N ? N?

Algebra Level 3

a + b + c = a b + b c + c a = N \large a+b+c=ab+bc+ca=N

Given that a a , b b , and c c , satisfying the equation above, are positive real numbers and a , b , c 1 a,b,c \geq 1 . Find the sum of possible value/s of N N .


The answer is 3.

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1 solution

Aditya Khurmi
Aug 10, 2017

It is easy to see that when a = b = c = 1 a=b=c=1 , then N = 3 N=3 and it satisfies the equation.

Now, we prove that this is the only possibility.

First of all, we use the identity

( a b + b c + c a ) 2 3 a b c ( a + b + c ) (ab+bc+ca)^{2} \geq 3abc(a+b+c)

[This can be proved by using the identity x 2 + y 2 + z 2 x y + y z + z x x^{2}+y^{2}+z^{2} \geq xy+yz+zx , and then adding 2 ( x y + y z + z x ) 2(xy+yz+zx) to both sides to get

( x + y + z ) 2 3 ( x y + y z + z x ) (x+y+z)^{2} \geq 3(xy+yz+zx) and then substituting x = a b , y = b c x=ab, y=bc and z = c a z=ca ]

a b + b c + c a 3 a b c \implies ab+bc+ca \geq 3abc [because a b + b c + c a = a + b + c > 0 ab+bc+ca=a+b+c>0 ]

1 a + 1 b + 1 c 3 \implies \dfrac{1}{a}+\dfrac{1}{b}+\dfrac{1}{c} \geq3

But since a 1 a \geq 1 , thus 1 a 1 \dfrac{1}{a} \leq 1 and similarly two more results. Adding them gives

3 1 a + 1 b + 1 c 3 \geq \dfrac{1}{a}+\dfrac{1}{b}+\dfrac{1}{c}
And hence by these two results, we conclude that equality holds and thus a = b = c = 1 a=b=c=1 is the only possibility which gives N = 3 N=3 .

Hence the sum of all possible values is 3 \boxed {3}

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