Shapiro inequality explained
In mathematics, the Shapiro inequality is an inequality proposed by Harold S. Shapiro in 1954.[1]
Statement of the inequality
Suppose
is a
natural number and
are positive numbers and:
is
even and less than or equal to
, or
is
odd and less than or equal to
.
Then the Shapiro inequality states that
where
and
.
For greater values of
the inequality does not hold, and the strict
lower bound is
with
.
The initial proofs of the inequality in the pivotal cases
[2] and
[3] rely on numerical computations. In 2002, P.J. Bushell and J.B. McLeod published an analytical proof for
.
[4] The value of
was determined in 1971 by
Vladimir Drinfeld. Specifically, he proved that the strict lower bound
is given by
, where the
function
is the
convex hull of
and
. (That is, the region above the
graph of
is the convex hull of the
union of the regions above the graphs of
and
.)
[5] Interior local minima of the left-hand side are always
.
[6] Counter-examples for higher n
The first counter-example was found by Lighthill in 1956, for
:
[7] x20=(1+5\epsilon, 6\epsilon, 1+4\epsilon, 5\epsilon, 1+3\epsilon, 4\epsilon, 1+2\epsilon, 3\epsilon, 1+\epsilon, 2\epsilon, 1+2\epsilon, \epsilon, 1+3\epsilon, 2\epsilon, 1+4\epsilon, 3\epsilon, 1+5\epsilon, 4\epsilon, 1+6\epsilon, 5\epsilon),
where
is close to 0. Then the left-hand side is equal to
10-\epsilon2+O(\epsilon3)
, thus lower than 10 when
is small enough.
The following counter-example for
is by Troesch (1985):
x14=(0,42,2,42,4,41,5,39,4,38,2,38,0,40)
(Troesch, 1985)
References
- Book: Fink, A.M. . 0895.26001 . Shapiro's inequality . Gradimir V. Milovanović, G. V. . Recent progress in inequalities. Dedicated to Prof. Dragoslav S. Mitrinović . Dordrecht . Kluwer Academic Publishers. . Mathematics and its Applications (Dordrecht) . 430 . 241–248 . 1998 . 0-7923-4845-1 .
External links
Notes and References
- Shapiro . H. S. . Bellman . R. . Newman . D. J. . Weissblum . W. E. . Smith . H. R. . Coxeter . H. S. M. . 1954 . Problems for Solution: 4603-4607 . The American Mathematical Monthly . 61 . 8 . 571 . 10.2307/2307617 . 2307617 . 2021-09-23.
- Godunova . E. K. . Levin . V. I. . 1976-06-01 . A cyclic sum with 12 terms . Mathematical Notes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . en . 19 . 6 . 510–517 . 10.1007/BF01149930 . 1573-8876.
- Troesch . B. A. . 1989 . The Validity of Shapiro's Cyclic Inequality . Mathematics of Computation . 53 . 188 . 657–664 . 10.2307/2008728 . 2008728 . 0025-5718.
- Bushell . P. J. . McLeod . J. B. . 2002 . Shapiro's cyclic inequality for even n . Journal of Inequalities and Applications . English . 7 . 3 . 331–348 . 10.1155/S1025583402000164 . free . 1029-242X.
- Drinfel'd. V. G.. 1971-02-01. A cyclic inequality. Mathematical Notes of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. en. 9. 2. 68–71. 10.1007/BF01316982. 121786805. 1573-8876.
- Nowosad . Pedro . September 1968 . Isoperimetric eigenvalue problems in algebras . Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics . en . 21 . 5 . 401–465 . 10.1002/cpa.3160210502 . 0010-3640.
- Lighthill . M. J. . 1956 . An Invalid Inequality . American Mathematical Monthly . 63 . 3 . 191–192. 10.1080/00029890.1956.11988785 .