TITLE: How find the minimum of $ab+\frac{1}{a^2}+\frac{1}{b^2}$
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: Let $a,b>0$ such that $$a+b\le 1$$ Find the minimum of
$$ab+\dfrac{1}{a^2}+\dfrac{1}{b^2}$$
My try: 
I can find this minimum，use Holder inequality
$$(\dfrac{1}{a^2}+\dfrac{1}{b^2})(a+b)^2\ge (1+1)^3=8$$
But 
$$ab\le \dfrac{(a+b)^2}{4}\le\dfrac{1}{4}$$
so for 
$$ab+\dfrac{1}{a^2}+\dfrac{1}{b^2}$$ minimum I can't find it,thank you

REPLY [6 votes]: Here care must be taken while using AM-GM so that the constraint and equality condition is not violated.  Hence rewrite the objective as:
$$\left(\frac12 ab+ \frac12 ab+\frac{1}{32a^2}+\frac{1}{32b^2}\right)+ \frac{31}{32}\left( \frac1{a^2}+\frac1{b^2}\right)$$
The first part is a sum of four terms with constant product.  Hence this achieves minimum when each term is the same.  Hence for this part,
$$\implies 16ab^3=16a^3b=1 \implies a=b=\tfrac12$$
So for the first part, the minimum is $\frac12$. For the second part, we have
$$\frac1{a^2}+\frac1{b^2} = \left(\frac1a-\frac1b\right)^2+\frac2{a^2b^2} \ge 0+ \frac8{(a+b)^2} \ge 8$$
which is also achieved when $a=b=\frac12$.  
Hence the minimum of the objective within the constraints is achieved when $a=b=\frac12$, and the value is $\frac{33}4$.