Wednesday, June 28, 2017

inequality - Maximise (x+1)sqrt1x2 without calculus

Problem



Maximise f:[1,1]R, with f(x)=(1+x)1x2



With calculus, this problem would be easily solved by setting f(x)=0 and obtaining x=12, then checking that f(12)<0 to obtain the final answer of f(12)=334



The motivation behind this function comes from maximising the area of an inscribed triangle in the unit circle, for anyone that is curious.



My Attempt




f(x)=(1+x)1x2=(1x2)(1+x)2=3(1x2)(1+x)23



By the AM-GM Inequality, aba+b2, with equality iff a=b



This means that



3ab32(a+b)



Substituting a=1x2,b=(1+x)23,




f(x)=3(1x2)(1+x)2332((1x2)+(1+x)23)



=32(4323x2+23x)



=3223(x2x2)



=33((x12)294)



33(94)=334




Both inequalities have equality when x=12



Hence, f(x) is maximum at 334 when x=12



However, this solution is (rather obviously I think) heavily reverse-engineered, with the two inequalities carefully manipulated to give identical equality conditions of x=12. Is there some better or more "natural" way to find the minimum point, perhaps with better uses of AM-GM or other inequalities like Jensen's inequality?

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