Inequalities continued...

Fudging

Often times and inequality will be of the form f(a, b, c)+f(c, a, b)+f(b, c, a) D for some constant D. The
function f may be very complicated which may leave the solver bewildered as to how to go about. A naive
approach would be to show f(a, b, c) D
3 however this often fails as one piece may come arbitrarily close
to D while the other 2 pieces become arbitrarily small. Often times we need a way to break the constant D
into pieces and this is why we use fudging. Fudging is simply the following way to decompose a constant,
Db
Dc
Da
+ a+b+c
+ a+b+c
which allows each term to vary in correspondence to f(a, b, c). Note that
D = a+b+c
r r r
replacing a, b, c with a , b , c would yield the same end result while allowing the individual pieces to more
properly fit f(a, b, c). How does one determine the value of r? Remember that if the value of r was known,
then you could simply brute force through the term comparisons with AM-GM for the most part which
allows you to get an intuitive feel of how to search for r should a suitable value exist. There exist many
other fudging substitutions besides the one described above as I hope you will see through the problems.
Note that problems 3.1 and 3.2 are meant to be used as fudging, not solved by fudging.
1.1) Prove that for all a, b, c R+ we have,

x+

x
(x+y)(x+z)

y+

y
(y+x)(y+z)

z+

z
(z+x)(z+y)

1.2) Prove that for all a, b, c, d R+ we have,

a
b
c
d
1 < a+b+c
+ b+c+d
+ c+d+a
+ d+a+b
<2
Furthermore, show that you can come arbitrarily close to either bound.

Substitutions

Often times constraints are non-standard and very difficult to deal with. However, one may notice that
many difficult and awkward constraints are actually the very simple constraint of a + b + c = 3 in disguise.
Note that the well known substitution to remove this constraint is simply that found in the description of
fudging above.
2.1) Prove that for all a, b, c R+ satisfying
1
1
1
a2 1 + b2 1 + c2 1
1
1
1
a+1 + b+1 + c+1

= 1 and a, b, c > 1 prove that ,

1

Other times, the constraint may have interplay bewteen the many variables in which case the substitution
needed to remove it may not be of any well known form before hand. To get a feel for what the substitution
may be, check the values of a, b, and c when they are all equal and satisfying the constraint. Also, ask
whether or not any variable is bounded above or below. In the example below we see that a = b = c = 12
x
x
is the equality case so we may guess along the lines of a = x+y
or a = y+z
. Which one of the previous
substitutions is worth plugging into the equation and testing? One of them can be eliminated without
actually plugging it in.
2.2) Given a, b, c R+ satisfying ab + bc + ca + 2abc = 1 prove that,
a + b + c 32

Problems

All variables in all problems are real and positive unless stated otherwise.
3.1) Given that

n
Y

ai = 1 prove that,

i=1
n
X
i=1

1
1
n 1 + ai

3.2) Given that

n
Y

ai = 1 and S =

i=1
n
X
i=1

n
X

ai prove that,

i=1

1
1
1 + S ai

3.3) Prove that,

2a2 + 5ab + 2b2 + 2b2 + 5bc + 2c2 + 2c2 + 5ca + 2a2 3(a + b + c)
3.4) Prove that,
a
a2 +bc

b
b2 +ca

3.5) Given that

1
a+b

1
b+c

1
c+a

c
c2 +ab

1
a

3
abc

1
c

= 3 prove,

3
2

3.6) Given that a + b + c = 1 and a, b, c 34 prove that,

a
a2 +1

b
b2 +1

c
c2 +1

9
10

3.7) Given that a2 + b2 + c2 + abc = 4 prove,

a+b+c3
3.8) Let ABC be a triangle. Its excircles touch sides BC, CA, AB at D, E, F, respectively. Prove that the
perimeter of triangle ABC is at most twice that of triangle DEF.
3.9) Prove that,

3
4a3 + 4b3 + 3 4b3 + 4c3 + 3 4c3 + 4a3

4a2
a+b

4b2
b+c

4c2
c+a