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Monday, April 20, 2015

Prove that x2+y2<1.

Let x,y>0 be such that x3+y3<xy. Prove that x2+y21.


We have to rate this as a 5 star intriguing Mathematical Olympiad Inequality problem because it is a special problem that is designed for the application of heuristic skills.

I am going to show some sublimely insightful approaches of intelligent people here and as always, I hope you will to learn something awesome today!

>Approach I:

From the given inequality

xy>x3+y3

Before we start, notice that we could glean one really useful information from the given inequality xy>x3+y3.

Since both x and y are greater than zero, the sum of two cubes of x and y must also be greater than zero, i.e. x3+y3>0.

This in turns suggests that \displaystyle \color{yellow}\bbox[5px,purple]{x-y>0} since x-y>x^3+y^3>0.

We could also algebraically manipulate it such that we could also have

\begin{align*}x-y&>x^3+y^3\\&>x^3\\&>x^3-(y^3+xy(x-y))\\&>x^3-x^2y+xy^2-y^3\\&>x^2(x-y)+y^2(x-y)\\&>(x^2+y^2)(x-y)--*\end{align*}

Now, we can safely divide the inequality (*) by the quantity x-y without changing the inequality sign since x-y>0 and we obtain:

x-y>(x^2+y^2)(x-y)

1>x^2+y^2 and we're done.

The heuristic methods that this approach has used are:

a.) the recognition of x-y>0,

b.) the recognition of x^3+y^3>x^3, and

c.) the introducing of some positive value y^3+xy(x-y) into the expression x^3-(y^3+xy(x-y)) and simultaneously the recognition of x^3>x^3-\text{positive value}.

Now, it's your turn to attempt at this problem and I can be sure to tell you this problem can be solved differently. 

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