ORMC AMC 10/12 Group

More Inequalities

March 5, 2023

1 Warmup: AM-GM Review

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1. Find the minimum value of x + x when x is a positive real number.

q q
1 1
2. Find the minimum value of x+ y + y+ x when x, y > 0.

2
3. Find the minimum value of √x +2 , over all real numbers x.
x2 +1

 
1 1 1
4. Find the minimum value of (x + y + z) x + y + z , where x, y, z are positive real numbers.

1

 1

5. Suppose that x + y = 1. Find the minimum value of 1 + x 1+ y .

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2 Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality
The Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality traditionally involves vectors, but it can be viewed slightly more
generally in terms of two sets of real numbers a1 , a2 , . . . , an and b1 , b2 , . . . , bn . The statement of the
inequality is:

(a21 + a22 + a33 + · · · + a2n )(b21 + b22 + b23 + · · · + b2n ) ≥ (a1 b1 + a2 b2 + a3 b3 + · · · + an bn )2

For those of you who are familiar with vectors, we can view the ai ’s as components of a vector
u = (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ), and the bi ’s as components of a vector v = (b1 , b2 , . . . , bn ). Then, in terms of
vectors, what the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality says is that ∥u∥∥v∥ ≥ |u · v| , where ∥v∥ is the norm
(magnitude/length) of a vector v, and u · v is the usual dot product:
u · v = a1 b1 + a2 b2 + a3 b3 + · · · + an bn .
When thinking in terms of vectors, the inequality becomes more obvious. The dot product u · v is
equivalent to ∥P rojv (u)∥∥w∥, where P rojv (u) is the component of u parallel to v, or the projection of
u onto v

In the figure above, we can see that there is a right triangle in which u forms the hypotenuse, and
P rojv (u) forms one of the legs. So, this gives us |u · v| = ∥P rojv (u)∥∥v∥ ≤ ∥u∥∥v∥. In particular, as
some of you may already know, |u · v| = ∥u∥∥v∥ cos(θ), where θ is the angle between uandv.
We can show the explicit form involving the ai ’s and bi ’s directly, using AM-GM. Expanding the
left hand side, we get:
X X X
(a21 + a22 + a33 + · · · + a2n )(b21 + b22 + b23 + · · · + b2n ) = a2i b2j = a2i b2j + a2i b2j
i,j∈[[1,n]] i=j∈[[1,n]] i̸=j∈[[1,n]]
X X
a2i b2i a2i b2j a2j b2i


= + +
i∈[[1,n]] 1<i<j<n

Expanding the right hand side gives:

X X X
(a1 b1 + a2 b2 + a3 b3 + · · · + an bn )2 = ai bi aj bj = ai bi aj bj + ai bi aj bj
i,j∈[[1,n]] i=j∈[[1,n]] i̸=j∈[[1,n]]
X X X X
= a2i b2i + (ai bi aj bj + aj bj ai bi ) = a2i b2i + (2ai bi aj bj )
i∈[[1,n]] 1<i<j<n i∈[[1,n]] 1<i<j<n

Notice that the first summation is the same in both expansions, so we can focus only on the second
summation. Apply AM-GM to each term of the second summation from the LHS:
q
a2i b2j + a2j b2i ≥ 2 (a2i b2j )(a2j b2i ) = 2ai bj aj bi = 2ai bi aj bj .

So, every term in the LHS is ≥ the corresponding term on the RHS, which means that LHS ≥ RHS.
In particular, the inequality follows:

n
! n
! n
!2
X X X
a2i b2i ≥ a i bi .
i=1 i=1 i=1

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2.1 Examples
1. Show that
(a + b + c)2
a2 + b2 + c2 ≥
3

2. Let x, y, z be positive real numbers. Find the minimum value of

 
1 1 1
(x + y + z) + + .
x y z

2.2 Exercises
1. Let a, b, c be positive real numbers. Prove that

a2 + b2 + c2 ≥ ab + ac + bc.

2. Jane has drawn 6 rectangles, each with a different length and width. The sum of the squares of
the lengths is 40, and the sum of the squares of the widths is 20. What is the largest possible
sum of the areas of the rectangles?

3. Let x, y be positive real numbers. Find the maximum value of

(3x + 4y)2
.
x2 + y 2

4. If a, b, c, d are positive, show that

√ √ √ √ √
2 a + b + c + d ≥ a + b + c + d.

5. If a, b, c, d are positive real numbers, show that

1 1 4 16 64
+ + + ≥ .
a b c d a+b+c+d

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3 Mean Inequality Chain
We begin by defining two new means:
1. The quadratic mean (QM) of a1 , a2 , . . . , an is the value
r
a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n
.
n

This is sometimes called the root mean square, since it is the square root of the average of the
squared values.
2. The harmonic mean (HM) of nonzero real numbers a1 , a2 , . . . , an is the value

n
1 1 1 .
a1 + a2 + ··· + an

Together with AM and GM, we get the mean inequality chain QM-AM-GM-HM:
r
a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n a1 + a2 + · · · + an √ n
≥ ≥ n a1 a2 · · · an ≥ 1 1 1 .
n n a1 + a2 + ··· + an

It is unlikely that you run into a situation where you need all 4 of these at once, but if any 2
of them come up, it is good to know that they are all ordered, and what order they come in. It is
also important to remember that this mean inequality chain should only be applied to positive real
numbers.
The fact that QM ≥ AM follows from Cauchy-Schwarz. We define b1 = b2 = b3 = · · · = bn = 1,
and we get:
r 2
2 2 a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n
(n · QM ) = n · = n(a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n )
n
= (12 + 12 + · · · + 12 )(a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n ) = (b21 + b22 + · · · + b2n )(a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n )
≥ (a1 b1 + a2 b2 + · · · + an bn )2 = (a1 + a2 + · · · + an )2 = (n · AM )2 .

So, it follows that QM ≥ AM .

The GM-HM inequality can actually be proved directly from AM-GM! The first thing to notice is
how n is suspiciously in the numerator of the HM expression. In order to put it in a form that looks
more like QM and AM, we can consider its reciprocal:
1
+ a12 + · · · + a1n
r r
1 1 1 1 1
1/(HM ) = a1 ≥ n ··· = n = √ = 1/(GM )
n a1 a2 an a1 a2 a3 · · · an n
a1 a2 a3 · · · an

So, using AM-GM, we have shown that 1/(HM ) ≥ 1/(GM ), which then implies that GM ≥ HM .
The inequality chain QM ≥ AM ≥ GM ≥ HM follows.

3.1 Examples
1. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , an be positive real numbers which satisfy a1 + a2 + · · · + an = 1. Prove that
1 1 1
+ + ··· + ≥ n2 .
a1 a2 an

q
a2 +b2 a+b
√ 2
2. Prove that 2 − 2 ≥ ab − 1 1 .
a+b

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3.2 Exercises
1. If x, y, z are all positive, find the minimum possible value of
 
x  y  z 
1+ 1+ 1+ .
2y 2z 2x

2. If a, b, c are positive, show that

 
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
+ + ≤ + + .
a+b b+c c+a 2 a b c

3. If a, b, c are positive, show that

 
9 1 1 1
≤2 + + .
a+b+c a+b b+c c+a

4. Let a, b > 0. Show that r

a+b √ a2 + b2 a+b
− ab ≥ − .
2 2 2

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5. Let m, n be (not necessarily distinct) positive integers. Find the minimum value of xm + xn .