Given that , , and , satisfying the equation above, are positive real numbers and . Find the sum of possible value/s of .
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It is easy to see that when a = b = c = 1 , then 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 )
[This can be proved by using the identity x 2 + y 2 + z 2 ≥ x y + y z + z x , and then adding 2 ( x y + y z + z x ) to both sides to get
( x + y + z ) 2 ≥ 3 ( x y + y z + z x ) and then substituting x = a b , y = b c and z = c a ]
⟹ a b + b c + c a ≥ 3 a b c [because a b + b c + c a = a + b + c > 0 ]
⟹ a 1 + b 1 + c 1 ≥ 3
But since a ≥ 1 , thus a 1 ≤ 1 and similarly two more results. Adding them gives
3 ≥ a 1 + b 1 + c 1
And hence by these two results, we conclude that equality holds and thus a = b = c = 1 is the only possibility which gives N = 3 .
Hence the sum of all possible values is 3