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Algebra Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Example 3 If a,b,ca, b, c are positive numbers, prove:
b2a2+c2b2+a2c2+3(ab+bc+ca).\frac{b^{2}}{a^{2}}+\frac{c^{2}}{b^{2}}+\frac{a^{2}}{c^{2}}+3 \geqslant\left(\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{c}+\frac{c}{a}\right) .

Solution

Proof: Let ab=x,bc=y,ca=z\frac{a}{b}=x, \frac{b}{c}=y, \frac{c}{a}=z, then the original inequality is equivalent to, if positive numbers x,y,zx, y, z satisfy xyz=1x y z=1, then the inequality 1x2+1y2+1z2+32(x+y+z)\frac{1}{x^{2}}+\frac{1}{y^{2}}+\frac{1}{z^{2}}+3 \geqslant 2(x+y+z) holds, which is x2y2+y2z2+z2x2+32(x+y+z)x^{2} y^{2}+y^{2} z^{2}+z^{2} x^{2}+3 \geqslant 2(x+y+z). Noting that x2y2z2=1x^{2} y^{2} z^{2}=1, it follows that at least two of x2,y2,z2x^{2}, y^{2}, z^{2} are simultaneously not less than 1, or not greater than 1. Without loss of generality, assume they are x2x^{2} and y2y^{2}, then (x21)(y21)0\left(x^{2}-1\right)\left(y^{2}-1\right) \geqslant 0.

Below, we use the method of difference to prove inequality (*). In fact,
x2y2+y2z2+z2x2+32(x+y+z)x^{2} y^{2}+y^{2} z^{2}+z^{2} x^{2}+3-2(x+y+z)
=x2y2+y2z2+z2x2+32(x+y+z)=x^{2} y^{2}+y^{2} z^{2}+z^{2} x^{2}+3-2(x+y+z)
=(y2z2+z2x22yzzx)+(x2y2x2y2=\left(y^{2} z^{2}+z^{2} x^{2}-2 y z \cdot z x\right)+\left(x^{2} y^{2}-x^{2}-y^{2}\right.
+1)+(x22x+1)+(y22y+1)+1)+\left(x^{2}-2 x+1\right)+\left(y^{2}-2 y+1\right)
=(yzzx)2+(x21)(y21)+(x1)2+=(y z-z x)^{2}+\left(x^{2}-1\right)\left(y^{2}-1\right)+(x-1)^{2}+ (y1)20(y-1)^{2} \geqslant 0.
This shows that inequality (*) holds, hence the original inequality is proved.

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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.