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Algebra Difficulty 7.4 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

23. Let x,y,zx, y, z be positive real numbers, and xyz=1x y z=1, prove:
x3(1+y)(1+z)+y3(1+z)(1+x)+z3(1+x)(1+y)34\frac{x^{3}}{(1+y)(1+z)}+\frac{y^{3}}{(1+z)(1+x)}+\frac{z^{3}}{(1+x)(1+y)} \geqslant \frac{3}{4}
(39th IMO Shortlist)

Solution

23. By Cauchy-Schwarz inequality,
x4x(1+y)(1+z)+y4y(1+z)(1+x)+z4z(1+x)(1+y)(x2+y2+z2)2x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)\begin{array}{l} \frac{x^{4}}{x(1+y)(1+z)}+\frac{y^{4}}{y(1+z)(1+x)}+\frac{z^{4}}{z(1+x)(1+y)} \geqslant \\ \frac{\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)^{2}}{x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)} \end{array}

By Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we have 3(x2+y2+z2)(x+y+z)23\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right) \geqslant(x+y+z)^{2}, and by the AM-GM inequality,
x2+y2+z2xy+yz+zxx+y+z3xyz3=3\begin{array}{c} x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2} \geqslant x y+y z+z x \\ x+y+z \geqslant 3 \sqrt[3]{x y z}=3 \end{array}

Therefore,
3(x2+y2+z2)(x+y+z)2=(x+y+z)(x+y+z)3(x+y+z)\begin{aligned} 3\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right) \geqslant & (x+y+z)^{2}=(x+y+z)(x+y+z) \geqslant \\ & 3(x+y+z) \end{aligned}

That is,
x2+y2+z2x+y+zx^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2} \geqslant x+y+z

So,
x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)=(x+y+z)+2(xy+yz+zx)+3xyz=3+(x+y+z)+2(xy+yz+zx)\begin{array}{l} x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)= \\ (x+y+z)+2(x y+y z+z x)+3 x y z= \\ 3+(x+y+z)+2(x y+y z+z x) \end{array}

Since
4(x2+y2+z2)=(x2+y2+z2)+2(x2+y2+z2)+(x2+y2+z2)3(xyz)23+2(xy+yz+zx)+(x+y+z)=3+(x+y+z)+2(xy+yz+zx)\begin{array}{l} 4\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)=\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)+2\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)+\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right) \geqslant \\ 3 \sqrt[3]{(x y z)^{2}}+2(x y+y z+z x)+(x+y+z)= \\ 3+(x+y+z)+2(x y+y z+z x) \end{array}

Therefore,
(x2+y2+z2)2x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)x2+y2+z243(xyz)234=34\begin{array}{l} \frac{\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right)^{2}}{x(1+y)(1+z)+y(1+z)(1+x)+z(1+x)(1+y)} \geqslant \\ \frac{x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}}{4} \geqslant \frac{3 \sqrt[3]{(x y z)^{2}}}{4}=\frac{3}{4} \end{array}

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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.