Asymmetric inequality

Algebra Level 5

Find the largest constant k k such that

k a b c a + b + c ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + b + 4 c ) 2 \frac{kabc}{a+b+c} \leq (a+b)^2 + (a+b+4c)^2

holds for all positive real numbers a , b , c a,b,c .


The answer is 100.

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4 solutions

Anqi Li
Jun 10, 2014

Key Technique: Examine the equality case. \large \text{Key Technique: Examine the equality case.}

The main idea here is the asymmetric factor . It is considerably motivated to break up the term 4 c 4c among a a and b b somehow to make stuff a bit more "even out" so to speak. So we suspect that equality is when a = b = 2 c a=b=2c which gives us k = 100 k=100 .

This equality case resembles that of AM-GM . Part of our strategy is to break up 4 c 4c as in the equality case. So we proceed as follows.

a + b + c a b c × [ ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + b + 4 c ) 2 ] \frac{a+b+c}{abc} \times [(a+b)^2 + (a+b+4c)^2]

= a + b + c a b c × [ ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + 2 c + b + 2 c ) 2 ] = \frac{a+b+c}{abc} \times [(a+b)^2 + (a+2c+b+2c)^2]

a + b + c a b c × [ 4 a b + ( 2 2 a c + 2 2 b c ) 2 ] \geq \frac{a+b+c}{abc} \times [4ab + (2\sqrt{2ac} + 2\sqrt{2bc})^2]

= a + b + c a b c × [ 4 a b + 8 a c + 8 b c + 16 a c × c ] = \frac{a+b+c}{abc} \times [4ab + 8ac + 8bc + 16 \sqrt{ac} \times c ]

= ( a + b + c ) ( 4 c + 8 a + 8 b + 16 a b ) = (a+b+c) \left( \frac{4}{c} + \frac{8}{a} + \frac{8}{b} + \frac{16}{\sqrt{ab}} \right)

Up till now we will notice that the variables on the denominator do not immediately cancel out if we just whack AM-GM straight . One way to remedy this is to break up the terms further . Since the numerator involve powers of 2 2 , we break stuff up into halves . We are also motivated to break things up into 5 5 parts to create the factors of 5 5 in the equality case when k = 100 k=100 .

= ( a 2 + a 2 + b 2 + b 2 + c ) ( 4 c + 8 a + 8 b + 8 a b + 8 a b ) = \left( \frac{a}{2} + \frac{a}{2} + \frac{b}{2} + \frac{b}{2} + c \right) \left( \frac{4}{c} + \frac{8}{a} + \frac{8}{b} + \frac{8}{\sqrt{ab}} + \frac{8}{\sqrt{ab}}\right)

( 5 a 2 b 2 c 2 4 5 ) × ( 5 2 14 a 2 b 2 c 5 ) \geq \left( 5 \sqrt[5]{\frac{a^2b^2c}{2^{4}}} \right) \times \left( 5 \sqrt[5]{\frac{2^{14}}{a^2b^2c}} \right)

= 100 = 100

Can you explain how you got 2 14 2^{14} in the denominator of the first part in the last line.

sujoy roy - 7 years ago

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Oh ya oops. Thanks for pointing it out. It was typo on my part :/

Anqi Li - 7 years ago

Amazing solution kerja yang baik solved the same way.

Mardokay Mosazghi - 6 years, 12 months ago

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Thanks! :)

Anqi Li - 6 years, 12 months ago

What is the guarantee that minimal value of the expression is attained when a = b = 2 c a=b=2c ?

Sagnik Saha - 7 years ago

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The proof above...?

Anqi Li - 7 years ago
Mehul Chaturvedi
Dec 20, 2014

if a , b , c > 0 a,b,c>0 ,I have answer k 100 k\le 100

since Use AM-GM inequality we have ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + b + 4 c ) 2 = ( a + b ) 2 + [ ( a + 2 c ) + ( b + 2 c ) ] 2 ( 2 a b ) 2 + ( 2 2 a c + 2 2 b c ) 2 = 4 a b + 8 a c + 8 b c + 16 c a b \begin{aligned}(a+b)^2+(a+b+4c)^2&=(a+b)^2+[(a+2c)+(b+2c)]^2\ge (2\sqrt{ab})^2+(2\sqrt{2ac}+2\sqrt{2bc})^2\\ &=4ab+8ac+8bc+16c\sqrt{ab} \end{aligned} so ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + b + 4 c ) 2 a b c 8 ( 1 2 c + 1 b + 1 a + 1 a b + 1 a b ) \dfrac{(a+b)^2+(a+b+4c)^2}{abc}\ge8\left(\dfrac{1}{2c}+\dfrac{1}{b}+\dfrac{1}{a}+\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{ab}}+\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{ab}}\right) a + b + c = a 2 + a 2 + b 2 + b 2 + c a+b+c=\dfrac{a}{2}+\dfrac{a}{2}+\dfrac{b}{2}+\dfrac{b}{2}+c so use AM-GM inequality we have ( a + b ) 2 + ( a + b + 4 c ) 2 a b c ( a + b + c ) 8 ( 5 1 2 a 2 b 2 c 5 ) ( 5 a 2 b 2 c 2 4 5 ) = 100 \dfrac{(a+b)^2+(a+b+4c)^2}{abc}(a+b+c)\ge 8\left(5\sqrt[5]{\dfrac{1}{2a^2b^2c}}\right) \left(5\sqrt[5]{\dfrac{a^2b^2c}{2^4}}\right)=100 if and only if a = b = 2 c a=b=2c

Dieuts Tran
Jun 14, 2014

Another solution:
We can assume that: a + b + c = 1 a+b+c\quad =\quad 1 (WLOG)
And use AM-GM: a b ( a + b ) 2 4 = ( 1 c ) 2 4 ab\le \frac { { (a+b) }^{ 2 } }{ 4 } =\frac { { (1-c) }^{ 2 } }{ 4 }
Hence: k 4 ( 1 c ) 2 + ( 1 + 3 c ) 2 c ( 1 c ) 2 = f ( c ) k\le 4\frac { { (1-c) }^{ 2 }+{ (1+3c) }^{ 2 } }{ c{ (1-c) }^{ 2 } } \quad =\quad f(c) with (0<c<1)
Not too difficult, we have min f(c) = 100 at c = 0.2
So max k = 100.




If a=b=c=1 would k not be 120?

Max Colla - 6 years, 11 months ago

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I agree with max.

Tapan Jain - 6 years, 11 months ago

But it needs to hold for all positive real numbers a , b , c a,b,c .

Anqi Li - 6 years, 11 months ago

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Exactly. You never specified they had to be different. 1 is a positive real number

Max Colla - 6 years, 11 months ago

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@Max Colla My point is that if you take for instance a = 2 = b and c = 1 a=2=b \ \text{and} \ c=1 then 120 × 2 × 2 × 1 2 + 2 + 1 = 96 ( 2 + 2 ) 2 + ( 2 + 2 + 2 ) 2 = 52 \frac{120 \times2 \times 2 \times 1}{2+2+1} = 96 ≤ (2+2)^2 + (2+2+2)^2 = 52 is false.

Anqi Li - 6 years, 11 months ago

Why can you assume that a + b + c = 1?

Jake Pierce - 6 years, 12 months ago

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Yep, both sides are homogeneous: that means f ( a , b , c ) = f ( m a , m b , m c ) f(a, b, c) = f(ma, mb, mc) . Thus, if a + b + c = n a+b+c=n , you can consider f ( a n , b n , c n ) f( \frac{a}{n}, \frac{b}{n}, \frac{c}{n}) . Eventually, you rename variables.

Andrea Gallese - 6 years, 5 months ago
Kashish Gupta
Jun 23, 2014

An easy way to solve the problem is first rearrange a bit, K<= a+b+c/abc *(a+b)^2 +(a+b+4c)^2 Now, as we can see that in rhs a+b+c/abc is increases if a,b,c all are less than one and the other term has least value equal to 0 but in that case any of one guy must be zero which is not possible so the minima of the rhs will occur when a=b as by symmetry a,b hold same position then pit c=xa and find the value of x so that rhs is minimum , u will get x= 1/2..

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