Evan Chen (April 30, 2014) A Brief Introduction to Olympiad Inequalities

Example 3.7 (USA TST 2010)

1 1 1 1
If abc = 1, prove a5 (b+2c)2
+ b5 (c+2a)2
+ c5 (a+2b)2 3.

Proof. We can use Hölder to eliminate the square roots in the denominator:
!2 ! !3
X X 1 X1
ab + 2ac 3(ab + bc + ca)2 .
cyc cyc
a (b + 2c)2
5
cyc
a

§3.3 Practice Problems

p p p p p p
1. If a + b + c = 1, then ab + c + bc + a + ca + b 1 + ab + bc + ca.
p p p
2. If a2 + b2 + c2 = 12, then a · 3 b2 + c2 + b · 3 c2 + a2 + c · 3 a2 + b2  12.
q q q
3. (ISL 2004) If ab + bc + ca = 1, prove 3 a1 + 6b + 3 1b + 6c + 3 1c + 6a  abc 1
.
p p p p
4. (MOP 2011) a2 ab + b2 + b2 bc + c2 + c2 ca + a2 + 9 3 abc  4(a + b + c).

5. (Evan Chen) If a3 + b3 + c3 + abc = 4, prove

(5a2 + bc)2 (5b2 + ca)2 (5c2 + ab)2 (10 abc)2

+ + .
(a + b)(a + c) (b + c)(b + a) (c + a)(c + b) a+b+c

When does equality hold?

§4 Problems
1. (MOP 2013) If a + b + c = 3, then
p p p p
a2 + ab + b2 + b2 + bc + c2 + c2 + ca + a2 3.

1 1 1 3
2. (IMO 1995) If abc = 1, then a3 (b+c)
+ b3 (c+a)
+ c3 (a+b) 2.

P (2a+b+c)2
3. (USA 2003) Prove cyc 2a2 +(b+c)2  8.

4. (Romania)
Pn Let x1 , x2 , . . . , xn be positive reals with x1 x2 . . . xn = 1. Prove that
1
i=1 n 1+xi  1.

5. (USA 2004) Let a, b, c be positive reals. Prove that

a5 a2 + 3 b5 b2 + 3 c5 c2 + 3 (a + b + c)3 .

p p
7 p
6. (Evan Chen) Let a, b, c be positive reals satisfying a + b + c = 7
a+ b+ 7
c.
Prove aa bb cc 1.

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