A REMARKABLE INEQUALITY

DANIEL CAMPOS, ROBERTO BOSCH

Introduction.
The following inequality
(1 − cos A)(1 − cos B)(1 − cos C) 1 − cos A 1 − cos B 1 − cos C
(1) ≥ + +
cos A cos B cos C 1 + cos A 1 + cos B 1 + cos C
for acute-angled triangles was proposed as problem S99 in this journal by the first author. This
problem remained unsolved for a while, until [3] was published. In [3] two solutions are presented:
the first one rewrites (1) into symmetric functions of x = tan A2 , y = tan B2 , z = tan C2 , and the
second one employs the theory of Schur-concave functions [4]. In this paper we show a new and
more simple solution only using trigonometric identities and Arithmetic Mean - Geometric Mean
inequality.

Main result.
Let ABC be an acute-angled triangle. The following inequality holds
(1 − cos A)(1 − cos B)(1 − cos C) 1 − cos A 1 − cos B 1 − cos C
≥ + +
cos A cos B cos C 1 + cos A 1 + cos B 1 + cos C
Proof :

Rewrite both sides of the inequality as follows

(1 − cos A)(1 − cos B)(1 − cos C) 8 sin2 A2 sin2 B2 sin2 C2

=
cos A cos B cos C cos A cos B cos C
tan A tan B tan C
=
cot A2 cot B2 cot C2
tan A + tan B + tan C
= ,
cot A2 + cot B2 + cot C2
and
1 − cos A 1 − cos B 1 − cos C A B C
+ + = tan2 + tan2 + tan2 .
1 + cos A 1 + cos B 1 + cos C 2 2 2
Multiply by 2 and substract 2 on both sides, and then rewrite as
tan A + tan B − 2 cot C2
P

2(tan A + tan B + tan C) cyc
A B C
−2= ,
cot 2 + cot 2 + cot 2 cot A2 cot B2 cot C2
and
 
A2 B C
2 tan + tan2 + tan2 −2
2 2 2
2 DANIEL CAMPOS, ROBERTO BOSCH

as
   
A 2 2 B 2 C A B A B A B
2 tan + tan + tan − 2 tan tan + tan tan + tan tan
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
  2
X A B
= tan − tan .
cyc
2 2
Finally, note that
 
2 cos C2 sin2 C
2 − cos A cos B
C
tan A + tan B − 2 cot =
2 cos A cos B sin C2
cos C2 (1 − cos(A − B))
=
cos A cos B sin C2
2 cos C2 sin2 A−B
2
=
cos A cos B sin C2
2
2 cos2 A2 cos2 B2 cos C2

A B
= tan − tan ,
cos A cos B sin C2 2 2
so that
tan A + tan B − 2 cot C2
P

X 2 cos2 A cos2 B cos C  2
cyc 1 2 2 2 A B
= tan − tan
cot A2 cot B2 cot C2 cot A2 cot B2 cot C2 cyc cos A cos B sin C2 2 2
X tan A tan B  B 2

A
= tan − tan .
cyc
2 2 2
Thus, we have to prove that
B 2
 
X A
(tan A tan B − 2) tan − tan ≥ 0.
cyc
2 2
This follows from the more general result for arbitrary real numbers x, y, z,
X
(2) (tan A tan B − 2)(x − y)2 ≥ 0.
cyc
Indeed, rewrite this as
X tan A tan B tan C − 2 tan C X tan A + tan B − tan C
(x − y)2 = (x − y)2
cyc
tan C cyc
tan C
X tan A tan C
= (x − y)2 + (y − z)2 − (x − y)2
cyc
tan C tan A
X
≥ 2|(x − y)(y − z)| − (x − y)2
cyc
This expression is symmetric in x, y, z, so we can assume x ≥ y ≥ z, i.e x − y = p, y − z = q, with
p, q ≥ 0 and x − z = p + q. Hence we obtain
X
2|(x − y)(y − z)| − (x − y)2 = 2(p2 + 3pq + q 2 ) − 2(p2 + pq + q 2 ) = 4pq ≥ 0.
cyc
and the conclusion follows.

 A REMARKABLE INEQUALITY 3

Refinements of original inequality.

Let s, R, r and K be the semiperimeter, circumradius , inradius and area of triangle ABC respec-
tively.

Lemma 1 :
X A (4R + r)2 − 2s2
tan2 = ,
cyc
2 s2

Proof : q q
(s−b)(s−c) s(s−a) (s−b)(s−c)
We have that sin A2 = bc and cos A2 = bc , hence tan2 A
2 = s(s−a) , and it follows
that
(s − b)2 (s − c)2
P
X
2 A cyc
tan =
cyc
2 s(s − a)(s − b)(s − c)
!2
P 2K 2
(s − b)(s − c) − s (s − a + s − b + s − c)
cyc
=
s2 r2
(−s2 + ab + bc + ca)2 − 2s2 r2
=
s2 r2
(4R + r) − 2s2
2
=
s2
because ab + bc + ca = s2 + r2 + 4Rr [5].


Lemma 2 :
s2 − (2R + r)2
cos A cos B cos C = ,
4R2
Proof :
We have that
1
cos A cos B cos C = (sin2 A + sin2 B + sin2 C − 2)
2  
1 X 2 2
= a − 8R
8R2 cyc
1
= ((a + b + c)2 − 2(ab + bc + ca) − 8R2 )
8R2
1 2 2 2 2 s2 − (2R + r)2
= (4s − 2(s + r + 4Rr) − 8R ) = ,
8R2 4R2
as claimed.


Lemma 3 :
r2
(1 − cos A)(1 − cos B)(1 − cos C) = ,
2R2
4 DANIEL CAMPOS, ROBERTO BOSCH

Proof :
We have that
A B C
(1 − cos A)(1 − cos B)(1 − cos C) = 8 sin2 sin2 sin2
2 2 2
8(s − a)2 (s − b)2 (s − c)2
=
a2 b2 c2
2
8s r 4 r2
= = .
16s2 r2 R2 2R2


Hence the original inequality (1) can be rewritten as

2r2 (4R + r)2 − 2s2

≥ ,
s2 − (2R + r)2 s2
and after some algebraic manipulations this is
2s4 − (24R2 + 16Rr + r2 )s2 + (64R4 + 96R3 r + 52R2 r2 + 12Rr3 + r4 ) ≥ 0.
This is equivalent to
1 1p
s2 ≤ 6R2 + 4Rr + r2 − 64R4 − 112R2 r2 − 64Rr3 − 7r4 = H(R, r)
4 4
because the other case is
1 1p
s2 ≥ 6R2 + 4Rr + r2 + 64R4 − 112R2 r2 − 64Rr3 − 7r4 .
4 4
If this inequality is true, then, by Blundon’s inequality [1][2], we have that
1 1p
4R2 + 4Rr + 3r2 ≥ s2 ≥ 6R2 + 4Rr + r2 + 64R4 − 112R2 r2 − 64Rr3 − 7r4
4 4
≥ 6R2 + 4Rr.
From Euler’s inequality R ≥ 2r, it is clear that this can’t hold.

In addition, it is simple to verify that H(R, r) ≤ 4R2 + 4Rr + 3r2 = Q(R, r), where Q(R, r) is the
best upper bound in quadratic forms [1][2]. Then a natural question arises, is it possible to use
p
(3) s2 ≤ 2R2 + 10Rr − r2 + 2(R − 2r) R2 − 2Rr
(the best inequality for homogeneous functions), to find a refinement to (1)? We don’t know, but
certainly (3) can be rewritten in terms of trigonometric identities. Therefore, it should be possible
to find an equivalent inequality; the idea is to relate this result with (1).

Another possible refinement of the inequality follows directly from the previous proof, namely
 !
B 2 C 2 A 2
Y 1 − cos A     
A B C
≥ 1 + max tan − tan , tan − tan , tan − tan
cyc
cos A 2 2 2 2 2 2

Assuming that tan A2 ≥ tan B2 ≥ tan C2 , we obtain from the proof of (1) that
Y 1 − cos A X 1 − cos A   
A B B C
− ≥ pq = tan − tan tan − tan
cyc
cos A cyc
1 + cos A 2 2 2 2
 A REMARKABLE INEQUALITY 5

Hence
Y 1 − cos A X 1 − cos A   
A B B C
≥ + tan − tan tan − tan
cyc
cos A cyc
1 + cos A 2 2 2 2
 2
A C
= 1 + tan − tan
2 2
 !
B 2 C 2 A 2
    
A B C
= 1 + max tan − tan , tan − tan , tan − tan
2 2 2 2 2 2
A sharper inequality than (1) was found by Constantin Mateescu in [6]:
Q Q
(1 − cos A) − cos A
Y 1 − cos A X 1 − cos A cyc cyc
≥ + Q .
cyc
cos A cyc
1 + cos A (1 + cos A)
cyc

We present an elementary proof, distinct from those in [6]:

P P Q
Denoting by x = cos A, y = cos A cos B and z = cos A we can rewrite Mateescu’s inequality
cyc cyc cyc
as
1−x+y−z 3 + x − y − 3z 1 − x + y − 2z 4 − 5z
≥ + =
z 1+x+y+z 1+x+y+z 1+x+y+z
or equivalently
y 2 ≥ 2z(1 + x − 2z) = 2z(x2 + x − 2y),
where we have used the identity
1 = cos2 A + cos2 B + cos2 C + 2 cos A cos B cos C = x2 − 2y + 2z.
This again can be rewritten as
y 2 − 2xz ≥ 2z(x2 − 2y),
or X X
cos2 B cos2 C ≥ 2 cos A cos B cos C cos2 A.
cyc cyc
This can be slightly simplified (in the case of the acute-angled triangle, which is the only interesting
case) as
X cos A cos B X
≥2 cos2 A.
cyc
cos C cyc
0 (π−B 0 ) (π−C 0 )
Assuming that the triangle is acute, we can write A = (π−A 2
)
,B= 2 , C= 2 . Then our
inequality becomes
X sin A0 sin B 0 0
2 A
X
2 2
0 ≥ 2 sin .
cyc sin C2 cyc
2
Let a, b, c be the lengths of the triangle A0 B 0 C 0 and s its semiperimeter. Write x = s − a, y = s − b,
z = s − c. Then r
A0 (s − b)(s − c)
r
yz
sin = = ,
2 bc (x + y)(x + z)
so that
0 0
sin A2 sin B2 z
C0
= ,
sin 2 x + y
6 DANIEL CAMPOS, ROBERTO BOSCH

and finally it’s not difficult to verify that the inequality

X z X yz
≥2 ,
cyc
x+y cyc
(x + y)(x + z)
is exactly third degree Schur’s inequality.

References
[1] W.J. Blundon, Inequalities associated with the triangle, Canad. Math. Bull. 8, 1965, 615-626.
[2] Bottemi et al, Geometric Inequalities. Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969, p. 51.
[3] T. Andreescu, Mathematical Reflections: the next two years (2008 - 2009). XYZ Press, 2012, pp. 145-151.
[4] A.W.Marshall, I.Olkin, Inequalities: Theory of Majorization and Its Applications, Academic Press, 1979.
[5] T. Andreescu, D. Andrica, Complex numbers from A to ... Z, Birkha̋user, 2006.
[6] http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=404742&hilit=campos.

Daniel Campos
University of Chicago, USA.
daniel.campos.cr@gmail.com

Roberto Bosch
Archimedean Academy, FL, USA.
bobbydrg@gmail.com