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Korean Mathematical Olympiad

South Korea algebra

Problem

For three mutually distinct real numbers , , , define three real numbers , , as follows: Prove the inequality When does the equality hold?
Solution
Define Then Some computation shows that

$a_1a_2a_3a_1a_2a_1a_3a_2a_3a_1a_2a_3a_1a_2a_3a_1a_2a_3\square$
Final answer
Equality holds if and only if all three numbers are nonnegative.

Techniques

Symmetric functionsSums and products