An Inequality with a Generic Proof

Problem

Dorin Marghidanu has kindly posted a problem with solution at the CutTheKnotMath facebook page. The method of solution points naturally to a generalization.

$x,y,z,a,b\ge 0,\;$ with $x+y+z=S,\;$ prove the inequality

$2\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{aS+b}\le \sqrt{ax+b}+ \sqrt{ay+b}+ \sqrt{az+b}\le \sqrt{3aS+9b}.$

Lemma

$x,y,p\ge 0,\;$ with $x+y+z=S,\;$ the following inequality holds

$\sqrt{p}+\sqrt{p+x+y}\le \sqrt{p+x}+ \sqrt{p+y}.$

Indeed, by squaring, one obtains

$p+(p+x+y)+2\sqrt{p(p+x+y)}\le (p+x)+(p+y)+ 2\sqrt{(p+x)(p+y)}$

which is equivalent to $xy\ge 0.$ The equality only occurs when either $x=0\;$ or $y=0,\;$ i.e., for the pairs $(0,k)\;$ and $(k,0),\;$ with $k\ge 0.$

Solution

We start with the left inequality:

$\begin{align} (\sqrt{ax+b}+ \sqrt{ay+b})+ \sqrt{az+b} &\ge (\sqrt{b}+ \sqrt{ax+ay+b})+ \sqrt{az+b}\\ &=\sqrt{b} +(\sqrt{ax+ay+b})+ \sqrt{az+b})\\ &\ge \sqrt{b}+ (\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{ax+ay+az+b})\\ &=2\sqrt{b}+\sqrt{aS+b}. \end{align}$

The right inequality follows in one step from either QM-AM inequality $\displaystyle\frac{u+v+w}{3}\le\sqrt{\frac{u^2+v^2+w^2}{3}},$ or, given that $t=\sqrt{s}\;$ is a concave function, from Jensen's inequality $\displaystyle\frac{f(u)+f(v)+f(w)}{3}\le f\left(\frac{u+v+w}{3}\right).$ Both ways lead to

$\displaystyle \sqrt{ax+b}+ \sqrt{ay+b}+ \sqrt{az+b}\le 3\sqrt{\frac{(ax+b)+(ay+b)+(az+b)}{3}}=\sqrt{3aS+9b}.$

The equality only holds when $\sqrt{ax+b}+ \sqrt{ay+b}+ \sqrt{az+b},\;$ i.e., when $x=y=z.$

Generalization

The problem and the solution by Professor Marghidanu are of the remarkable kind where a formulation and a proof of a particular case reveal all the trappings of a general formulation and its proof. Problems like that help acclimate the student to working with general case by taking a few steps from one particular case to the next. Examples like that are known as generic proofs, the proofs of special cases that nonetheless included all the elements of the general statement. Generic proofs have been extensively written about, see, e.g., [U. Leron and O. Zaslavsky].

The general formulation is suggestive:

References

1. U. Leron and O. Zaslavsky, Generic Proofs: Reflections on Scope and Method, in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2014 (Mircea Pitici, ed.), Princeton University Press, 2014

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• Complicated Constraint - Simple Inequality $\left(3(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)\ge\frac{\displaystyle 8}{\displaystyle\sqrt[8]{a^3+b^3+c^3}}\right)$
• The power of substitution II: proving an inequality with three variables $\left(\displaystyle\frac{ab}{(a+b)^2}+\frac{bc}{(b+c)^2}+\frac{ca}{(c+a)^2}\le\frac{1}{4}+\frac{4abc}{(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)}\right)$
• Algebraic-Geometric Inequality $\left(\sqrt{x^2-\sqrt{3}xy+y^2} + \sqrt{y^2-\sqrt{2}yz+z^2} \ge \sqrt{z^2-zx+x^2}\right)$
• One Inequality - Two Domains $\left(\displaystyle 3\prod_{cycl}(a^2+ab+b^2)\ge\left(\sum_{cycl}a\right)^2\cdot\left(\sum_{cycl}ab\right)^2\right)$
• Radicals, Radicals, And More Radicals in an Inequality $\bigg(\displaystyle\gamma=\frac{\sqrt[4]{xz}}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{z}}.\,$ Prove that $\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{y}+\sqrt{z}\ge 2\gamma\sqrt{3(x+y+z)}\bigg)$
• An Inequality in Triangle and In General $\left(\displaystyle\sum_{cycl}\frac{\cot A\,\cot^3B}{\cot^2B+2\cot^2A}+2\sum_{cycl}\frac{\cot^2A\cot B}{\cot A+2\cot B}\ge 1\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Cyclic Inequality In Many Variables $\left(\displaystyle a+b+c+d\le \frac{a^5+b^5+c^5+d^5}{abcd}\right)$
• An Inequality on Circumscribed Quadrilateral $\left(s\ge 4R\right)$
• An Inequality with Fractions $\left(\displaystyle m\le\frac{a_1+a_2+\ldots+a_n}{b_1+b_2+\ldots+b_n}\le M\right)$
• An Inequality with Complex Numbers of Unit Length $\left(|a-b|+|a-c|\ge |a+b|+|a+c|\right)$
• An Inequality with Complex Numbers of Unit Length II $\left(|a^2+bc|\ge |b+c|\right)$
• Le Khanh Sy's Problem $\left(xa^2+yb^2+zc^2\ge 2m\right)$
• An Inequality Not in Triangle $\left(\displaystyle\sqrt{a^2+b^2-ab\sqrt{2}}+\sqrt{b^2+c^2-bc\sqrt{3}}+\sqrt{c^2+d^2-\frac{cd(\sqrt{6}+\sqrt{2})}{2}}\ge\sqrt{a^2+d^2}\right)$
• An Acyclic Inequality in Three Variables $\left(\displaystyle \frac{(a^2-bc)^2+(b^2-ca)^2+(c^2-ab)^2}{a^2+b^2+c^2+ab+bc+ca}\geq 3(a-b)(b-c)\right)$
• An Inequality with Areas, Norms, and Complex Numbers $\left(\displaystyle \frac{(ad-bc)(3(a^2+b^2)(c^2+d^2)-4(ad-bc)^2)}{\left((a^2+b^2)(c^2+d^2)\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}}\le 1\right)$
• Darij Grinberg's Inequality In Three Variables $\left(a^2+b^2+c^2+2abc+1\ge 2(ab+bc+ca)\right)$
• Small Change Makes Big Difference $\left(\displaystyle\frac{1}{\displaystyle \sqrt{1+a^2-\frac{(a-b)^2}{2}}}+\frac{1}{\displaystyle \sqrt{1+b^2-\frac{(a-b)^2}{2}}}\ge\frac{2}{\sqrt{1+ab}}\right)$
• Inequality with Two Variables? Think Again $\left(\displaystyle\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+a^2}}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+b^2}}\le\frac{2}{\sqrt{1+ab}}\right)$
• A Problem From a Mongolian Olympiad for Grade 11 $\left(\displaystyle \frac{a}{3a+2b^3}+ \frac{b}{3b+2c^3}+ \frac{c}{3c+2a^3}\le\frac{1}{5}\left(\frac{1}{a^2}+\frac{1}{b^2}+\frac{1}{c^2}\right)\right)$
• Sitaru--Schweitzer Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \left(\int_{a}^{b}f(x)dx\right)\left(\int_{a}^{b}\frac{1}{f(x)}dx\right)\le\frac{(m+M)^2}{4mM}(b-a)^2\right)$
  • Pólya-Szegö Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \frac{\displaystyle \left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}a^2_{k}\right)\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}b^2_{k}\right)}{\displaystyle\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}a_{k}b_{k}\right)^2}\le\left(\frac{\displaystyle \sqrt{\frac{M_1M_2}{m_1m_2}}+\sqrt{\frac{m_1m_2}{M_1M_2}}}{2}\right)^2\right)$
  • Kantorovich Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}\gamma_ku_k^2\right)\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}\frac{1}{\gamma_k}u_k^2\right)\le\frac{1}{4}\left(\sqrt{\frac{M}{m}}+\sqrt{\frac{m}{M}}\right)^2\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}u^2_{k}\right)^2\right)$
  • Greub-Rheinboldt Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}a_k^2u_k^2\right)\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}b_k^2u_k^2\right)\le\frac{(M_1M_2+m_1m_2)^2}{4m_1m_2M_1M_2}\left(\sum_{k=1}^{n}a_kb_ku^2_{k}\right)^2\right)$
• An Inequality with Cyclic Sums And Products $\left(\small{\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{a^2}{(b+c+d+e)(a-b)(a-c)(a-d)(a-e)}\lt\frac{(a+b+c+d+e)^2}{1024abcde}}\right)$
• Problem 1 From the 2016 Pan-African Math Olympiad $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{1}{(x+1)^2+y^2+1}\le\frac{1}{2}\right)$
• An Inequality with Integrals and Radicals $\left(\displaystyle \Bigr(\int_0^1 \sqrt[3]{f(x)}dx\Bigr)\Bigr(\int_0^1 \sqrt[5]{f(x)}dx\Bigr)\Bigr(\int_0^1 \sqrt[7]{f(x)}dx\Bigr)\leq 1\right)$
• Twin Inequalities in Four Variables: Twin 1 $\left(\displaystyle (ac+bd)^2\le\left(b\sqrt[5]{ab^4}+d\sqrt[5]{cd^4}\right)\left(a\sqrt[5]{a^4b}+c\sqrt[5]{c^4d}\right)\right)$
• Twin Inequalities in Four Variables: Twin 2 $\left(\displaystyle (a\sqrt[3]{a^2b}+c\sqrt[3]{c^2d})(b\sqrt[3]{ab^2}+d\sqrt[3]{cd^2})\le (a^2+c^2)(b^2+d^2)\right)$
• Simple Inequality with a Variety of Solutions $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{\ln x}{\ln y\ln z}+\frac{\ln y}{\ln z\ln x}\right)\ge\frac{18}{\ln (xyz)}\right)$
• A Partly Cyclic Inequality in Four Variables $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}xe^x\ge (x+y+2)e^{x+y+2}+(z+t-2)\sqrt[3]{e^{z+t-2}}\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Inequality by Induction $\left(\displaystyle\begin{align}&\small{\frac{3}{a+1}+\frac{3}{b+1}+\frac{2}{c+1}+\frac{1}{d+1}}\\ &\small{\qquad\le 6+\frac{1}{a+b+1}+\frac{1}{a+b+c+1}+\frac{1}{a+b+c+d+1}}\end{align}\right)$
• An Inequality in Three (Or Is It Two) Variables $\left(\displaystyle \frac{(x+y)^2}{(x\sin^2z+y\cos^2z)(x\cos^2z+y\sin^2z)}+\frac{x}{y}+\frac{y}{x}\geq 6\right)$
• An Inequality in Four Weighted Variables $\left(\displaystyle (a+c)^c(b+d)^d(c+d)^{c+d}\le c^cd^d(a+b+c+d)^{c+d}\right)$
• An Inequality in Fractions with Absolute Values $\left(\displaystyle \omega\lt\frac{1}{3}\left(\sum_{cycl}\frac{a|a|-b|b|}{a-b}\right)\lt 2\Omega\right)$
• Inequalities with Double And Triple Integrals $\left(\displaystyle \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}\cos\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)dxdy\ge\frac{\pi}{2}\right)$
• An Old Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \frac{4ab}{(a+b)^2}\ge\cos\left(\frac{\pi}{2}\cdot\frac{a-b}{a+b}\right)\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Amazing, Never Ending Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \small{\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^2\cdot\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^4\cdot\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^8\ge\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{a}{c}\right)\cdot\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{b}{a}\right)\cdot\sum_{cycl}\left(\frac{b}{c}\right)}\right)$
• Leo Giugiuc's Exercise $\left(\displaystyle x\sin x+x^2\cos x\le 2\sin^2x\right)$
• Another Inequality with Logarithms, But Not Really $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{\log_y^3x+\log_z^3y}{\log_y^2x+\log_zx+\log_z^2y}\geq 2\right)$
• An Inequality Solved by Changing Appearances $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}a^2\cdot\sum_{cycl}\frac{1}{x^2}+\frac{\displaystyle 2\sum_{cycl}ab\cdot\sum_{cycl}x}{xyz}\ge 0\right)$
• Distances to Three Points on a Circle $\left(3\le |z-a|+|z-b|+|z-c|\le 4\right)$
• An Inequality with Powers And Logarithm $\left(\displaystyle \frac{a}{b}+\frac{a^2}{b^2}+\frac{a^3}{b^3}+12\ln b\ge\frac{b}{a}+\frac{b^2}{a^2}+\frac{b^3}{a^3}+12\ln a\right)$
• Four Integrals in One Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \small{\left(\int_a^bxf(x)dx\right)\left(\int_a^bf^2(x)dx\right)\left(\int_a^bx^3f(x)dx\right)\ge\frac{a^2b^2}{b-a}\left(\int_a^bf(x)dx\right)^4}\right)$
• Same Integral, Three Intervals $\left(\displaystyle\small{I(u,v)=\int_u^v\left(\arctan\left(\frac{u\sin x}{v+u\cos x}\right)+\arctan\left(\frac{v\sin x}{u+v\cos x}\right)\right)dx}\right)$
• Dorin Marghidanu's Inequality with Generalization $\left(\displaystyle (x+y)^2+(y+z)^2+(z+x)^2+12ab\le 4(a+b)(x+y+z)\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Inequality with Three Related Integrals and Derivatives $\left(\displaystyle\small{\left(\int_0^af(x)dx\right)^4\leq \frac{a^8}{60}\left(\int_0^a \left(f'(x)\right)^2 dx\right)\left(\int_0^a \left(f''(x)\right)^2dx\right)}\right)$
• An Inequality in Two Or More Variables $\left(\displaystyle \frac{a}{1+a}+\frac{b}{(1+a)(1+b)}+\frac{c}{(1+a)(1+b)(1+c)}\geq \frac{7}{8}\right)$
• An Inequality in Two Or More Variables II $\left(\displaystyle (a+1)^{a+1}\cdot (b+1)^{b+1}\cdot (c+1)^{c+1}\le e^{a+b+c}\cdot\sqrt{e^{a^2+b^2+c^2}}\right)$
• A Not Quite Cyclic Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \frac{a^2+b^2+c^2}{a+b+c} \le \frac{ab+bc+ca}{a+b+c} + |a-b|+|b-c|\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Inequality: From Three Variables to Many in Two Ways $\left(\displaystyle a+b+c\ge\frac{3}{2}\right)$
• An Inequality with Sines But Not in a Triangle $\left(\displaystyle \prod_{cycl}\Bigr(a^2\sin \frac{2\pi}{a}+(a+1)^2\sin \frac{2\pi}{a+1}\Bigr)\gt 2^{16}\right)$
• An Inequality with Angles and Integers $\left(\displaystyle k^2\tan \alpha +l^2\tan \beta \geq \frac{2kl}{\sin (\alpha+\beta)}-(k^2+l^2)\cot (\alpha+\beta)\right)$
• Sladjan Stankovik's Inequality In Four Variables $\left(\displaystyle 2\sum_{cycl}a^2-3\frac{\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}a^3}{\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}a}\le\sum_{all}ab\right)$
• An Inequality with Two Pairs of Triplets $\left(\displaystyle (a^2+b^2+c^2)\left(\frac{1}{x^2}+\frac{1}{y^2}+\frac{1}{z^2}\right)+\frac{2(ab+bc+ca)(x+y+z)}{xyz}\ge 0\right)$
• A Refinement of Turkevich's Inequality $\left(\displaystyle a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2+\frac{32abcd}{(a+b+c+d)^2}\ge \sum_{sym}ab\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Exercise with Pi and Ln $\left(\displaystyle \small{\arctan(z-x)+\arctan(z-y)+\arctan(y-x) \lt \frac{\pi}{2} - \ln(2)}\right)$
• Leo Giugiuc's Cyclic Quickie in Four Variables $\left(3(xyz+yzt+ztx+txy)^2\ge 8(xy+xz+xt+yz+yz+zt)xyzt\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Cyclic Inequality in Four Variables $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{a^7}{bcd+a^3}\ge 2abcd\right)$
• A Not Quite Cyclic Inequality from Tibet $\left((x+y)^2(z^2+xz+x^2+xy+y^2+yz)^2\ge 8(xy+yz+zx)^2(x^2+y^2)\right)$
• An inequality in 2+2 variables from SSMA magazine $\left(\displaystyle k^2\tan\alpha+l^2\tan\beta\ge\frac{2kl}{\sin (\alpha+\beta)}-(k^2+l^2)\cot(\alpha+\beta)\right)$
• Kunihiko Chikaya's Inequality with Parameter $\bigg(p \ge 2.$ Prove $\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{a}{\sqrt{ap+b}} \le \sqrt{\frac{3(a+b+c)}{p+1}}\bigg)$
• Dorin Marghidanu's Permuted Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n\left(a_k+\frac{1}{a_{\sigma(k)}}\right)^p\ge \frac{(s^2+n^2)^p}{n^{p-1}s^p}\right)$
• An Inequality Involving Arithmetic And Geometric Means $\left(\displaystyle\sum_{cycl}\frac{1}{a^4+b^4+c^4+abcd}\le \frac{1}{abcd}\right)$
• Dorin Marghidanu's Sums and Products $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n\frac{a_k}{P_kS_k}\ge\frac{n^n}{\displaystyle (n-1)S^{n-1}}\right)$
• Simple Nameless Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n\frac{S}{S_k}\ge\frac{n^2}{n-1}\right)$
• Volume Inequality in Tetrahedron $\left(OA\cdot OB\cdot OC\ge 27xyz\right)$
• Inequality in Convex Quadrilateral $\left(\displaystyle\frac{\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\sqrt{b+c+d-a}}{a+b+c+d}\ge\sqrt{\frac{2(a+b+c+d)}{a^2+b^2+c^2+d^2}}\right)$
• Dan Sitaru's Inequality with a Double Integral $\left(\displaystyle\begin{align}&\small{\int_0^1\int_0^1\sqrt{\left(m^2\sqrt{mnf(x)f(y)}+f^2(x)\right)\left(n^2\sqrt{mnf(x)f(y)}+f^2(y)\right)}dxdy}\\ &\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\small{\ge (m+n)\int_0^1f(x)dx}.\end{align}\right)$
• Cute Exercise by Dorin Marghidanu $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n\frac{2k-1}{\sqrt[2k-1]{a_k}}\ge\frac{n^2}{\sqrt[n^2]{a_1a_2\ldots a_n}}\right)$
• A Little of Algebra for an Inequality, A Little of Calculus for a Generalization $\left(\displaystyle \frac{a^{n+1}-b^{n+1}}{a-b}\cdot\frac{b^{n+1}-c^{n+1}}{b-c}\cdot\frac{c^{n+1}-a^{n+1}}{c-a}\gt (n+1)^3(abc)^n\right)$
• An Inequality with Central Binomials $\left(\displaystyle \sqrt{2}\le\sqrt[n(n+1)]{{2\choose 1}{4\choose 2}\cdots{2k\choose k}\cdots{2n\choose n}}\lt 2\right)$
• A Simple Inequality with Many Variables $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{k=1}^n\sqrt{\frac{a_k+a_{k+1}}{a_{k+2}}}\ge n\sqrt{2}\right)$
• Cyclic Inequality in Four Variables $\left(\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}\sum_{cycl}\frac{a^3}{bcd}\ge 1+\frac{\displaystyle 3\sum_{cycl}a^2}{\displaystyle \sum_{all}ab}\right)$
• Cyclic Inequality in Four Variables By D. Sitaru $\left(\displaystyle \sum_{cycl}\frac{a^7}{a^3+bcd}\ge 2abcd\right)$
• Lorian Saceanu's Inequality with Many Variables $\left(\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}\left(\sqrt{ab}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{ab}}\right)\left(\sum_{i=1}^na_kb_k\right)\ge\sqrt{\left(\sum_{i=1}^na_k^2\right)\left(\sum_{i=1}^nb_k^2\right)}\right)$
• A True Algebraic-Geometric Inequality $\left(\displaystyle \small{\sqrt{\sum_{k=1}^n(2a_k-b_k)^2}+\sqrt{\sum_{k=1}^n(2b_k-a_k)^2}\ge\sqrt{\sum_{k=1}^na_k^2}+\sqrt{\sum_{k=1}^nb_k^2}}\right).$
• Leo Giugiuc's Cyclic Inequality in Square Roots $\left(\displaystyle \sqrt{x+y}+\sqrt{y+z}+\sqrt{z+x}\ge 2\sqrt{\frac{(x+y)(y+z)(z+x)}{xy+yz+zx}}\right)$

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