The Buffalo Way is a plug-and-bash method used to solve olympiad inequalities. It is usually applied to symmetric inequalities, where we can assume WLOG that the variables are in a specific order; that is, .
To illustrate this method, we shall prove for two variables using the method.
Prove that for non-negative reals .
First, assume WLOG that . Thus, we can represent and by: where are non-negative reals. Make sure you see why this is true.
Thus, we want to prove
Squaring both sides gives which is true by the trivial inequality.
In general, if we have variables satisfying , then we substitute
Given that are non-negative reals such that , then prove that
We see that we already have the condition of , so we can apply Buffalo's Way directly. Let where are non-negative reals. Thus, we want to prove
This expands to (told you Buffalo Way is a bash):
Rearranging gives which is trivially true ( are positive).
We can also see that this method gives an equality case: We must have . Thus, .
When actually solving Olympiad Inequalities in competitions, NEVER use this method, unless you have no idea now to do it otherwise. In cases where the inequality is relatively simple (no denominators) the Buffalo Way is almost guaranteed to work.
NOTE: I don't know where the name comes from. If you try to search it up, you won't get any results. I first heard of this method from the AoPS Community.
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2lazy2bash
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Yes #2lazy2bash
Are there any Olympiad problems that can be solved with Buffalo?
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Well, try solving the second one without buffalo's.
But to answer your question, chances are there are no Olympiad question that can be only exclusively solved using the Buffalo way. This method is the least elegant method of olympiad inequalities ever, and it is almost guaranteed that there is a more elegant solution.
You might even be docked a point on the USA(J)MO if you used buffalo way, because of it's extreme inelegantness.
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"You might even be docked a point on the USA(J)MO if you used buffalo way, because of it's extreme inelegantness."
You might actually get a score of a point on that USA(J)MO (correct answer, bad proof)
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We just have to make sure that all of our implications are reversible when using this method.