Inequality Problem

Algebra Level 4

If x x and y y are non-negative numbers such that x + y = 1 x+y = 1 , find the maximum value of x y 2015 xy^{2015} .

201 5 2016 201 6 2015 \frac{2015^{2016}}{2016^{2015}} 201 5 2015 201 6 2016 \frac{2015^{2015}}{2016^{2016}} 201 5 2015 201 6 2015 \frac{2015^{2015}}{2016^{2015}} 1 1 201 5 2016 201 6 2016 \frac{2015^{2016}}{2016^{2016}}

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3 solutions

Raj Rajput
Oct 7, 2015

Jonathan Hocker , I hope u will get it this way also :)

RAJ RAJPUT - 5 years, 8 months ago

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Nice solution, Raj. It might be worth noting for sake of completeness that this maximum is achieved when y = 2015 2016 y = \dfrac{2015}{2016} and x = 1 2016 . x = \dfrac{1}{2016}. The maximum value achieved is approximately 1 2016 e . \dfrac{1}{2016e}.

Brian Charlesworth - 5 years, 8 months ago

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Thanks :) have you done this question with inequality or any other way ??

RAJ RAJPUT - 5 years, 8 months ago

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@Raj Rajput Like Jonathan I used calculus, finding the critical points of the function f ( y ) = ( 1 y ) y 2015 . f(y) = (1 - y)y^{2015}. 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. :)

Brian Charlesworth - 5 years, 8 months ago

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@Brian Charlesworth thank you sir :)

RAJ RAJPUT - 5 years, 8 months ago

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 ?

Utkarsh Grover - 5 years, 8 months ago

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both, i don't know how to use latex and yeah it saves time too :)

RAJ RAJPUT - 5 years, 8 months ago

Did the same

Aditya Kumar - 5 years ago
Matthew Kendall
Oct 8, 2015

Here is a very similar solution, except made for all the LaTeX \LaTeX lovers :) Enjoy!

Note that by AM-GM, we see that x + 1 2015 y + 1 2015 y + + 1 2015 y 2016 x y 2015 y 2015 2016 = x y 2015 201 5 2015 2016 . \frac{x + \frac{1}{2015}y + \frac{1}{2015}y + \cdots + \frac{1}{2015}y}{2016} \ge \sqrt[2016]{x \cdot \frac{y}{2015} \cdots \frac{y}{2015}} = \sqrt[2016]{\frac{xy^{2015}}{2015^{2015}}}. Now we raise both sides to the 2016 2016 th power: ( x + 1 2015 y + + 1 2015 y 2016 ) 2016 = ( 1 201 6 2016 ) x y 2015 201 5 2015 . \left ( \frac{x + \frac{1}{2015}y + \cdots + \frac{1}{2015}y}{2016} \right)^{2016} = \left( \frac{1}{2016^{2016}} \right) \ge \frac{xy^{2015}}{2015^{2015}}. Finally, we isolate x y 2015 xy^{2015} to get our answer: 201 5 2015 201 6 2016 x y 2015 . \frac{2015^{2015}}{2016^{2016}} \ge xy^{2015}. So our answer must be max x y 2015 = 201 5 2015 201 6 2016 . \max{xy^{2015}} = \boxed{\frac{2015^{2015}}{2016^{2016}}}.

Moderator note:

Simple standard approach.

Deepak Kumar
Oct 7, 2015

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...

Jonathan Hocker - 5 years, 8 months ago

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Check out Applying the Arithmetic Mean Geometric Mean Inequality , which lists several basic ways of seeing it's application.

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 8 months ago

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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.

Jonathan Hocker - 5 years, 8 months ago

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