ELMO 2014 SL A1

by Wolstenholme, Aug 1, 2014, 9:36 PM

In a non-obtuse triangle $ ABC $, prove that
$ \frac{\sin A \sin B}{\sin C} + \frac{\sin B \sin C}{\sin A} + \frac{\sin C \sin A}{ \sin B} \ge \frac 52 $.

Proof:

Using the substitution $ a = \cot{A}, b = \cot{B}, c = \cot{C} $ it suffies to show that if $ ab + bc + ca = 1 $ then $ \frac{1}{a + b} + \frac{1}{b + c} + \frac{1}{c + a} \geq \frac{5}{2} $.

I shall use the method of Lagrange Multipliers to show this.

Define $ f(a, b, c) = -\frac{1}{a + b} - \frac{1}{b + c} - \frac{1}{c + a} $ and $ g(a, b, c) = ab + bc + ca $. Note that $ f $ and $ g $ and all of their partial derivatives are continuous. Moreover, note that $ \nabla {g} \neq 0 $ at all points since at most one of $ a, b, c $ can equal $ 0 $.

Now, define the open set:
\[ U =\left\{ (a,b,c)\mid 0 < a,b,c < 1000 \right\}. \]
Its closure is:
\[ \overline U =\left\{ (a,b,c)\mid 0 \leq a,b,c \leq 1000 \right\}. \]
Therefore the constraint set:
\[ \overline S =\left\{\mathbf{x}\in\ol \overline U : g(\ol \mathbf{x}) = 1\right\} \]

Is compact, and so $ f $ obtains a global maximum over this set.

Now if $ \mathbf{x} $ lies on the boundary, one of $ a, b, c $ must clearly be equal to $ 0 $ (if one of $ a, b, c $ is equal to $ 1000 $ the claim is trivial). In this case, it suffices to show that if $ ab = 1 $ then $ \frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} + \frac{1}{a + b} \geq \frac{5}{2} $ but this is trivial. Now, we assume $ \mathbf{x} \in U $ and consider a local maximum.

Then we must have $ \left<\frac{1}{(a + b)^2} + \frac{1}{(a + c)^2}, \frac{1}{(b + c)^2} + \frac{1}{(b + a)^2}, \frac{1}{(c + a)^2} + \frac{1}{(c + b)^2}\right> $ equal to $ \lambda\left<b + c, c + a, a + b\right> $ for some real $ \lambda $.

Now let $ x = b + c, y = c + a, z = a + b $. We have $ \left<\frac{1}{z^2} + \frac{1}{y^2}, \frac{1}{x^2} + \frac{1}{z^2}, \frac{1}{y^2} + \frac{1}{x^2}\right> $ equal to $ \lambda\left<x, y, z\right> $. Since $ \frac{1}{z^2} + \frac{1}{y^2} = \lambda{x} $ and $ \frac{1}{x^2} + \frac{1}{z^2} = \lambda{y} $, subtracting these two equations yields that either $ x = y $ or that $ \frac{x + y}{x^2y^2} = \lambda $. For now, assume that $ x \neq y \neq z \neq x $. Then $ \frac{x + y}{x^2y^2} =  \frac{x + z}{x^2z^2} $ which, upon expanding and dividing both sides by $ y - z $, implies that $ xy + yz + zx = 0 $. But because $ ab + bc + ca = 1 $ we know that $ 2xy + 2yz + 2zx - x^2 - y^2 - z^2 = 4 $. Therefore we must have $ - x^2 - y^2 - z^2 = 4 $, absurd. Therefore at least two of $ x, y, z $ must be equal, which implies that at least two of $ a, b, c $ are equal.

Assume WLOG that $ a = c $. It suffices to show that if $ a^2 + 2ab = 1 $ then $ \frac{1}{2a} + \frac{2}{a + b} \geq \frac{5}{2} $. Solving for $ a $ in terms of $ b $, substituting and clearing denominators it suffices to show that if $ 0 \leq a \leq 1 $ then $ 5a^3 - 9a^2 + 5a - 1 = (a - 1)(5a^2 - 4a + 1) \leq 0 $. So it suffices to show that $ 5a^2 - 4a + 1 \geq 0 $. But since $ 5a^2 - 4a + 1 = 5\left(a - \frac{2}{5}\right)^2 + \frac{1}{5} \geq \frac{1}{5} > 0 $, we are done.

Phew!
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Wolstenholme, Aug 1, 2014, 11:10 PM

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