Not a standard inequality

Calculus Level 5

Consider all differentiable functions f ( x ) : R R f(x): \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R} that satisfy

  • f ( x ) f(x) is always positive,
  • f ( x ) + f ( x ) f(x)+f'(x) is always positive.

Find the supremum of possible values of f ( 0 ) f ( 1 ) \dfrac{f(0)}{f(1)} .


Harder version


The answer is 2.71828.

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4 solutions

Sudhamsh Suraj
Oct 29, 2016

F(x) is positive and f(x)+f'(x) is positive. Consider, Function f(x) = e^-x But we will get f(x)+f'(x)= 0 So we consider f(x)=e^-x/k Where k --->1 (tending to 1) Then f(0)=1 And f(1) will tend to 1/e So f(0)/f(1) will be equal to "e"=2.718

Chaebum Sheen
Oct 29, 2016

From the first condition, we can assume f ( x ) = e g ( x ) f(x)=e^{g(x)} .

From the second condition, f ( x ) + f ( x ) = ( g ( x ) + 1 ) e g ( x ) 0 g ( x ) 1 f(x)+f'(x)=(g'(x)+1) e^{g(x)} \ge 0 \Leftrightarrow g'(x) \ge-1

g ( 1 ) g ( 0 ) = 0 1 g ( x ) d x 0 1 1 d x = 1 \implies g(1)-g(0) = \int_{0}^{1} g'(x) dx \ge \int_{0}^{1} -1 dx =-1

So f ( 0 ) f ( 1 ) = e g ( 0 ) g ( 1 ) < e \frac{f(0)}{f(1)}=e^{g(0)-g(1)} < e

Note that any such ϵ > 0 \epsilon>0 we can find f ( x ) = e x + ϵ e 2 f(x)=e^{-x}+\frac{\epsilon}{e^2} such that f ( 0 ) f ( 1 ) = e 2 + ϵ e + ϵ > e ϵ \frac{f(0)}{f(1)}=\frac{e^2+\epsilon}{e+\epsilon} >e- \epsilon

So e e is the supremum.

I believe that strict positivity still works in the question. The issue is to show that the supremum is still 1, despite not being able to directly use f ( x ) = e x f(x) = e^{-x} .

IE Assuming that the question is correct, your solution doesn't completely answer the question.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago

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So I assume my solution now does answer the question?

Chaebum Sheen - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Yes. The edit of e ϵ e - \epsilon that you did helps fix the "not able to directly use f ( x ) = e x f(x) = e^{-x} .

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago

In your last inequation the equality should never be achieved because of the second condition of positivity.

Samrat Mukhopadhyay - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Frankly said, I don't know what the supremum is very well. Can you check if it is correct now?

Chaebum Sheen - 4 years, 7 months ago

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supremum of a set is just the ``lowest'' among all upper bounds of the set; in other words, sup S \sup S of a set is an upper bound of S S , such that ϵ > 0 \forall \epsilon>0 , sup S ϵ \sup S-\epsilon is not an upper bound of S S . So yes, your proof now is correct.

Samrat Mukhopadhyay - 4 years, 7 months ago

Check out infimum/supremum .

It's the same idea as maximum / minimum, but the value need not be achieved. For example, the supremum of { x < 1 } \{ x < 1\} is 1, but there is no maximum since x = 1 x=1 is not in the set.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago

Letting g ( x ) = e x f ( x ) g(x)=e^x f(x) , we get g ( x ) = e x ( f ( x ) + f ( x ) ) > 0 g g'(x)=e^x(f(x)+f'(x))> 0\implies g is a strictly increasing function (from the second condition). Thus, f ( 0 ) f ( 1 ) = e g ( 0 ) g ( 1 ) < e \frac{f(0)}{f(1)}=e\frac{g(0)}{g(1)}< e , for all such f f . Let S S be the set of values of all such f ( 0 ) f ( 1 ) \frac{f(0)}{f(1)} , so that we have sup S e \sup S\le e .

Now, lets assume that sup S < e \sup S<e , so that δ : = e sup S > 0 \delta:=e-\sup S>0 . Let us consider all functions h h such that h ( x ) = e x + ϵ h(x)=e^{-x}+\epsilon , with ϵ > 0 \epsilon> 0 , so that h h satisfies both the prescribed conditions. Then, ϵ > 0 \forall \epsilon>0 , h ( 0 ) h ( 1 ) = ϵ + 1 e 1 + ϵ S \frac{h(0)}{h(1)}=\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon+1}{e^{-1}+\epsilon}\in S , and since ϵ > 0 , ϵ + 1 e 1 + ϵ > 1 \forall \epsilon>0, \displaystyle \frac{\epsilon+1}{e^{-1}+\epsilon}>1 , we have that sup S > 1 \sup S>1 . Now, we can find ϵ > 0 \epsilon>0 such that ϵ + 1 e 1 + ϵ > e δ \displaystyle \frac{\epsilon+1}{e^{-1}+\epsilon}>e-\delta , by choosing ϵ \epsilon such that ϵ ( sup S 1 ) < δ / e \epsilon(\sup S-1)<\delta/e , which is possible since sup S > 1 \sup S>1 . But that means we can find an ϵ > 0 \epsilon>0 such that ϵ + 1 e 1 + ϵ > sup S \displaystyle \frac{\epsilon+1}{e^{-1}+\epsilon}>\sup S , which is a contradiction as ϵ + 1 e 1 + ϵ S \displaystyle \frac{\epsilon+1}{e^{-1}+\epsilon}\in S by construction. Thus, we must have sup S = e \sup S=e \blacksquare

This solution is incorrect. f ( 0 ) = 0 f (0)=0 if f ( x ) = e x f(x)=e^{-x} .

Chaebum Sheen - 4 years, 7 months ago

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I mean, x e x xe^{-x}

Chaebum Sheen - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Sorry, it really should be g ( x ) = 1 g(x)=1 , or for any constant for that matter.

Samrat Mukhopadhyay - 4 years, 7 months ago

I believe that strict positivity still works in the question. The issue is to show that the supremum is still 1, despite not being able to use f ( x ) = e x f(x) = e^{-x} .

IE Assuming that the quesiton is correct, your solution doesn't completely answer the question.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago

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You are correct, we do not need non-negativity as we need supremum. I will change my answer accordingly.

Samrat Mukhopadhyay - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Yup, that works! Yay :)

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago
Aaghaz Mahajan
Mar 6, 2018

Is something wrong with my solution???.................................. I solved it by taking f(x) as y and then according to the conditions, dy/dx > -y...........Solving this results in y > exp(-x+c).........so, f(x)=exp(-x+c) + d......where c is the constant of integration and d is any really small number..........Thus putting the values, we get the minimum of the desired expression as e......

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