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k a June Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Monday at 3:57 PM
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0 replies
jlacosta
Monday at 3:57 PM
0 replies
What happened at ARML?
VPAK   33
N 5 minutes ago by Aaronjudgeisgoat
I'm seeing a few things online that at ARML this past weekend they had to discard questions 9 & 10 from the final results. Unfortunately, I'm not "on the ground" at ARML anymore.

Is there anyone who was there that knows what happened to cause this?

33 replies
VPAK
Yesterday at 5:14 PM
Aaronjudgeisgoat
5 minutes ago
REAPER!!
TornadoA1   35
N 31 minutes ago by shaayonsamanta
you know the rules.
if not then check out the actual reaper game.

~~~~~~~~~~

To reap, say /reap
I keep track of the times NOT you
You can reap once every 12 hours. Reaping is in minutes. Gain 10,000 hours or 600,000 minutes to win.
If you reap two times in a row (you want to reap after you reaped without somebody else in between), then the cool down is 48 hours instead

~~~~~~~~~~

SCORES
35 replies
TornadoA1
Mar 22, 2024
shaayonsamanta
31 minutes ago
MAA messed up the order(n)
skipiano   201
N 32 minutes ago by PEKKA
Source: 2017 USAJMO #1/USAMO #1
Prove that there are infinitely many distinct pairs $(a, b)$ of relatively prime integers $a>1$ and $b>1$ such that $a^b+b^a$ is divisible by $a+b$.
201 replies
skipiano
Apr 19, 2017
PEKKA
32 minutes ago
Zsigmondy's theorem
V0305   22
N 33 minutes ago by CatCatHead
Is Zsigmondy's theorem allowed on the IMO, and is it allowed on the AMC series of proof competitions (e.g. USAJMO, USA TSTST)?
22 replies
+1 w
V0305
May 24, 2025
CatCatHead
33 minutes ago
No more topics!
Inequality with a^2+b^2+c^2+abc=4
cn2_71828182846   72
N May 27, 2025 by endless_abyss
Source: USAMO 2001 #3
Let $a, b, c \geq 0$ and satisfy \[ a^2+b^2+c^2 +abc = 4 . \] Show that \[ 0 \le ab + bc + ca - abc \leq 2. \]
72 replies
cn2_71828182846
Jun 27, 2004
endless_abyss
May 27, 2025
Inequality with a^2+b^2+c^2+abc=4
G H J
Source: USAMO 2001 #3
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cn2_71828182846
34 posts
#1 • 14 Y
Y by MathGenius_, Midngiht, samrocksnature, Adventure10, megarnie, HWenslawski, Mango247, Sedro, and 6 other users
Let $a, b, c \geq 0$ and satisfy \[ a^2+b^2+c^2 +abc = 4 . \] Show that \[ 0 \le ab + bc + ca - abc \leq 2. \]
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by v_Enhance, May 11, 2014, 3:38 PM
Reason: Added left bound from original problem statement
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WarpedKlown1335
647 posts
#2 • 8 Y
Y by samrocksnature, Adventure10, HWenslawski, megarnie, Mango247, and 3 other users
cn2_71828182846 wrote:
Can someone explain a solution to USAMO 2001 problem 3? I am fine on the left inequality, but I'm a little hazy on the right-hand one.

Thanks for assistance.

Let a, b, c, be :ge: 0 and satisfy

a :^2: + b :^2: + c :^2: + abc = 4.

Show that

0 :le: ab + bc + ca - abc :le: 2.

I'm not so sure but I'll give it a shot.

-abc = a :^2: + b :^2: + c :^2: - 4
0 :le: ab + bc + ca + a :^2: + b :^2: + c :^2: - 4 :le: 2
4 :le: ab + bc + ca + a :^2: + b :^2: + c :^2: :le: 6
4 :le: [(a+b):^2: + (b+c):^2: + (a+c):^2:]/2 :le: 6
8 :le: (a+b):^2: + (b+c):^2: + (a+c):^2: :le: 12

That's all I've gotten so far, I'll work on it later.
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beta
3001 posts
#3 • 7 Y
Y by samrocksnature, Adventure10, Mango247, and 4 other users
I think I got the first part
If one of a,b,c is 0, we are done. So assume a,b,c >0

By AM-HM(or cauchy):
\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c} \geq \frac{9}{a+b+c}


By the equation, a, b, c :le: 2. So a+b+c can be at most 6.
Therefore
\frac{9}{a+b+c} \geq 1

and
\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c} \geq 1

multiply both side by abc gives us the first inequality.
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zabelman
1072 posts
#4 • 7 Y
Y by yassinelbk007, samrocksnature, Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users
For the left side, just notice that not all of the variables can be >1, so WLOG assume a<=1. Then, bc(1-a)+a(b+c) >= 0 since each term is non-negative.

It's the right side that is difficult. I have a solution, but it isn't entirely mine so I feel guilty posting it.
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beta
3001 posts
#5 • 4 Y
Y by samrocksnature, Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
All I have for the second inequality:

a^2+b^2 \geq 2ab

b^2+c^2 \geq 2bc

a^2+c^2 \geq 2ac

add all together and divide by 2
a^2+b^2+c^2 \geq ab+bc+ac

so
ab+bc+ac+abc \leq 4

ab+bc+ac-abc \leq 4-2abc


I will try to do figure it out later.
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paladin8
3237 posts
#6 • 4 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users
following off beta's work (i'm not quite sure if this works):

The last inequality holds true if
2abc \ge 2 
abc \ge 1 
\sqrt[3]{abc} \ge 1


By GM-HM, we can substitute to get
\displaystyle \frac{3}{\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}} \ge 1 
3 \ge \frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c}
3abc \ge ab+bc+ca


From cauchy or AM-GM, we find
a^2+b^2+c^2 \ge ab+bc+ca


So we substitute again
3abc \ge a^2+b^2+c^2


Sorta guessing, but I think it can be proved that as long as the condition is satisfied, this inequality holds true, but i dont know how to do that.
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beta
3001 posts
#7 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
paladin8 wrote:
3abc \ge ab+bc+ca


From cauchy or AM-GM, we find
a^2+b^2+c^2 \ge ab+bc+ca


So we substitute again
3abc \ge a^2+b^2+c^2
That' not true, you can't substitute like that.
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paladin8
3237 posts
#8 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
Yes, it works. If this is proved:
3abc \ge a^2+b^2+c^2


and this is true:
a^2+b^2+c^2 \ge ab+bc+ca


then this is true:
3abc \ge ab+bc+ca


which is what we wish to prove.
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beta
3001 posts
#9 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
ok, i see. I thought you proved
3abc \ge ab+bc+ca

with these two steps, not realizing that you are working backwards
a^2+b^2+c^2 \ge ab+bc+ca

3abc \ge a^2+b^2+c^2
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Osiris
536 posts
#10 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
beta wrote:
All I have for the second inequality:

a^2+b^2 \geq 2ab

b^2+c^2 \geq 2bc

a^2+c^2 \geq 2ac

add all together and divide by 2
a^2+b^2+c^2 \geq ab+bc+ac

so
ab+bc+ac+abc \leq 4

ab+bc+ac-abc \leq 4-2abc


I will try to do figure it out later.

I don't think my idea is going to lead anywhere. (It's too strong.) To prove this statement to be true, we need
abc \ge 1
. However, by applying AM-GM to
a^2 + b^2 + c^2 + abc = 4
,

\displaystyle{{a^2 + b^2 + c^2 + abc}\over{4}} \ge \sqrt[4]{a^3b^3c^3}


From which we obtain
abc \le 1
.

Hmm, thinking on then...

Paladin: your steps don't hold. Try a = 2, b = c = 0.
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beta
3001 posts
#11 • 3 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user
Some more work
One of a, b, c must be < or =1, one must be > or =1. Let a=1+x, let b=1-y.
, where
x, y \leq 1

so
(1+x)(1-y)c \leq 1


(1+x)^2+(1-y)^2+c^2+(1+x)(1-y)(c)=4

since
x^2+y^2+c^2-xyc \geq 0
because
xy+yc+xc-xyc=xy+yc+xc(1-y) \geq 0

so we have
(2+c)(1+x-y) \leq 4
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paladin8
3237 posts
#12 • 5 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users
Quote:
Paladin: your steps don't hold. Try a = 2, b = c = 0.

I assumed a, b, c > 0 because it is trivial to prove if any are 0 as noted by beta earlier on.
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Osiris
536 posts
#13 • 5 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users
Let a = 1.999, b = c = 0.01. It still doesn't work.
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paladin8
3237 posts
#14 • 4 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users
that doesnt satisfy the original condition, but i have also found a counterexample, (1.99, .1, .1)
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Osiris
536 posts
#15 • 4 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users
It doesn't?
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