Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 302 of 400 #1302 of 2000

Problem 1302

National olympiad, first round
Algebra Difficulty 6.5 Prove it

Example 15 Given positive numbers a,b,ca, b, c satisfying a+b+c=3a+b+c=3, prove:
a2+92a2+(b+c)2+b2+92b2+(c+a)2+c2+92c2+(a+b)25 \frac{a^{2}+9}{2 a^{2}+(b+c)^{2}}+\frac{b^{2}+9}{2 b^{2}+(c+a)^{2}}+\frac{c^{2}+9}{2 c^{2}+(a+b)^{2}} \leqslant 5 \text {. }
(2nd Northern Mathematical Olympiad)

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, read the official solution, then mark yourself honestly — the ladder only means something if the record is true.

Official solution

Proof: Let f(x)=x2+93x26x+9,x(0,3)f(x)=\frac{x^{2}+9}{3 x^{2}-6 x+9}, x \in(0,3), then f(x)=6(x2+6x9)(3x26x+9)2=f^{\prime}(x)=\frac{-6\left(x^{2}+6 x-9\right)}{\left(3 x^{2}-6 x+9\right)^{2}}= 2(x2+6x9)3(x22x+3)2\frac{-2\left(x^{2}+6 x-9\right)}{3\left(x^{2}-2 x+3\right)^{2}}. Since f(x)f^{\prime}(x) is not monotonic, we cannot handle it using concavity or convexity. Noting the geometric meaning of the derivative:
f(x0)=f(x)f(x0)xx0f^{\prime}\left(x_{0}\right)=\frac{f(x)-f\left(x_{0}\right)}{x-x_{0}}, we have f(x)=f(x0)(xx0)+f(x0)f(x)=f^{\prime}\left(x_{0}\right)\left(x-x_{0}\right)+f\left(x_{0}\right), we can consider whether there exists a bounding function for f(x)f(x) at x=x0x=x_{0}. Since the function's extremum is obtained when the variable xx takes the average value, we can consider the tangent function of f(x)f(x) at x=1x=1, which is y=f(1)(x1)+f(1)=x+43y=f^{\prime}(1)(x-1)+f(1)=\frac{x+4}{3}.
Because x2+93x26x+9x+43=(x2+9)(x+4)(x22x+3)3x26x+9\frac{x^{2}+9}{3 x^{2}-6 x+9}-\frac{x+4}{3}=\frac{\left(x^{2}+9\right)-(x+4)\left(x^{2}-2 x+3\right)}{3 x^{2}-6 x+9}
=(x+3)(x1)23x26x+9 =\frac{-(x+3)(x-1)^{2}}{3 x^{2}-6 x+9} \text {, }

Therefore, when 0<x<30<x<3, x2+93x26x+9x+43\frac{x^{2}+9}{3 x^{2}-6 x+9} \leqslant \frac{x+4}{3}.
Thus, a2+92a2+(b+c)2+b2+92b2+(c+a)2+c2+92c2+(a+b)2\frac{a^{2}+9}{2 a^{2}+(b+c)^{2}}+\frac{b^{2}+9}{2 b^{2}+(c+a)^{2}}+\frac{c^{2}+9}{2 c^{2}+(a+b)^{2}}
=a2+93a26a+9+b2+93b26b+9+c2+93c26c+9a+43+b+43+c+43=5. \begin{array}{l} =\frac{a^{2}+9}{3 a^{2}-6 a+9}+\frac{b^{2}+9}{3 b^{2}-6 b+9}+\frac{c^{2}+9}{3 c^{2}-6 c+9} \\ \leqslant \frac{a+4}{3}+\frac{b+4}{3}+\frac{c+4}{3}=5 . \end{array}

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