Difference between revisions of "1974 USAMO Problems/Problem 2"
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We can move around terms on the left to get | We can move around terms on the left to get | ||
<cmath>\left(\dfrac{b^{(b-a)/3}\cdot b^{(b-c)/3}}{a^{(b-a)/3}}\right)\left(\dfrac{c^{(c-a)/3}\cdot c^{(c-b)/3}}{a^{(c-a)/3}}\right)\ge 1.</cmath> | <cmath>\left(\dfrac{b^{(b-a)/3}\cdot b^{(b-c)/3}}{a^{(b-a)/3}}\right)\left(\dfrac{c^{(c-a)/3}\cdot c^{(c-b)/3}}{a^{(c-a)/3}}\right)\ge 1.</cmath> | ||
− | Now we combine the exponents in the | + | Now we combine the exponents in the numerators. This gives |
<cmath>\left(\dfrac{b^{(2b-c-a)/3}}{a^{(b-a)/3}}\right)\left(\dfrac{c^{(2c-b-a)/3}}{a^{(c-a)/3}}\right)\ge 1.</cmath> | <cmath>\left(\dfrac{b^{(2b-c-a)/3}}{a^{(b-a)/3}}\right)\left(\dfrac{c^{(2c-b-a)/3}}{a^{(c-a)/3}}\right)\ge 1.</cmath> | ||
We multiply both sides by <math>\left(a^{(b-a)/3}\right)\left(a^{(c-a)/3}\right),</math> which gives | We multiply both sides by <math>\left(a^{(b-a)/3}\right)\left(a^{(c-a)/3}\right),</math> which gives | ||
Line 124: | Line 124: | ||
Finally, we multiply both sides by <math>(abc)^a.</math> Combining exponents one last time gives the desired | Finally, we multiply both sides by <math>(abc)^a.</math> Combining exponents one last time gives the desired | ||
<cmath>a^a b^b c^c\ge (abc)^{(a+b+c)/3}.</cmath> | <cmath>a^a b^b c^c\ge (abc)^{(a+b+c)/3}.</cmath> | ||
− | -- | + | --MenuThreeOne |
{{alternate solutions}} | {{alternate solutions}} |
Latest revision as of 14:01, 1 February 2024
Contents
Problem
Prove that if ,
, and
are positive real numbers, then
![$a^ab^bc^c\ge (abc)^{(a+b+c)/3}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/c/d/b/cdb94a39e3190f57fcbb1f2fbe849a6c038b66e7.png)
Solution 1
Consider the function .
for
; therefore, it is a convex function and we can apply Jensen's Inequality:
![$\frac{a\ln{a}+b\ln{b}+c\ln{c}}{3}\ge \left(\frac{a+b+c}{3}\right)\ln\left(\frac{a+b+c}{3}\right)$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/d/b/0/db0d87edcf1329bb08f89821fd547f050f23f363.png)
Apply AM-GM to get
![$\frac{a+b+c}{3}\ge \sqrt[3]{abc}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/8/7/2/872ec383ca01e8997916c1dbaee116fee66f8130.png)
which implies
![$\frac{a\ln{a}+b\ln{b}+c\ln{c}}{3}\ge \left(\frac{a+b+c}{3}\right)\ln\left(\sqrt[3]{abc}\right)$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/d/a/3/da34b15dd7c8d75509c763b00ecc8f379c8cbd22.png)
Rearranging,
![$a\ln{a}+b\ln{b}+c\ln{c}\ge\left(\frac{a+b+c}{3}\right)\ln\left(abc\right)$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/3/f/5/3f59079c18ed4396607cf01df15d21c4dcb3d272.png)
Because is an increasing function, we can conclude that:
![$e^{a\ln{a}+b\ln{b}+c\ln{c}}\ge{e}^{\ln\left(abc\right)(a+b+c)/3}$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/6/3/5/635872e58e16d76df675269c7674dff286ad4dd5.png)
which simplifies to the desired inequality.
Solution 2
Note that .
So if we can prove that and
, then we are done.
WLOG let .
Note that . Since
,
,
, and
, it follows that
.
Note that . Since
,
,
, and
, it follows that
.
Thus, , and cube-rooting both sides gives
as desired.
Solution 3
WLOG let . Let
and
, where
and
.
We want to prove that .
Simplifying and combining terms on each side, we get .
Since , we can divide out
to get
.
Take the th root of each side and then cube both sides to get
.
This simplifies to .
Since and
, we only need to prove
for our given
.
WLOG, let and
for
. Then our expression becomes
This is clearly true for .
Solution 4
WLOG let . Then sequence
majorizes
. Thus by Muirhead's Inequality, we have
, so
.
Solution 5
Let
and
Then
and a straightforward calculation reduces the problem to
WLOG, assume
Then
and
Therefore,
J.Z.
Solution 6
Cubing both sides of the given inequality gives
If we take
as the product of
's,
's, and
, we get that
by GM-HM, as desired.
Solution 7
Replacing with
,
with
, and
with
, for some positive real
we get:
This means that this inequality is homogeneous since both sides have the same power of
as a factor. Since the inequality is homogeneous, we can scale
so that their product is
, i.e.
. This makes the inequality turn into something much more nicer to deal with. Now we have to prove:
given that
.
Note that
even if
. Therefore
,
, and
. Multiplying these together we get:
. This proves the desired result. Equality holds when
.
Solution 8 (Rearrangement)
Let ,
and
, and WLOG
.
Then we have both
and
.
By the rearrangement inequality,
and
.
Summing,
Adding
,we get
.
Now we substitute back for
to get:
.
Raising
to the power of each side, we get
Solution 9
Assume without loss of generality that . Then, we have
It follows that
We can "distribute" the exponents, which gives
Notice that in the
in the denominator of the third fraction can be brought out of the denominator by negating its exponent. This gives
We can move around terms on the left to get
Now we combine the exponents in the numerators. This gives
We multiply both sides by
which gives
We then multiply both sides by
Multiplying both sides by
then simplifying both sides with exponent laws, gives
Finally, we multiply both sides by
Combining exponents one last time gives the desired
--MenuThreeOne
Alternate solutions are always welcome. If you have a different, elegant solution to this problem, please add it to this page.
See Also
1974 USAMO (Problems • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 1 |
Followed by Problem 3 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 | ||
All USAMO Problems and Solutions |
- Simple Olympiad Inequality
- Hard inequality
- Inequality
- Some q's on usamo write ups
- ineq
- exponents (generalization)
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.