Real Analysis – Proving Inequality Involving Powers and Fractions

inequalityreal-analysis

The inequality $\sqrt{\frac{a^b}{b}}+\sqrt{\frac{b^a}{a}}\ge 2$ for all $a,b>0$ was shown here using first-order Padé approximants on each exponent, where the minimum is attained at $a=b=1$.

By empirical evidence, it appears that inequalities of this type hold for an arbitrary number of variables. We can phrase the generalised problem as follows.

Let $(x_i)_{1\le i\le n}$ be a sequence of positive real numbers. Define $\boldsymbol a=\begin{pmatrix}a_1&\cdots&a_n\end{pmatrix}$ such that $a_k=x_k^{x_{k+1}}/x_{k+1}$ for each $1\le k<n$ and $a_n=x_n^{x_1}/x_1$. How do we show that $$\|\boldsymbol a\|_p^p\ge n$$ for any $p\ge1$?

As before, AM-GM is far too weak since the inequality $\displaystyle\|\boldsymbol a\|_p^p\ge 2\left(\prod_{\text{cyc}}\frac{x_1^{x_2}}{x_2}\right)^{1/{2p}}$ does not guarantee the result when at least one $x_i$ is smaller than $1$. We can eliminate the exponent on the denominator by taking $x_i=X_i^{1/p}$ so that $\displaystyle\|\boldsymbol a\|_p^p=\sum_{\text{cyc}}\frac{X_1^{X_2^{1/p}}}{X_2}$ but the approximant approach no longer becomes feasible; even in the case where $p$ is an integer the problem reduces to a posynomial inequality of rational degrees. Perhaps there are some obscure $L^p$-norm/Hölder-type identities of use but I'm at a loss in terms of finding references.

Empirical results: In the interval $p\in[1,\infty)$, Wolfram suggests that the minimum is $n$ (Notebook result) which is obtained when $\boldsymbol a$ is the vector of ones. However, we note that in the interval $p\in(0,1)$, the empirical minimum no longer displays this consistent behaviour as can be seen in this Notebook result.
The sequence $\approx(1.00,2.00,2.01,3.36,3.00,4.00)$ appears to increase almost linearly every two values, but I cannot verify it for a larger number of variables due to instability in the working precision.

Best Answer

Proof for $p ≥ 1$

Since $u^p - 1 ≥ p(u - 1)$ for all $u ≥ 0$, it suffices to prove the result for $p = 1$. That follows from

$$\frac{x^y}{y} - 1 ≥ \frac{1 + y \ln x}{y} - 1 = \ln x + \frac1y - 1 ≥ \ln x + \ln \frac1y = \ln x - \ln y$$

by cyclic summation over $(x, y) = (x_i, x_{i + 1})$.

Conjectured proof for $p ≥ \frac12$

Since $u^p - 1 ≥ 2p(u^{\frac12} - 1)$ for all $u ≥ 0$, it suffices to prove the result for $p = \frac12$. Numerical evidence suggests that

$$\left(\frac{x^y}{y}\right)^{\frac12} - 1 ≥ \frac{\ln x}{2\sqrt[4]{1 + \frac13 \ln^2 x}} - \frac{\ln y}{2\sqrt[4]{1 + \frac13 \ln^2 y}}$$

for all $x, y > 0$. If this is true, cyclic summation yields the desired result.

Counterexample for $0 < p < \frac12$

Let $g(x) = \left(\frac{x^{1/x}}{1/x}\right)^p + \left(\frac{(1/x)^x}{x}\right)^p$. Then $g(1) = 2$, $g'(1) = 0$, and $g''(1) = 4p(2p - 1) < 0$, so we have $g(x) < 2$ for $x$ in some neighborhood of $1$. This yields counterexamples for all even $n$:

$$\left(x, \frac1x, x, \frac1x, \dotsc, x, \frac1x\right), \quad x ≈ 1, \quad 0 < p < \frac12.$$

For $n = 3$, the best counterexample seems to be

$$(0.41398215, 0.73186577, 4.77292996), \quad 0 < p < 0.39158477.$$

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