Inequality Lemmas

Archit
September 2018

1 Theorems
Theorem 1.1 (Jensen’s Inequality). If f is convex on [a, b], then for any
λ1 , . . . , λn ∈ [0, 1], with λ1 + · · · + λn = 1, and for x1 , . . . , xn ∈ [a, b], we
can deduce that

λ1 f (x1 ) + · · · + λn f (xn ) ≥ f (λ1 x1 + · · · + λn xn )

If f is concave, the inequality sign flips.

Corollary 1. Continuing from the previous inequality, we can deduce that
  
1
f (x1 ) + · · · + f (xn ) ≥ n f (x1 + x2 · · · + xn )
n
Theorem 1.2 (Weighted AM-GM). If a1 , a2 , . . . , an and λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn are pos-
itive numbers with λ1 + · · · + λn = 1, then

xλ1 1 xλ2 2 · · · xλnn ≤ λ1 x1 + λ2 x2 + · · · + λn xn

Theorem 1.3 (Young’s Inequality). If x, y ∈ R and 1/a + 1/b = 1,
1 a 1 b
xy ≤ x + x
a b
Theorem 1.4 (Hölder’s Inequality). Let x1 , . . . , xn and y1 , . . . , yn be positive
numbers and a, b > 0 such that 1/a + 1/b = 1. Then,

(x1 y1 + · · · + xn yn ) ≤ (xa1 + · · · + xan )1/a (y1b + · · · + ynb )1/b

Theorem 1.5 (Minowski’s Inequality). Let a1 , . . . , an and b1 , . . . , bn be positive

numbers and p > 1. Then,

[(a1 + b1 )p + · · · + (an + bn )p ]1/p ≤ (ap1 + · · · + apn )1/p + (bp1 + · · · + bpn )1/p

Theorem 1.6 (Schur’s Inequality). If x, y, z are positve and n is a positive

integer,

xn (x − y)(x − z) + y n (y − z)(y − x) + z n (z − x)(z − y) ≥ 0

1
Corollary 1.7. The case n = 1 in the previous theorem can be restated:

1. x3 + y 3 + z 3 + 3xyz ≥ xy(x + y) + yz(y + z) + zx(z + x)

2. xyz ≥ (x + y − z)(y + z − x)(z + x − y)

3. If x + y + z = 1, 9xyz + 1 ≥ 4(xy + yz + zx)

Theorem 1.8 (Power Mean Inequality). Let x1 , . . . , xn be positive real numbers

and λ1 , . . . , λn be positive real numbers adding up to 1. Let r and s be two non-
zero real numbers such that r > s. Then,

n
!1/r n
!1/s
X X
λi xri ≥ λi xsi
i=1 i=1

Theorem 1.9 (Popoviciu’s Inequality). If I is an interval and f : I → R is a

convex function, then for a, b, c ∈ I,
"  #  
2 X a+b f (a) + f (b) + f (c) a+b+c
f ≤ +f
3 cyc 2 3 3

Theorem 1.10 (Muirhead’s Inequality). Denote

X
[t] = [t1 , t2 , . . . , tn ] = xt11 · · · xtnn
sym

where xi > 0 and ti ≥ 0.

Then [b] ≤ [a] if and only if (b) ≺ (a). Equality takes place only when (b)
and (a) are identical or when all xi s are equal.
Theorem 1.11 (Karamata’s Inequality). If (bi ) ≺ (ai ) and f is a convex func-
tion, then

f (a1 ) + f (a2 ) + · · · + f (an ) ≥ f (b1 ) + f (b2 ) + · · · + f (bn )

Theorem 1.12 (Carlson’s (Weird) Inequalities). For (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ) ∈ Rn , we

have !2 !
n n
X π2 X 2 2
ak < k ak
6
k=1 k=1

and !4 ! !
n
X n
X n
X
ak < π2 a2k k 2 a2k
k=1 k=1 k=1

2
2 Lemmas (Algebraic)
Lemma 2.1. If {a1 , . . . , an } is a permutation of {b1 , . . . , bn } ⊂ R+ , then
n n
X ai X bi
≥ n and ≥n
i=1
bi a
i=1 i

Lemma 2.2. x, y, z ∈ R+ ,
√ √ √
xy + yz + zx ≥ x yz + y zx + z xy

Lemma 2.3. x, y, z ∈ R+ ,

x2 + y 2 + z 2 ≥ xy + yz + xz
√ √ √
≥ x yz + y zx + z xy

Lemma 2.4. A quadratic function f (x) ∈ R[x] is positive for all x if and only
if it’s discriminant ∆ is non-positive.
Lemma 2.5. Suppose a1 ≤ a2 ≤ · · · ≤ an . Then for any permutation (a01 , a02 , . . . , a0n )
of (a1 , a2 , . . . , an ),

a21 + a22 + · · · + a2n ≥ a1 a01 + a2 a02 + · · · + an a0n

Lemma 2.6 (Nesbitt’s Inequality). For a, b, c ∈ R+ , we have

a b c 3
+ + ≥
b+c c+a a+b 2
Lemma 2.7. If a, b and c are the lengths of the sides of a triangle, then
a b c
+ + ≥3
b+c−a c+a−b a+b−c
Lemma 2.8 (Tchebyshev’s Inequality). Suppose a1 ≤ a2 ≤ · · · ≤ an and
b1 ≤ b2 ≤ · · · ≤ bn . Then,

a1 b1 + a2 b2 + · · · + an bn a1 + a2 + · · · + an b1 + b2 + · · · + bn
≥ ·
n n n
Lemma 2.9. If x ∈ R, then √x ≥ 2.
x−1

Lemma 2.10. If ai ∈ R+ and s = a1 + a2 + · · · + an , then

a1 a2 an n
+ + ··· + ≥
s − a1 s − a2 s − an n−1
Lemma 2.11. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , an be positive numbers with a1 a2 · · · an = 1.
Then,
1 1 1
an−1
1 + an−1
2 + · · · + an−1
n ≥ + + ··· +
a1 a2 an

3
 1 1 1
Lemma 2.12. Let x1 , x2 , . . . , xn > 0 such that 1+x 1
+ 1+x2 + ··· + 1+xn = 1.
Then,
x1 x2 · · · xn ≥ (n − 1)n
Lemma 2.13. a + 1/a ≥ 2 for all a ∈ R+ .
Lemma 2.14 (A Helpful Inequality). ai ∈ R and xi ∈ R+ for i = 1, 2, . . . , n.
Then,
a21 a2 a2 (a1 + a2 + · · · + an )2
+ 2 + ··· + n ≥
x1 x2 xn x1 + x2 + · · · + xn
Lemma 2.15. If f is convex in R+ and x1 , . . . , xn are positive numbers such
that x1 + · · · + xn = 1, then
  
1
f (x1 ) + · · · + f (xn ) ≥ n f
n
Lemma 2.16. If f is convex over R+ , then
 
n+1
f (1) + f (2) + f (3) + · · · + f (n) ≥ nf
2
Remark 1. Substituting xi = eti and applying Jensen’s might work.
Lemma 2.17. For x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ∈ [0, π],
 
x1 + · · · + xn
sin(x1 ) sin(x2 ) sin(x3 ) · · · sin(xn ) ≤ sinn
n
Remark 2. See (x − y), (x − z) at the same time in a problem? Consider
Schur’s.
Lemma 2.18 (Super Generalization of Nesbitt’s). If x1 , x2 , . . . , xn are positive
numbers with s = x1 + · · · + xn , and a, b ∈ R, then
n
X xai a−b n
b−a+1
≥ s
i=1
(s − xi )b (n − 1)b

For proof, consider Jensen’s with the function f (x) = xa (s − x)−b

Lemma 2.19. Let x1 , . . . , xn , y1 , . . . , yn be positive real numbers. If a, b, c are
positive reals such that 1/a + 1/b = 1/c, then,
n
!1/c n
!1/a n !1/b
X X X
(xi yi )c ≤ xai yib
i=1 i=1 i=1
+
Lemma 2.20. Let xi , yi , zi ∈ R (1 ≤ i ≤ n). If a, b, c ∈ R+ such that
1/a + 1/b + 1/c = 1, then,
n n
!1/a n
!1/b n
!1/c
X X X X
xi yi zi ≤ xai yib zic
i=1 i=1 i=1 i=1

4
Remark 2.21. Taking one of the vectors in Hölder’s Inequality as the unit
vector (1, 1, . . . , 1) might help...
Lemma 2.22. a, b, c, x, y, z ∈ R+ implies
a3 b3 c3 (a + b + c)3
+ + ≥
x y z 3(x + y + z)
Lemma 2.23. If a function f (x, y, z) is convex in each variable over [a, b], the
maximum is obtained on the 8 endpoints.

3 Lemmas (Geometrical)
Lemma 3.1. In a triangle ABC,
√
A B C 3 3
sin A + sin B + sin C = 4 coscos cos ≤
2 2 2 2
Lemma 3.2. (From Lemma 17) In triangle ABC,
3√
sin A sin B sin C ≤ 3
8
and
A B C 1
sin sin sin ≤
2 2 2 8
Lemma 3.3. In quadrilateral ABCD,
AB + CD < AC + BD
BC + DA < AC + BD
1
AC + BD > (AB + BC + CD + DA)
2
Lemma 3.4. In 4ABC,
√
a2 + b2 + c2 ≥ 4 3[ABC]
Lemma 3.5 (Euler’s). In 4ABC,
OI 2 = R(R − 2r)
In particular, R ≥ 2r.
Lemma 3.6 (Ravi Transformation). The transformation (x, y, z) 7→ (s − a, s −
b, s − c) might simplify quite a bit.
Lemma 3.7 (Symmetric Functions of Sides). a, b, c are the side lengths of a
triangle and s, r, R represent the semi-perimeter, inradius and circumradius of
the triangle, respectively. Then,
a + b + c = 2s
ab + bc + ca = s2 + r2 + 4rR
abc = 4Rrs

5
Lemma 3.8. In 4ABC, we have
r
cos A + cos B + cos C = +1
R
Lemma 3.9 (Leibniz’s Inequality).

9R2 ≥ a2 + b2 + c2

Lemma 3.10 (Ptolemy’s Inequality). In quadrilateral ABCD,

AB · CD + BC · DA ≥ AC · BD

Equality holds if and only if ABCD is cyclic.

Lemma 3.11 (RMO 2013/5). In a convex n-gon with sides a1 , a2 , . . . , an and
perimeter p, we have that
ai 2ai
<
p − ai p
Lemma 3.12 (Important Factorisations).
X X
−2abc + [a(b2 + c2 − a2 )] = −2abc + [a2 (b + c − a)]
cyc cyc

= (b + c − a)(c + a − b)(a + b − c)

Lemma 3.13 (Viviani’s Lemma). Point M is inside equilateral triangle 4ABC

and 4DEF is it’s pedal triangle. Then,
√
a 3
MD + ME + MF = h =
2
where h is the length of the altitude in 4ABC.

Lemma 3.14. In triangle 4ABC with inradius r,

1 1 1 1
+ + =
ha hb hc r