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Algebra Level 4

Is the following statement true or false?

a b c 2 + b c a 2 + c a b 2 = 3 a + b c + b + c a + c + a b { 3 ; 6 } \large \dfrac{ab}{c^2} + \dfrac{bc}{a^2} + \dfrac{ca}{b^2} = 3 \iff \dfrac{a + b}{c} + \dfrac{b + c}{a} + \dfrac{c + a}{b} \in \{-3; 6\}

a + b + c 0 a + b + c \ne 0


This is part of the set: It's easy, believe me!

False True Can't be determined.

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1 solution

Hua Zhi Vee
Sep 23, 2018

Notice that a b c 2 + b c a 2 + c a b 2 = 3 \dfrac{ab}{c^2}+\dfrac{bc}{a^2}+\dfrac{ca}{b^2}=3 implies that, for x = a b , y = b c , z = c a x=ab, y=bc, z=ca :

x 3 + y 3 + z 3 3 x y z = 0 ( x + y + z ) ( ( x y ) 2 + ( y z ) 2 + ( z x ) 2 ) = 0 x^3+y^3+z^3-3xyz=0\leftrightarrow (x+y+z)((x-y)^2+(y-z)^2+(z-x)^2)=0 .

This implies that either a b + b c + c a = 0 ( 1 ) ab+bc+ca=0 \hspace{0.3cm}(1) or a = b = c ( 2 ) a=b=c \hspace{0.3cm}(2) .

  • Case (1):

We easily find, by applying (1), a + b c = a b c 2 c + b a = b c a 2 a + c b = a c b 2 \begin{aligned} &\frac{a+b}{c}=-\frac{ab}{c^2}\\ &\frac{c+b}{a}=-\frac{bc}{a^2}\\ &\frac{a+c}{b}=-\frac{ac}{b^2} \end{aligned}

and we finally find that a + b c + c + b a + a + c b = ( a b c 2 + b c a 2 + a c b 2 ) = 3 \frac{a+b}{c}+\frac{c+b}{a}+\frac{a+c}{b}=-(\frac{ab}{c^2} +\frac{bc}{a^2} +\frac{ac}{b^2})=-3

by the original equation.

  • Case(2): For a = b = c a=b=c it can be seen that

a + b c + c + b a + a + c b = 6 \frac{a+b}{c}+\frac{c+b}{a}+\frac{a+c}{b}=6

Hence the result follows. \ _\square

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