Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 8 / 32 of 180 #1732 of 1964

Problem 1732

IMO Shortlist mid-range; USAMO P2/P5
Algebra Difficulty 8.1 Prove it

□\square Example 15 Given that a,b,c,d,ka, b, c, d, k are all positive real numbers, and a,b,c,d⩽ka, b, c, d \leqslant k, prove the inequality:
a4+b4+c4+d4(2k−a)4+(2k−b)4+(2k−c)4+(2k−d)4⩾abcd(2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d).(2002 China Taiwan Mathematical \begin{aligned} & \frac{a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}+d^{4}}{(2 k-a)^{4}+(2 k-b)^{4}+(2 k-c)^{4}+(2 k-d)^{4}} \\ \geqslant & \frac{a b c d}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)} .(2002 \text { China Taiwan Mathematical } \end{aligned}

Taiwan Mathematical Olympiad Problem)

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Official solution

Prove that the original inequality is equivalent to
a4+b4+c4+d4abcd⩾(2k−a)4+(2k−b)4+(2k−c)4+(2k−d)4(2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d)\frac{a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}+d^{4}}{a b c d} \geqslant \frac{(2 k-a)^{4}+(2 k-b)^{4}+(2 k-c)^{4}+(2 k-d)^{4}}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)}

is equivalent to (a2−b2)2+(c2−d2)2+2(a2b2+c2d2)abcd⩾\frac{\left(a^{2}-b^{2}\right)^{2}+\left(c^{2}-d^{2}\right)^{2}+2\left(a^{2} b^{2}+c^{2} d^{2}\right)}{a b c d} \geqslant
[(2k−a)2−(2k−b)2]2+[(2k−c)2−(2k−d)2]2+2[(2k−a)2(2k−b)2+(2k−c)2(2k−d)2](2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d).\frac{\left[(2 k-a)^{2}-(2 k-b)^{2}\right]^{2}+\left[(2 k-c)^{2}-(2 k-d)^{2}\right]^{2}+2\left[(2 k-a)^{2}(2 k-b)^{2}+(2 k-c)^{2}(2 k-d)^{2}\right]}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)} .

Assume without loss of generality that a⩾b⩾c⩾da \geqslant b \geqslant c \geqslant d, and we will prove the following three inequalities:
(a2−b2)2abcd⩾[(2k−a)2−(2k−b)2]2(2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d),(c2−d2)2abcd⩾[(2k−c)2(2k−d)2]2(2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d)2(a2b2+c2d2)abcd⩾2[(2k−a)2(2k−b)2+(2k−c)2(2k−d)2](2k−a)(2k−b)(2k−c)(2k−d)\begin{array}{c} \frac{\left(a^{2}-b^{2}\right)^{2}}{a b c d} \geqslant \frac{\left[(2 k-a)^{2}-(2 k-b)^{2}\right]^{2}}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)}, \\ \frac{\left(c^{2}-d^{2}\right)^{2}}{a b c d} \geqslant \frac{\left[(2 k-c)^{2}(2 k-d)^{2}\right]^{2}}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)} \\ \frac{2\left(a^{2} b^{2}+c^{2} d^{2}\right)}{a b c d} \geqslant \frac{2\left[(2 k-a)^{2}(2 k-b)^{2}+(2 k-c)^{2}(2 k-d)^{2}\right]}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)(2 k-c)(2 k-d)} \end{array}

Since a,b,c,d⩽ka, b, c, d \leqslant k, we have
(2k−a)(2k−b)⩾ab,(2k−c)(2k−d)⩾cd,\begin{array}{l} (2 k-a)(2 k-b) \geqslant a b, \\ (2 k-c)(2 k-d) \geqslant c d, \end{array}

Thus, it suffices to prove (a2−b2)2ab⩾[(2k−a)2−(2k−b)2]2(2k−a)(2k−b)\quad \frac{\left(a^{2}-b^{2}\right)^{2}}{a b} \geqslant \frac{\left[(2 k-a)^{2}-(2 k-b)^{2}\right]^{2}}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)},
hence
(a2−b2)2ab⩾[(2k−a)2−(2k−b)2]2(2k−a)(2k−b)(a−b)2[(a+b)2(2k−a)(2k−b)]⩾(a−b)2[(4k−a−b)2ab](a+b2)2(2k−a)(2k−b)⩾(2k−a+b2)2ab(a+b2)2[(2k−a+b2)2−(a−b2)2]⩾(2k−a+b2)2[(a+b2)2−(a−b2)2][(2k−a+b2)2−(a+b2)2](a−b2)2⩾0\begin{aligned} \frac{\left(a^{2}-b^{2}\right)^{2}}{a b} & \geqslant \frac{\left[(2 k-a)^{2}-(2 k-b)^{2}\right]^{2}}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)}(a-b)^{2}\left[(a+b)^{2}(2 k-a)(2 k-b)\right] \\ & \geqslant(a-b)^{2}[(4 k-a-b) 2 a b]\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}(2 k-a)(2 k-b) \\ & \geqslant\left(2 k-\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2} a b\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}\left[\left(2 k-\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}-\left(\frac{a-b}{2}\right)^{2}\right] \\ \geqslant & \left(2 k-\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}\left[\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}-\left(\frac{a-b}{2}\right)^{2}\right]\left[\left(2 k-\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}-\right. \\ & \left.\left(\frac{a+b}{2}\right)^{2}\right]\left(\frac{a-b}{2}\right)^{2} \geqslant 0 \end{aligned}

By k⩾a⩾bk \geqslant a \geqslant b, we know 2k−a+b2⩾a+b22 k-\frac{a+b}{2} \geqslant \frac{a+b}{2}, so (5) is clearly true, hence (2) is true. Similarly, (3) can be proven.

By k⩾a⩾b⩾c⩾d>0k \geqslant a \geqslant b \geqslant c \geqslant d>0, we know
abcd⩾1,(2k−c)(2k−d)(2k−a)(2k−b)abcd⩾1\frac{a b}{c d} \geqslant 1, \frac{(2 k-c)(2 k-d)}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)} \frac{a b}{c d} \geqslant 1

Let f(x)=x+1xf(x)=x+\frac{1}{x}, then f(x)=f(1x)f(x)=f\left(\frac{1}{x}\right), and f(x)f(x) is monotonically increasing on [1,+∞)[1,+\infty), so
 (4)  is equivalent to f(abcd)⩾f[(2k−c)(2k−d)(2k−a)(2k−b)]⇔abcd⩾(2k−c)(2k−d)(2k−a)(2k−b)⇔ab(2k−a)(2k−b)cd(2k−c)(2k−d)⩾1⇔k2−(k−a)2k2(k−c)2⋅k2−(k−b)2k2(k−d)2⩾1.\text { (4) } \begin{aligned} \text { is equivalent to } & f\left(\frac{a b}{c d}\right) \geqslant f\left[\frac{(2 k-c)(2 k-d)}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)}\right] \\ & \Leftrightarrow \frac{a b}{c d} \geqslant \frac{(2 k-c)(2 k-d)}{(2 k-a)(2 k-b)} \\ & \Leftrightarrow \frac{a b(2 k-a)(2 k-b)}{c d(2 k-c)(2 k-d)} \geqslant 1 \\ & \Leftrightarrow \frac{k^{2}-(k-a)^{2}}{k^{2}(k-c)^{2}} \cdot \frac{k^{2}-(k-b)^{2}}{k^{2}(k-d)^{2}} \geqslant 1 . \end{aligned}

By k⩾a⩾b⩾c⩾d>0k \geqslant a \geqslant b \geqslant c \geqslant d>0, we have
k⩾k−c⩾k−a>0,k⩾k−d⩾k−b>0k \geqslant k-c \geqslant k-a>0, k \geqslant k-d \geqslant k-b>0
(6) is true, hence (4) is true.

Adding (2), (3), and (4) yields (1), thus the original inequality is proven.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.