424(a2+b2+c2+d24)2=(a2+b2+c2+d2)2, 2^4 \left( \frac{a+b+c+d}{4} \right)^4 \leq 2^4 \left( \frac{a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2}{4} \right)^2 = (a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2)^2,
as required.
In the second inequality, equality holds if and only if a=b=c=da = b = c = d, but in that case, equality holds also in the original inequality. Therefore, equality holds if and only if a=b=c=da = b = c = d.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.