1 Power mean inequality

Definition 1
Given a sequence x1 , x2 , . . . , xn of positive real numbers, the mean of order r ,
denoted by Mr (x) is defined as
 r1
xr1 + xr2 + · · · + xrn

Mr (x) =
n

M1 (x1 , . . . , xn ) is the arithmetic mean, while M2 (x1 , . . . , xn ) is the quadratic

mean of the numbers x1 , . . . , xn M−1 is the harmonic mean.
M0 can’t be defined using the expression analogous to the expressions for
other means, but we will show that as r approaches 0 , Mr will approach the
geometric mean.
The famous mean inequality can be now stated as Mr (x1 , . . . , xn ) ≤ Ms (x1 , . . . , xn ),
for 0 ≤ r ≤ s.
However we will treat this in slightly greater generality. We will consider
the weighted mean of order r .

Definition 2 (Weighted mean)

Let m = (m1 , . . . , mn ) be a fixed sequence of non-negative real numbers such
that m1 + m2 + · · · + mn = 1 Then the weighted mean of order r of the sequence
of positive reals x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) is defined as:
1
Mrm (x) = (m1 xr1 + m2 xr2 + · · · + mn xrn ) r

∴ M1m = ( mi xi ) =AM
P
∴ If m1 = m2 = · · · = n1 then M m
r (x) = Mr (x) where Mr (x) is previously
defined.

1
Theorem 1 (General Mean Inequality)
If x = (x1 , . . . , xn ) is a sequence of positive real numbers and m = (m1 , . . . , mn )
another sequence of positive real numbers satisfying m1 + m2 + · · · + mn = 1 ,
then for 0 ≤ r ≤ s we haveMrm (x) ≤ Msm (x) .
1
• If m1 = m2 = · · · = 1
n then Mrm (x) = Mr (x) = (m1 xr1 + m2 xr2 + · · · + mn xrn ) r
Problems

2 Inequality of Minkowski
The standard inequalities are easily obtained by placing mi = 1 whenever some
m appears in the text below. Assuming that the sum m1 +· · ·+mn = 1 one easily
get the generalized (weighted) mean inequalities, and additional assumption
mi = 1/n gives the standard mean inequalities.

Theorem 2(Minkowski)
If x1 , x2 , · · ·, xn ; y1 , y2 , · · ·, yn , and m1 , m2 , · · ·, mn are three sequences of
 n  p1  n  p1
p P p
positive real numbers and p > 1 , then
P
(xi + yi ) mi ≤ xi m i +
i=1 i=1
 n  p1
P p
yi m i − − − − − (3)
i=1
The equality holds if and only if the sequences (xi ) and (yi ) are proportional,
i.e. if and only if there is a constant λ such that xi = λyi for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.

3 Young’s inequality
ap q
If a, b, p , and q are positive real numbers such that 1 1
p+q = 1 , then p + bq ≥ ab
Equality holds if and only if ap = bq

Lemma
If x1 , x2 , . . . , xn , y1 , y2 , . . . , yn , m1 , m2 , . . . , mn are three sequences of positive
real numbers and p, q > 1 such that p1 + 1q = 1, and α > 0 , then
n n n
X 1 pX p 1 X q
xi yi mi ≤ α xi m i + q y mi − − − − − −(4)
i=1
p i=1
qα i=1 i

yiq
The equality holds if and only if αp xpi = αq for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.

2
4 Holders inequality
• If x1 , x2 , . . . , xn , y1 , y2 , . . . , yn , m1 , m2 , . . . , mn are three sequences of pos-
itive real numbers and p, q > 1 such that p1 + 1q = 1, and α > 0 , then

n n
! p1 n
! q1
X X X
xi yi mi ≤ xpi mi yiq mi − − − − − −(5)
i=1 i=1 i=1
The equality holds if and only if the sequences (xpi ) and (yiq ) are proportional.
 n 2  n  n 
• For p = q = 2 we get CS yi .
P P 2 P 2
xi yi ≤ xi
i=1 i=1 i=1

• The easy version for n = 3 , is for positive real numbers a, b, c, p, q, r, x, y, z,

(x3 + y 3 + z 3 )(a3 + b3 + c3 )(p3 + q 3 + r3 ) ≥ (xap + ybq + acr)3

Problems
1. For positive integer n, define Sn to be the minimum value of the sum
Xn q
(2k − 1)2 + a2k ,
k=1

where a1 , a2 , . . . , an are positive real numbers whose sum is 17. There is

a unique positive integer n for which Sn is also an integer. Find this n.

a3 b3 c3
2. Prove that for all positive real numbers a, b, c, x, y, z, x + y + z ≥
(a+b+c)3
3(x+y+z)

3. √
For nonnegative real numbers x, y, z prove that
p p
3x2 + xy + 3y 2 + yz +
3z 2 + zx ≤ 2(x + y + z).

4. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers such that a + b + c = 1.Prove the

inequality
a b c
√ +√ +√ ≥1
a + 2b b + 2c c + 2a

5. (IMO 2001) Prove that for all positive real numbers a, b, c,

a b c
√ +√ +√ ≥ 1.
a2 + 8bc b2 + 8ca c2 + 8ab
6. For a, b, c > 0, λ ≥ 8, prove that
a b c 3
√ +√ +√ ≥√ .
a2 + λbc 2
b + λac 2
c + λab 1+λ

3
5 Cauchy flipping
1
1. Let a, b, c be non negatives with a2 +b2 +c2 = 3. Show that
P
cyc ≥
a3 +2
1.
2. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers with the sum 3 . Prove that
a b c 3
+ + ≥ (Bulgaria TST 2003)
1 + b2 1 + c2 1 + a2 2

3. Suppose that a, b, c, d are four positive real numbers with sum 4. Prove
that X a
≥2
1 + b2 c
4. (Pham Kim Hung) Let a, b, c be positive real numbers. Prove that
3 3 3 3
a) a2a+b2 + b2b+c2 + c2c+d2 + d2d+a2 ≥ a+b+c+d
2
4
b4 c4 d4
b) a3 +2b
a
3 + b3 +2c3 + c3 +2d3 + d3 +2a3 ≥ a+b+c+d
3

5. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers with sum 3. Prove that

a2 b2 c2
2
+ 2
+ ≥1
a + 2b b + 2c c + 2a2

6. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers with sum 3. Prove that

a2 b2 c2
+ + ≥1
a + 2b3 b + 2c3 c2 + 2a3

4
 Schur’s Inequality

January 17, 2020

Let a, b, c be non negative real numbers, and p be positive. Then the

following inequality holds:

ap (a − b)(a − c) + bp (b − c)(b − a) + cp (c − a)(c − b) ≥ 0,

with equality if and only if a = b = c or a = b, c = 0 (up to permutation).

The above inequality is known as Schur’s inequality, after Issai Schur.

Common Cases
• The n = 1 case yields the well-known inequality:

a3 + b3 + c3 + 3abc ≥ a2 b + a2 c + b2 a + b2 c + c2 a + c2 b

• The n = 2, an equivalent form is:

a4 + b4 + c4 + abc(a + b + c) ≥ a3 b + a3 c + b3 a + b3 c + c3 a + c3 b

• Corollary
Let x, y, z and a, b, c be positive real numbers such that a ≥ b ≥ c or
a ≤ b ≤ c. Then we have

a(x − y)(x − z) + b(y − x)(y − z) + c(z − x)(z − y) ≥ 0.

Generalization of Schur’s lemma:

Let a, b, c be positive real numbers,p, q ∈ R and q be positive. Then the
following inequality holds:

ap (aq − bq )(aq − cq ) + bp (bq − cq )(bq − aq ) + cp (cq − aq )(cq − bq ) ≥ 0

with equality if and only if a = b = c or a = b, c = 0 (up to permutation).

5
Generalized Form
It has been shown by V alentinV ornicu that a more general form of Schur’s
Inequality exists. Consider a, b, c, x, y, z ∈ R, where a ≥ b ≥ c, and either x ≥
y ≥ z or z ≥ y ≥ x. Let k ∈ Z+ , and let f : R → R+ 0 be either convex or
monotonic. Then,
f (x)(a − b)k (a − c)k + f (y)(b − a)k (b − c)k + f (z)(c − a)k (c − b)k ≥ 0.
with equality if and only if a = b = c or a = b, c = 0 (up to permutation).
The standard form of Schur’s is the case of this inequality where x = a, y =
b, z = c, k = 1, f (m) = mr .

Problems
1. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers. Prove the inequality
X a X a2 + bc
≥
b+c (a + b)(a + c)

2. Let a, b, c be non-negative real numbers. Prove the inequality

a b c 1
+ 2 + 2 ≥
4b2 + bc + 4c 2 4c + ca + 4a 2 4a + ab + 4b 2 a+b+c

3. (IMO 1964) Let a, b, c be the side lengths of a triangle. Prove that a2 (b +

c − a) + b2 (c + a − b) + c2 (a + b − c) ≤ 3abc.

Muirhead’s Inequality
• Muirhead’s Inequality states that if a sequence a majorizes a sequence b,
then
P given a set of positivePreals x1 , x2 , · · · , xn :
a1 a2
sym x 1 x 2 · · · xn an ≥ sym x1 b1 x2 b2 · · · xn bn
that is a  b implies T [a] ≥ T [b] .
Equality is achieved only if either a = b, or all x0s are equal.

1. (BMO1 2002 Round 1): For positive real x, y, z such that x2 + y 2 + z 2 =

1prove that
1
x2 yz + xy 2 z + xyz 2 ≤
3
2. (BMO1 1996 Round 1) Let a, b and c be positive real numbers. Prove that

4(a3 + b3 ) ≥ (a + b)3

and
9(a3 + b3 + c3 ) ≥ (a + b + c)3

6
3. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers. Prove the inequality 1
a3 +b3 +abc +
1 1 1
b3 +c3 +abc + a3 +c3 +abc ≤ abc

4. Let x, y and z be positive real numbers such that xyz ≥ 1. Prove that

x5 − x2 y5 − y2 z5 − z2
+ + ≥0
x5 + y 2 + z 2 y 5 + z 2 + x2 z 5 + x2 + y 2