AlgebraDifficulty 7.2National olympiad, round 2Prove it
Example 8 Let Oxyz be a spatial rectangular coordinate system, S be a finite set of points in space, and Sx,Sy,Sz be the sets formed by the orthogonal projections of all points in S onto the Oyz plane, Ozx plane, and Oxy plane, respectively. Prove: ∣S∣2⩽∣Sx∣⋅∣Sy∣⋅∣Sz∣
Note The orthogonal projection of a point onto a plane refers to the foot of the perpendicular from the point to the plane.
Solution
Proof: Let there be n planes parallel to the Oxy plane containing points from S, denoted as M1,M2,⋯,Mn. For the plane Mi,1⩽i⩽n, let it intersect the Ozx,Ozy planes at lines ly and lx, respectively, and let Mi contain mi points from S. Clearly, mi⩽∣Sz∣.
Let the sets of orthogonal projections of points on Mi onto lx and ly be Ai and Bi, respectively, and let ai=∣Ai∣, bi=∣Bi∣. Then, mi⩽aibi. Furthermore, since i=1∑nai=∣Sy∣,i=1∑nbi=∣Sx∣,i=1∑nmi=∣S∣,
by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we have ∣Sx∣⋅∣Sy∣⋅∣Sz∣=(i=1∑nbi)(i=1∑nai)⋅∣Sz∣⩾(i=1∑naibi)2⋅∣Sz∣=(i=1∑naibi∣Sz∣)2⩾(i=1∑nmi)2=∣S∣2
Thus, the proof is complete.
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