Inequality. $\frac{1}{16}(a+b+c+d)^3 \geq abc+bcd+cda+dab$

Solution 1:

Also notice that:

$$(a+b+c+d)^3 - 16(abc+abd+acd+bcd) = (a+b+c+d)(a+b-c-d)^2 + 4(c-d)^2(a+b) + 4(a-b)^2(c+d) \ge 0$$ Or $$(a+b)[(a+b-c-d)^2 + 4(c-d)^2] + (c+d)[(a+b-c-d)^2 + 4(a-b)^2]\ge0$$

This way is suggested by a friend of mine.

Solution 2:

I posted this inequality on http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/ and I received a nice answer. This answer can be checked on the following link : http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=494463 .

Solution 3:

You need to show that $$(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab) \geq 0$$ It suffices to show this on any set of the form $0 \leq a,b,c,d \leq N$. By calculus (the "extreme value theorem") the function $(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab)$ achieves its minimum at some $(a,b,c,d)$ in the set $0 \leq a,b,c,d \leq N$. I claim that this minimum has to occur when $a = b = c = d$.

Write $$(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab) = (a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(a + b)cd - 16(c + d)ab$$ Note that by AM-GM, we have $16(c + d)ab \leq 16(c + d)({a + b \over 2})^2$. If we had $a \neq b$, we could replace $a$ and $b$ by ${a + b \over 2}$, leaving $c$ and $d$ constant, and we'd get a smaller value. So since $(a,b,c,d)$ is the minimum, this can't happen and we conclude that $a = b$. For similar reasons $c = d$, reversing the roles of the terms $16(a + b)cd$ and $16(c + d)ab$

Next, write $$(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab) = (a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(b + d)ac - 16 (a + c)bd$$ Then arguing like above gives $b = d$ and $a = c$. Combining the above gives $a = b = c = d$, whereupon $(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab) = (4a)^3 - 16(4a^3) = 0$. Since this is the minimum, the expression $(a + b + c + d)^3 - 16(abc + bcd + cda + dab)$ is nonnegative as needed.