Mathematical Excalibur, Vol. 11, No. 1, Feb. 06 - Mar.
06
Example 3. (1998 IMO Shortlisted
Problem) For any x, y, z > 0 with xyz =
1, prove that
3 3
x y z 3
+ + .
(1+ y)(1+ z) (1+ z)(1+ x) (1+ x)(1+ y) 4
Solution. Multiplying by the common
denominator and expanding both sides,
the desired inequality is
4(x4+y4+z4+x3+y3+z3)
3(1+x+y+z+xy+yz+zx+xyz).
This is equivalent to 4[(4,0,0)] +
4[(3,0,0)] [(0,0,0)] + 3[(1,0,0)] +
3[(1,1,0)] + [(1,1,1)].
For this, we apply Muirheads
inequality and the trick as follow:
[(4,0,0)] [(4/3,4/3,4/3)] = [(0,0,0)],
3[(4,0,0)] 3[(2,1,1)] = 3[(1,0,0)],
3[(3,0,0)] 3[(4/3,4/3,1/3)] = 3[(1,1,0)]
and [(3,0,0)] [(1,1,1)] .
Adding these, we get the desired
inequality.
Remark. For the following example,
we will modify the trick above. In case
xyz 1, we have
[(p1, p2, p3)] [(p1r, p2r, p3r)]
for every r 0. Also, we will use the
following
Fact. For p, q n, we have
[ p] + [q] p + q
. 1
2 2
This is because by the AM-GM
inequality,
x p1
Lx pn
+xq1
(1 ) (n) (1 )
2 ( x y ) 2 + ( y z ) 2 + ( z x) 2
x( p(11+) q1 ) / 2 L x( p( nn+) qn ) / 2 .
Summing over Sn and dividing by n!,
we get the inequality.
Example 4. (2005 IMO) For any x, y, z
> 0 with xyz 1, prove that
x5 x2 y5 y 2 z5 z 2
+ +
x5 + y2 + z 2 y5 + z 2 + x2 z5 + x2 + y2
Solution. Multiplying by the common
denominator and expanding both sides,
the desired inequality is equivalent to
[(9,0,0)]+4[(7,5,0)]+[(5,2,2)]+[(5,5,5)]
[(6,0,0)] + [(5,5,2)] + 2[(5,4,0)] +
2[(4,2,0)] + [(2,2,2)].
To prove this, we note that
Page 2
(1) [(9,0,0)] [(7,1,1)] [(6,0,0)] c < d. Let r = (r1,,rn) be defined by ri
= pi except rj = b + c and rk = b c. By
(2) [(7,5,0)] [(5,5,2)] the definition of c, either rj = qj or
3
rk=qk. Also, by the definitions of b, c,
(3) 2[(7,5,0)] 2[(6,5,1)] 2[(5,4,0)] d, we get p r, p r and r q. Now
(4) [(7,5,0)] + [(5,2,2)] 2[(6,7/2,1)]
x (x
pj r
n!([ p] [r]) = x pk
( j ) (k ) xj( j ) xrk(k ) )
2[(11/2,7/2,3/2)] 2[(4,2,0)] S n
(5) [(5,5,5)] [(2,2,2)], = x (u b+d
v b d u b + c v b c ),
S n
where (1) and (3) are by Muirheads
inequality and the remark, (2) is by where x is the product of x p ( i ) for i
Muirheads inequality, (4) is by the fact, i j, k and u = x(j) , v = x(k). For each
Muirheads inequality and the remark and
permutation , there is a permutation
(5) is by the remark.
such that (i) = (i) for i j, k and (j)
Considering the sum of the leftmost parts = (k), (k) = (j). In the above sum, if
of these inequalities is greater than or we pair the terms for and , then x =
equal to the sum of the rightmost parts of x and combining the parenthetical
these inequalities, we get the desired factors for the and terms, we have
inequalities.
(ub+d vbd ub+c vbc)+(vb+d ubd vb+c ubc)
= ubd vbd (ud+c vd+c) (udc vdc) 0.
Alternate Solution. Since
So the above sum is nonnegative. Then
x x
5 2
x x
5 2 [p] [r]. Equality holds if and only if u
= v for all pairs of and , which yields
x5 + y 2 + z 2 x3 ( x 2 + y 2 + z 2 )
x1= x2 = = xn. Finally we recall r has
( x 3 1) 2 ( y 2 + z 2 ) at least one more coordinate in
= 0, agreement with q than p. So repeating
x( x + y 2 + z 2 )( x 5 + y 2 + z 2 )
2
this process finitely many times, we
we have will eventually get the case r = q. Then
we are done.
x5 x 2 y5 y 2 z5 z2
+ +
x5 + y 2 + z 2 y5 + z 2 + x2 z 5 + x2 + y 2 Next, for the advanced readers, we
will outline a longer proof, which tells
x5 x2 y5 y2 z5 z 2 more of the story. It is consisted of two
+ 3 2 2 2 + 3 2 2 2
x (x + y + z ) y ( y + z + x ) z (z + x + y )
3 2 2 2
steps. The first step is to observe that if
c1, c2, , ck 0 with sum equals 1 and
1 1 1 v1, v2, , vk n, then
x2 + y2 + z 2
(x2 + y2 + z 2 )
x y z k
k
c [v i ] c i v i .
i
i =1
1 i =1
( x 2 + y 2 + z 2 yz zx xy )
Lx qn x2 + y2 + z2 This follows by using the weighted
(n)
AM-GM inequality instead in the proof
of the fact above. (For the statement of
= 0.
2( x 2 + y 2 + z 2 ) the weighted AM-GM inequality, see
Mathematical Excalibur, vol. 5, no. 4,
p. 2, remark in column 1).
Proofs of Muirheads Inequality The second step is the difficult step of
showing p q implies there exist
Kin Yin Li nonnegative numbers c1, c2, , cn! with
sum equals 1 such that
Let p q and p q. From i = 1 to n, the
0. n!
first nonzero pi qi is positive by q = ci Pi ,
i =1
condition 2 of majorization. Then there is
a negative pi qi later by condition 3. It where P1, P2, , Pn! n whose
follows that there are j < k such that pj > qj, coordinates are the n! permutations of
pk < qk and pi = qi for any possible i the coordinates of p. Muirheads
between j, k. inequality follows immediately by
applying the first step and observing
Let b = (pj+pk)/2, d = (pjpk)/2 so that that [Pi]=[p] for i=1,2,, n!.
[bd,b+d] = [pk, pj] [qk, qj]. Let c be
(continued on page 4)
the maximum of |qjb| and |qkb|, then 0