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Croatian Junior Mathematical Olympiad

Croatia algebra

Problem

Prove that holds for all real numbers . Determine all cases for which the equality is obtained.
Solution
Let us denote , and . Then , and the given inequality easily transforms into which is true since all addends on the left-hand side are non-negative.

The equality is obtained if and only if , which is true if and only if at least two numbers among and are equal to , i.e. if and only if at least two numbers among and are equal to .
Final answer
Equality holds if and only if at least two of the numbers are equal to one.

Techniques

Linear and quadratic inequalities