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Algebra Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Find the answer

Problem 74. Consider the positive real constants m,nm, n, such that 3n2>m23 n^{2}>m^{2}. For real numbers a,b,ca, b, c such that a+b+c=m,a2+b2+c2=n2a+b+c=m, a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}=n^{2}, find the maximum and minimum of
P=a2b+b2c+c2aP=a^{2} b+b^{2} c+c^{2} a

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

SOLUTION. Let a=x+m3,b=y+m3,c=z+m3a=x+\frac{m}{3}, b=y+\frac{m}{3}, c=z+\frac{m}{3}. From the given conditions, we get that x+y+z=0x+y+z=0 and x2+y2+z2=3n2m23x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}=\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{3}. The expression PP becomes
P=x2y+y2z+z2x+m39P=x^{2} y+y^{2} z+z^{2} x+\frac{m^{3}}{9}

Notice that
cyc(3x23n2m218xy3n2m21)2=3+183n2m2(cycx)2+324(3n2m2)2cycx2y2623n2m2cycx54(23n2m2)3/2cycx2y=3+324(3n2m2)2cycx2y254(23n2m2)3/2cycx2y\begin{array}{l} \sum_{c y c}\left(3 x \sqrt{\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}}-\frac{18 x y}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}-1\right)^{2} \\ =3+\frac{18}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}\left(\sum_{c y c} x\right)^{2}+\frac{324}{\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)^{2}} \sum_{c y c} x^{2} y^{2} \\ -6 \sqrt{\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}} \sum_{c y c} x-54\left(\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}\right)^{3 / 2} \sum_{c y c} x^{2} y \\ =3+\frac{324}{\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)^{2}} \sum_{c y c} x^{2} y^{2}-54\left(\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}\right)^{3 / 2} \sum_{c y c} x^{2} y \end{array}

Since x+y+z=0x+y+z=0, we get xy+yz+zx=12(x2+y2+z2)=3n2m26x y+y z+z x=-\frac{1}{2}\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)=-\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{6}. Therefore
cycx2y2=(cycxy)22xyzcycx=(cycxy)2=(3n2m2)236\sum_{c y c} x^{2} y^{2}=\left(\sum_{c y c} x y\right)^{2}-2 x y z \sum_{c y c} x=\left(\sum_{c y c} x y\right)^{2}=\frac{\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)^{2}}{36}
and we get
1254(23n2m2)3/2cycx2y012-54\left(\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}\right)^{3 / 2} \sum_{c y c} x^{2} y \geq 0
or in other words,
cycx2y29(3n2m22)3/2\sum_{c y c} x^{2} y \leq \frac{2}{9}\left(\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{2}\right)^{3 / 2}

If we choose
x=2(3n2m2)3cos2π9,y=2(3n2m2)3cos4π9,z=2(3n2m2)3cos8π9x=\frac{\sqrt{2\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)}}{3} \cos \frac{2 \pi}{9}, y=\frac{\sqrt{2\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)}}{3} \cos \frac{4 \pi}{9}, z=\frac{\sqrt{2\left(3 n^{2}-m^{2}\right)}}{3} \cos \frac{8 \pi}{9}
then
P=29(3n2m22)3/2+m39P=\frac{2}{9}\left(\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{2}\right)^{3 / 2}+\frac{m^{3}}{9}

So
maxP=29(3n2m22)3/2+m39\max P=\frac{2}{9}\left(\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{2}\right)^{3 / 2}+\frac{m^{3}}{9}

Similarly, by considering the expression
cyc(3x23n2m2+18xy3n2m2+1)2\sum_{c y c}\left(3 x \sqrt{\frac{2}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}}+\frac{18 x y}{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}+1\right)^{2}
we easily conclude that
minP=29(3n2m22)3/2m39\min P=-\frac{2}{9}\left(\frac{3 n^{2}-m^{2}}{2}\right)^{3 / 2}-\frac{m^{3}}{9}

The problem is completely solved.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.