Guilherme's Inequalities - I

Let \( x,y,z \) be positive reals such that \( x+y+z=1 \). Show that \[ 24 < \dfrac{31x}{\sqrt{1+y+z}} + \dfrac{31y}{\sqrt{1+x+z}} + \dfrac{31z}{\sqrt{1+x+y}} < 32. \]

#Algebra #Inequality #GCDC

Note by Guilherme Dela Corte
6 years, 4 months ago

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I'm not sure if this is correct or not, but here it goes. I'll proceed to show that the lower bound of the inequality works but I still can't think of a proof for the upper bound.


Let f(x)=x2xf(x)=\dfrac{x}{\sqrt{2-x}}. Plotting a graph of f(x)f(x) verifies that f(x)f(x) is a convex function. Take the given expression in the inequality as XX. Using the given data, we can write XX as,

X=31×(f(x)+f(y)+f(z))X=31\times \left(f(x)+f(y)+f(z) \right)

Applying Jensen's Inequality on f(x)f(x), we have,

f(x)+f(y)+f(z)3f(x+y+z3)    X93f(13)    X93×f(13)=93×13213=31×0.624.0125    24<X    24<31x1+y+z+31y1+x+z+31z1+x+y\frac{f(x)+f(y)+f(z)}{3}\geq f\left(\frac{x+y+z}{3}\right)\\ \implies \frac{X}{93}\geq f\left( \frac{1}{3} \right)\\ \implies X\geq 93\times f\left( \frac{1}{3} \right)=93\times \frac{\frac{1}{3}}{\sqrt{2-\frac{1}{3}}}=31\times \sqrt{0.6}\approx 24.0125\\ \implies 24\lt X\\ \implies 24\lt \dfrac{31x}{\sqrt{1+y+z}} + \dfrac{31y}{\sqrt{1+x+z}} + \dfrac{31z}{\sqrt{1+x+y}}

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 3 months ago

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Almost perfect approach on the lower bound - try a full proof on the convexity of the function through some derivatives. And I thought the upper bound would be easier to work on!

Please see that for 0x1 0 \leq x \leq 1 , f(x)=x2xxf(x) = \dfrac{x}{\sqrt{2-x}} \leq x , and thus f(x)+f(y)+f(z)x+y+z=1<3231 f(x) + f(y) + f(z) \leq x + y + z = 1 < \frac{32}{31} (weakening the bounding confirms the inequality).

Guilherme Dela Corte - 6 years, 3 months ago

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Damn! Why didn't I think of that earlier?! Anyway, nice approach for the upper bound!

Another thing is that I still don't know how to prove the convexity of a function using calculus (the graph method is the only method I know of). And I couldn't find a good wiki on the topic.

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 3 months ago

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@Prasun Biswas Take the double derivative of the function and check whether f(x)0 f''(x) \geq 0 or f(x)0 f''(x) \leq 0 , for all xDomainx \in \text{Domain} .

EDIT: Typo fixed, sorry!

Guilherme Dela Corte - 6 years, 3 months ago

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@Guilherme Dela Corte Ah, thanks a bunch, man! By the way, I think you made a typo because it doesn't give the right result for, say f(x)=x2f(x)=x^2 which is strictly convex. Shouldn't the test be " f(x)0f''(x)\leq 0 (concave) or f(x)0f''(x)\geq 0 (convex), xDom(f)\forall x\in Dom(f) " ?

And the equality holds iff f(x)f(x) is not strictly convex or concave, I suppose?

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 3 months ago

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@Prasun Biswas Yes you are right. That is a typo.

Kartik Sharma - 6 years, 3 months ago

Oh wow, that is a coincidence. I did exactly the same on both the proofs.

Kartik Sharma - 6 years, 3 months ago
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