2008 IMO Problems/Problem 2
Problem 2
(i) If , and are three real numbers, all different from , such that , then prove that . (With the sign for cyclic summation, this inequality could be rewritten as .)
(ii) Prove that equality is achieved for infinitely many triples of rational numbers , and .
Problem 2
(i) If , and are three real numbers, all different from , such that , then prove that . (With the sign for cyclic summation, this inequality could be rewritten as .)
(ii) Prove that equality is achieved for infinitely many triples of rational numbers , and .
Solution
Consider the transormation defined by and put . Since is also one-to one from to , the problem is equivalent to showing that subject to and that equallity holds for infinitely many triplets of rational .
Now, rewrite (2) as and express it as where and . Notice that (1) can be written as But from , we get with equality holding iff . That proves part (i) and points us in the direction of looking for rational for which and (hence) , that is: