If x and y are non-negative numbers such that x + y = 1 , find the maximum value of x y 2 0 1 5 .
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Jonathan Hocker , I hope u will get it this way also :)
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Nice solution, Raj. It might be worth noting for sake of completeness that this maximum is achieved when y = 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 5 and x = 2 0 1 6 1 . The maximum value achieved is approximately 2 0 1 6 e 1 .
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Thanks :) have you done this question with inequality or any other way ??
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@Raj Rajput – Like Jonathan I used calculus, finding the critical points of the function f ( y ) = ( 1 − y ) y 2 0 1 5 . I knew that the AM-GM inequality was the intended method, (since the question is tagged Algebra), but I wasn't sure how to apply it in this case, so I've learned something from your solution. :)
nice to see that i am not the only one here who doesnt know how to write in latex :p . or maybe you did it that way because it saved time ?
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both, i don't know how to use latex and yeah it saves time too :)
Did the same
Here is a very similar solution, except made for all the L A T E X lovers :) Enjoy!
Note that by AM-GM, we see that 2 0 1 6 x + 2 0 1 5 1 y + 2 0 1 5 1 y + ⋯ + 2 0 1 5 1 y ≥ 2 0 1 6 x ⋅ 2 0 1 5 y ⋯ 2 0 1 5 y = 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 5 x y 2 0 1 5 . Now we raise both sides to the 2 0 1 6 th power: ( 2 0 1 6 x + 2 0 1 5 1 y + ⋯ + 2 0 1 5 1 y ) 2 0 1 6 = ( 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 6 1 ) ≥ 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 5 x y 2 0 1 5 . Finally, we isolate x y 2 0 1 5 to get our answer: 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 5 ≥ x y 2 0 1 5 . So our answer must be max x y 2 0 1 5 = 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 5 .
Simple standard approach.
Simple use of AM GM inequality. Split y into 2015 equal parts and apply AM>=GM as both x & y are positive.
Sorry to bother you but could you go into more detail in your solution? Like a step by step so I can see how it comes together. I'm trying to learn how to solve inequalities using AM-GM and Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities but sometimes it's hard for me to get a handle on applying them in a useful way. I cheated and solved it using calculus lol...
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Check out Applying the Arithmetic Mean Geometric Mean Inequality , which lists several basic ways of seeing it's application.
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Thanks for all the solutions and explanations everyone! I am beginning to see the light finally lol. Seeing a step by step has been very helpful in understanding the thought process behind applying the theorem and how to break up the products/sums in order to get a useful result. And thank you for the link Calvin Lin. I'll give that a read and keep practicing.
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