Why I love inequality so much

Algebra Level 5

x y z x 2 + 1 × ( y 2 + 4 ) ( z 2 + 9 ) 4 \dfrac{x\sqrt{yz}}{\sqrt{x^2+1}\times \sqrt[4]{(y^2+4)(z^2+9)}}

Given that x , y x,y and z z are positive reals satisfying 6 x + 3 y + 2 z = x y z 6x+3y+2z=xyz , find the maximum value of the expression above.

Give your answer to two decimal place.


The answer is 0.76.

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4 solutions

Mark Hennings
Feb 13, 2016

With x = tan u x=\tan u , y = 2 tan v y=2\tan v , z = 3 tan w z=3\tan w , we need to maximize sin u sin v sin w \sin u \sqrt{\sin v\sin w} over 0 < u , v , w < 1 2 π 0 < u,v,w < \tfrac12\pi and u + v + w = π u+v+w=\pi . With u + v + w = π u+v+w=\pi we have sin u sin v sin w = sin u cos ( v w ) cos ( v + w ) 2 = sin u cos ( v w ) + cos u 2 sin u 1 + cos u 2 = sin u cos 1 2 u = 2 sin 1 2 u cos 2 1 2 u \begin{array}{rcl} \sin u \sqrt{\sin v \sin w} & = & \sin u \sqrt{\frac{\cos(v-w) -\cos(v+w)}{2}} \;=\; \sin u \sqrt{\frac{\cos(v-w) +\cos u}{2}} \\ &\le& \sin u \sqrt{\frac{1+\cos u}{2}} \;=\; \sin u \cos \tfrac12u \\ &=& 2\sin\tfrac12u \cos^2\tfrac12u \end{array} Simple calculus tells us that this last expression is maximized over 0 < u < 1 2 π 0<u<\tfrac12\pi when tan 1 2 u = 1 2 \tan \tfrac12u =\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}} . Thus the maximum value is 4 3 3 = 0.7698 \tfrac{4}{3\sqrt{3}}=0.7698 . This value is achieved when v = w = 1 2 ( π u ) v=w=\tfrac12(\pi-u) and u = 2 tan 1 1 2 u = 2\tan^{-1}\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}} .

Hey mark. It seems like your solution takes a lot of liberties from mine so I would appreciate it if you could give me a bit of credit. Thanks

Josh Banister - 5 years, 4 months ago

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Your solution certainly has the conversion to trig functions. In problems of this sort, however, using tangents to convert a condition like b c x + a c y + a b z a b c x y z = 0 bcx +acy +abz - abc xyz = 0 into tan ( u + v + w ) = 0 \tan(u+v+w) = 0 , and so u + v + w = π u+v+w=\pi , is so standard that my solution did this conversion without comment. I am sorry if you felt I was lifting your ideas.

Mark Hennings - 5 years, 4 months ago
Josh Banister
Feb 13, 2016

Let x = tan ( a ) , y = 2 tan ( b ) x = \tan(a), y = 2\tan(b) and z = 3 tan ( c ) z = 3\tan(c) , the equation now becomes x y z x 2 + 1 × ( y 2 + 4 ) ( z 2 + 9 ) 4 = tan a 6 tan b tan c tan 2 a + 1 × ( 4 tan 2 b + 4 ) ( 9 tan 2 c + 9 ) 4 = tan a tan b tan c sec a × sec b sec c = sin a sin b sin c \begin{aligned} \frac{x\sqrt{yz}}{\sqrt{x^2 + 1} \times \sqrt[4]{(y^2 + 4)(z^2 + 9)}} &= \frac{\tan a\sqrt{6\tan b \tan c}}{\sqrt{\tan^2 a + 1} \times \sqrt[4]{(4\tan^2 b + 4)(9\tan^2 c + 9)}} \\ &= \frac{\tan a\sqrt{\tan b \tan c}}{\sec a \times \sqrt{\sec b \sec c}} \\ &= \sin{a} \sqrt{\sin b \sin c} \end{aligned}

In addition to this, we also have the requirement that 6 x + 3 y + 2 z = x y z 6x + 3y + 2z = xyz or in this case 6 x + 3 y + 2 z = x y z 6 tan a + 6 tan b + 6 tan c = 6 tan a tan b tan c tan b + tan c = tan a ( tan b tan c 1 ) tan b + tan c 1 tan b tan c = tan a tan ( b + c ) = tan a a = π ( b + c ) a + b + c = π \begin{aligned} 6x + 3y + 2z = xyz & \implies 6\tan a + 6\tan b + 6 \tan c = 6\tan a \tan b \tan c \\ & \implies \tan b + \tan c = \tan a (\tan b \tan c - 1) \\ & \implies - \frac{\tan b + \tan c}{1 - \tan b \tan c} = \tan a \\ & \implies - \tan(b+c) = \tan a \\ & \implies a = \pi - (b+c) \\ & \implies a + b + c = \pi \end{aligned}

Now we just need to find the maximum of sin ( b + c ) sin b sin c \sin(b+c) \sqrt{\sin b \sin c} . Mark's solution does this so you should read his.

Avi Solanki
Feb 16, 2016

X=y= 281/100. z=424/ 100 plugging in these values you have ur answer

Andreas Wendler
Feb 13, 2016

Extremum with constraints will be found via Lagrange multipliers. Using a program solving non-linear equations' systems I got:

x = 2,828427124746

y = 2,828427124746

z = 4,242640687119

With these values I determined the maximum: 0.769800 0.769800

R e m a r k : \boxed{Remark:} To show that we have a maximum at position (x, y, z) refer to

h t t p : / / w w w . m a t h . n o r t h w e s t e r n . e d u / c l a r k / 285 / 2006 07 / h a n d o u t s / l a g r a n g e 2 d e r i v . p d f http://www.math.northwestern.edu/~clark/285/2006-07/handouts/lagrange-2deriv.pdf

which presents the algorithm via Hessian bordered marix additionally by means of examples.

Did you wonder why you were getting x = y = 2 2 x=y=2\sqrt{2} and z = 3 2 z=3\sqrt{2} ?

Mark Hennings - 5 years, 4 months ago

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Absolutely not because I never checked this! The only important thing was the determination of the result to two decimal places and I achieved this as first!!! Juggling with trigonometric expressions is boring, sometimes random because of its questionable success and takes too much time!

Andreas Wendler - 5 years, 4 months ago

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