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Algebra Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Find all triples (x,y,z)(x, y, z) of real (but not necessarily positive) numbers that satisfy

3(x2+y2+z2)=1x2y2+y2z2+z2x2=xyz(x+y+z)3. \begin{aligned} 3\left(x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2}\right) & =1 \\ x^{2} y^{2}+y^{2} z^{2}+z^{2} x^{2} & =x y z(x+y+z)^{3} . \end{aligned}

Solution

We will show that for real numbers x,y,x, y, and zz that satisfy the first condition, the following inequality holds:

x2y2+y2z2+z2x2xyz(x+y+z)3. x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} \geq x y z (x + y + z)^{3}.

The solutions we are looking for are thus the equality cases of this inequality.
Let a,b,a, b, and cc be real numbers. It holds that (ab)20(a - b)^{2} \geq 0, so a2+b22ab\frac{a^{2} + b^{2}}{2} \geq a b with equality if and only if a=ba = b. We do this analogously for bb and cc and for cc and aa, so that adding them up we get

a2+b2+c2ab+bc+ca a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2} \geq a b + b c + c a

with equality if and only if a=b=ca = b = c.
If we apply this to (xy,yz,zx)(x y, y z, z x), we find that

x2y2+y2z2+z2x2xy2z+yz2x+zx2y=xyz(x+y+z) x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} \geq x y^{2} z + y z^{2} x + z x^{2} y = x y z (x + y + z)

with equality if and only if xy=yz=zxx y = y z = z x. By applying it to (x,y,z)(x, y, z), we get x2+y2+z2xy+yz+zxx^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2} \geq x y + y z + z x, so according to the first condition,

1=3(x2+y2+z2)=(x2+y2+z2)+2(x2+y2+z2)x2+y2+z2+2xy+2yz+2zx=(x+y+z)2, 1 = 3 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) = (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) + 2 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) \geq x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2} + 2 x y + 2 y z + 2 z x = (x + y + z)^{2},

with equality if and only if x=y=zx = y = z. We now want to combine these two inequalities,

x2y2+y2z2+z2x2xyz(x+y+z) x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} \geq x y z (x + y + z)

and

1(x+y+z)2 1 \geq (x + y + z)^{2}

with each other. For this, we first multiply (3) by the non-negative factor x2y2+y2z2+z2x2x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}; then we get

(x2y2+y2z2+z2x2)1(x2y2+y2z2+z2x2)(x+y+z)2 (x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}) \cdot 1 \geq (x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}) \cdot (x + y + z)^{2}

with equality if and only if x=y=zx = y = z or x2y2+y2z2+z2x2=0x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} = 0. Further, multiplying (2) by the non-negative factor (x+y+z)2(x + y + z)^{2}, we get

(x2y2+y2z2+z2x2)(x+y+z)2xyz(x+y+z)(x+y+z)2 (x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}) \cdot (x + y + z)^{2} \geq x y z (x + y + z) \cdot (x + y + z)^{2}

with equality if and only if xy=yz=zxx y = y z = z x or x+y+z=0x + y + z = 0. Altogether, we find (x2y2+y2z2+z2x2)1(x2y2+y2z2+z2x2)(x+y+z)2xyz(x+y+z)(x+y+z)2(x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}) \cdot 1 \geq (x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2}) \cdot (x + y + z)^{2} \geq x y z (x + y + z) \cdot (x + y + z)^{2},
or in other words (1), with equality if and only if

(x=y=z or x2y2+y2z2+z2x2=0) and (xy=yz=zx or x+y+z=0). \left(x = y = z \text{ or } x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} = 0\right) \text{ and } (x y = y z = z x \text{ or } x + y + z = 0).

Now the second equation says that equality must hold here, so we are in the equality case just described. Additionally, the first condition still states that 3(x2+y2+z2)=13 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) = 1:

3(x2+y2+z2)=1x=y=z or xy=yz=zx or x+y+y2z2+z2x2=0xy=0 \begin{aligned} & 3 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) = 1 \\ & x = y = z \text{ or } \\ & x y = y z = z x \text{ or } \\ & x + y + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} = 0 \\ & x y = 0 \end{aligned}

We distinguish two cases. First, assume x=y=zx = y = z. Then xy=yz=zxx y = y z = z x is automatically satisfied. Using the first condition, we find that 1=3(x2+y2+z2)=9x2=(3x)21 = 3 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) = 9 x^{2} = (3 x)^{2}, so x=y=z=±13x = y = z = \pm \frac{1}{3}.
Now assume that x2y2+y2z2+z2x2=0x^{2} y^{2} + y^{2} z^{2} + z^{2} x^{2} = 0; then each of the terms must be zero, so xy=yz=zx=0x y = y z = z x = 0, so xy=yz=zxx y = y z = z x is also satisfied. From xy=0x y = 0 it follows that (without loss of generality) x=0x = 0. From yz=0y z = 0 it also follows that (without loss of generality) y=0y = 0. Thus we find the solutions (0,0,±133)\left(0, 0, \pm \frac{1}{3} \sqrt{3}\right) and also (0,±133,0)\left(0, \pm \frac{1}{3} \sqrt{3}, 0\right) and (±133,0,0)\left(\pm \frac{1}{3} \sqrt{3}, 0, 0\right).

Remark. If you have proven (2) and (3), you can also find (1) by multiplying (3) by xyz(x+y+z)x y z (x + y + z). For this, you need to show that xyz(x+y+z)x y z (x + y + z) is non-negative. We know from the second condition in the problem that xyz(x+y+z)3x y z (x + y + z)^{3} is equal to a sum of squares and is therefore non-negative. If x+y+z0x + y + z \neq 0, it follows that xyz(x+y+z)0x y z (x + y + z) \geq 0. If x+y+z=0x + y + z = 0, then xyz(x+y+z)=0x y z (x + y + z) = 0. So in both cases, xyz(x+y+z)0x y z (x + y + z) \geq 0.
The equality case for this method is:

3(x2+y2+z2)=1xy=yz=zxx=y=zorxyz(x+y+z)=0. \begin{aligned} & 3 (x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2}) = 1 \\ & \quad x y = y z = z x \\ & x = y = z \quad \text{or} \quad x y z (x + y + z) = 0. \end{aligned}

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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.