Why this function is strictly concave

calculusmultivariable-calculus

My book says that this $f(x,y,z)=-e^{x+y+z}+x-y^{2}-z^{2}$ is strictly concave but it also requires to deduce the concavity with a proposition that says :

If $X\subseteq R^{n}$ is a convex set, and $f_{i}$ for $i=1,2,3,…,m$ are $m$ concave functions and $a_{1},a_{2},…,a_{m}$ are $m$ not negative numbers then the function $f:X \to R$ defined by the sum of the $f_{i}$ each multiplied by the $a_{i}$ coefficient is concave. $f$ is strictly concave if at least one of the $f_{i}$ is strictly concave and the correspondent coefficient $a_{i}>0$ .

So I can divide the function in three parts :

$f(x,y,z)=-e^{x+y+z}$

$f(x,y,z)=x$

$f(x,y,z)=-y^{2}-z^{2}$

But each of this function is not strictly concave…So why the function is strictly concave? Are there other simple results to use for deducing the strinct concavity?

Best Answer

It is useful for this problem that the (strict) concavity of a function $\mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ is equivalent to its (strict) concavity on every one-dimensional affine subspace---that is, on every line.

Now, $-y^2 - z^2$ is strictly concave on every line not parallel to the line generated by $(1, 0, 0)$, and so by the proposition $f(x, y, z)$ is strictly concave on such lines. Also, $-e^{x + y + z}$ is strictly concave on every line not parallel to the plane $x + y + z = 0$, so again by the proposition $f(x, y, z)$ is strictly concave here. Because the line generated by $(1, 0, 0)$ and the plane defined by $x + y + z = 0$ together generate $\mathbb{R}^3$, every line falls into one of these two classes, so this argument is enough.