<s>[INST] Inequality. $\frac{1}{16}(a+b+c+d)^3 \geq abc+bcd+cda+dab$ I want to prove the following inequality : 

$$\frac{1}{16}(a+b+c+d)^3 \geq abc+bcd+cda+dab,  $$
  $a,b,c,d \in \mathbb{R}_{+} .$ 

In my book, at the answers chapter the author uses AM $\geq$ GM, but I haven't any idea how I can use that. 
Thanks :) 
 [/INST] 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. 
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