Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 52 of 400 #1052 of 1964

Problem 1052

National olympiad, first round
Algebra Difficulty 6.1 Prove it

. Let a,b,c>0a, b, c>0, show that

3a3+b3+c31a3+b3+abc+1b3+c3+abc+1c3+a3+abc1abc \frac{3}{a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}} \leqslant \frac{1}{a^{3}+b^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a^{3}+a b c} \leqslant \frac{1}{a b c}

This one wants a proof. Work it on paper, then read the official solution and mark yourself. Be honest about it: the record is only any use to you if it is.

Official solution

. From the rearrangement inequality we have a3+b3a2b+b2aa^{3}+b^{3} \geqslant a^{2} b+b^{2} a and thus

1a3+b3+abc1a2b+b2a+abc=cabc(a+b+c) \frac{1}{a^{3}+b^{3}+a b c} \leqslant \frac{1}{a^{2} b+b^{2} a+a b c}=\frac{c}{a b c(a+b+c)}

Similarly, we have

1a3+b3+abc+1b3+c3+abc+1c3+a3+abccabc(a+b+c)+aabc(a+b+c)+babc(a+b+c)\frac{1}{a^{3}+b^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a^{3}+a b c} \leqslant \frac{c}{a b c(a+b+c)}+\frac{a}{a b c(a+b+c)}+\frac{b}{a b c(a+b+c)} which gives the right inequality. For the left inequality, we will use the inequalities of means. First, according to the inequality between harmonic mean and arithmetic mean, we have

31a3+b3+abc+1b3+c3+abc+1c3+a3+abc2a3+2b3+2c3+3abc3. \frac{3}{\frac{1}{a^{3}+b^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a^{3}+a b c}} \leqslant \frac{2 a^{3}+2 b^{3}+2 c^{3}+3 a b c}{3} .

Finally, according to the inequality between geometric mean and arithmetic mean, we have

3abca3+b3+c3 3 a b c \leqslant a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}

which combined with the previous inequality gives

3a3+b3+c31a3+b3+abc+1b3+c3+abc+1c3+a3+abc \frac{3}{a^{3}+b^{3}+c^{3}} \leqslant \frac{1}{a^{3}+b^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{b^{3}+c^{3}+a b c}+\frac{1}{c^{3}+a^{3}+a b c}

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