Problem

Source: 2022 Dutch IMO TST 1.3

Tags: algebra, inequalities



For real numbers $x$ and $y$ we define $M(x, y)$ to be the maximum of the three numbers $xy$, $(x- 1)(y - 1)$, and $x + y - 2xy$. Determine the smallest possible value of $M(x, y)$ where $x$ and $y$ range over all real numbers satisfying $0 \le x, y \le 1$.