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Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Romania algebra

Problem

Let , , be positive real numbers. Prove that
Solution
By clearing denominators (brute force), the inequality becomes In order to justify (1), use the AM-GM inequality. Thus By summation with the two other analogous inequalities, one gets the desired result.

Alternative Solution: Make use of the rearrangement inequality (in various settings). From the start we may suppose either , or . For example, write the inequality as the equivalent form and use same-order triplets , when , and same-order triplets , when .

Alternative Solution: (Official Jury Solution) Divide by , to obtain Adding 1 to each fraction leads to which immediately follows from the AM-GM inequality

Techniques

QM-AM-GM-HM / Power MeanMuirhead / majorizationSymmetric functions