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4 INEQUALITIES
Objectives
After studying this chapter you should
4.0
Introduction
10
10
< <3 .
71
70
67
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Activity 1
Find and prove an inequality relationship for .
4.1
Fundamentals
Birth of
Christian era
1000
Battle of
Hastings
1500
Example
Newton born
Show that
2000
Solution
(a) If u > v and x > y then this simply means that u v and x y
are both positive numbers: hence their sum
u v and x y
is also positive. But this can be rewritten as
(u + x ) (v + y ).
Since this difference is a positive number you can deduce
that
u+x >v+y
as required.
(b) If x > y then this simply means that x y is a positive
number. Since k is also positive you can deduce that the
product k ( x y ) is positive. Therefore
68
Moon landing
Chapter 4 Inequalities
kx ky = k ( x y )
is a positive number, which means that kx > ky as required.
Activity 2
What happens to property (b) when k is a negative number?
What happens to subtraction of inequalities? For example, if
u > v and x > y then is it always true that u v > x y ?
Can you take square roots through an inequality? i.e. If a 2 > b 2
then is it necessarily true that a > b ?
Investigate these questions with simple illustrations.
Example
Find the values of x which satisfy the inequality
x 2 + 7 < 3x + 5 .
Solution
You can rewrite the inequality as
x 2 + 7 (3x + 5) < 0
x 2 3x + 2 < 0
( x 2 )( x 1) < 0.
Since the complete expression is required to be negative, this
means that one bracket must be positive and the other negative.
This will be the case when 1 < x < 2.
69
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Exercise 4A
1. Prove that if x > y > 0, then
1
y
>
1
.
x
* (b)
( x 1) ( x + 1)
4.2
Graphs of inequalities
x 2 3x + 2 = 0
( x 2 )( x 1) = 0
x = 1 or 2
70
y1 = x 2 + 7
y
13
B
11
y2 = 3x + 5
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Example
Find the region which satisfies 2x + y > 1.
y
Solution
The boundary of the required region is found by solving the
equality
1.5
1
1
2x + y = 1.
0.5
0.5
1.5
2x + y > 1
and
x + 2y > 1.
You have already solved the first inequality, and if you add
on the graph of the second inequality, you obtain the region
as shown in this diagram.
0
solution
region
71
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Example
Find the region which satisfies all of the following inequalities.
y
x+y>2
3x + y > 3
x + 3y > 3
Solution
2
1
solution
region
x+y<2
3x + y > 3
x + 3y > 3
x + 3y = 3
1
3x + y = 3
x+y=2
Activity 3
ax + by = c .
Which three inequalities are satisfied in the finite region formed
by these lines?
Example
In each case find the solution region.
(a)
(b)
(c)
72
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Solution
First graph x + y = 1, y x = 1, 2y x = 0 and 2x + 3y = 6, and
then in each case identify the appropriate region.
y x =1
2y x = 0
solution
(a)
s olution
(b)
1
2
x + y =1
2 x + 3y = 6
Exercise 4B
1. Solve graphically the inequalities
(a) ( 2 3x )(1 + x ) 0
x+y2
x + 4y 4
y > 1.
(b) x 2 2 x + 8 .
2. Solve
y 0, x + y 2 and y 2 x < 2.
4.3
2 x + 3y = 6
Classical inequalities
You are probably familiar with the arithmetic mean (often called
the average) of a set of positive numbers. The arithmetic
mean is defined for positive numbers x1 , x2 , ..., xn by
A =
x1 + x2 + ... + xn
n
(5 + 6 + 10 )
3
= 7.
There are many other ways of defining a mean; for example, the
geometric mean is defined as
G = ( x1 x2 ... xn )
73
Chapter 4 Inequalities
1
1 1
1
1
= +
+ ... +
H
n x1 x2
xn
So, again with x1 = 5, x2 = 6, and x3 = 10,
1 11 1 1 1 7
=
+ +
=
H 3 5 6 10 3 15
giving
H =
45
6. 43
7
Activity 4
For varying positive numbers x1 , x2 , x3 , find the arithmetic,
geometric and harmonic means. What inequality can you
conjecture which relates to these three means?
74
Chapter 4 Inequalities
For example,
A=
a + a + ... + a na
=
=a
n
n
( )
G = ( a a a ... a ) n = a n
1
= a.
Activity 5
Define a new mean of n positive numbers x1 , x2 , ..., xn and
investigate its properties.
(equality only occurring when all the numbers are equal). The
first inequality will be proved for any two positive numbers,
x1 and x2 .
Given the inequality
( x1 x2 )2 0
then equality can occur only when x1 = x2 .
This inequality can be rewritten as
x12 2x1 x2 + x2 2 0
or
giving
( x1 + x2 )2
4
x1 x2 .
Taking the positive square root of both sides, which was justified
in Question 2 of Exercise 4A,
x1 + x2
x1 x2
2
i.e.
A G
75
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Example
Show that of all rectangles having a given perimeter, the square
encloses the greatest area.
Solution
For a rectangle of sides a and b, the perimeter, L is given by
L = 2( a + b ) ,
A
L
A
4
or
L2
16
L2
and that it is only
16
AGH
hold for any set of positive numbers, x1 , x2 , ..., xn , but the result is
not easy to prove, and requires, for example, the use of a
mathematical process called induction.
The result in the example above illustrates what is called an
isoperimetric inequality; you will see more of these in the next
section.
Exercise 4C
1. Find the arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means
for the following sets of numbers, and check that the
inequality A G H holds in each case.
(a) 1, 2, 3, 4;
(b) 0.1, 2, 3, 4.9 ;
76
Chapter 4 Inequalities
1
and x 2 as numbers in the
x2
arithmetic/geometric mean inequality, find the
least value of
y=
1+ x4
.
x2
Writing
2V
S = 2 r2 +
2 r
and using the arithmetic and geometric means
inequality for the three numbers
2V
.
r
V
V
,
2r 2r
show that
1
3
S V2
2 .
6 4
<
<
<
S = 2r 2 +
r2 ,
4.4
Isoperimetric inequalities
area A
perimeter
length L
Example
For a given perimeter length, say 12 cm, find the area enclosed
by
(a) a square;
(b) a circle;
(c) an equilateral triangle.
77
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Solution
(a)
(b)
6
A = a 2 =
and
(c)
= 9 cm .
2
36
<
<
A = 3
and
11. 46 cm 2
A =
4 4 sin 60 = 4 3 6.93 cm 2 .
60
Now
L = 2 a
and
L
2
A = a =
L2
4
= 1.
4 A
2
For the circle, you see that I.Q. = 1. In the basic problem you
have been trying to find the shape which gives a maximum value
to A for a fixed value of L. In terms of the I.Q. number, you
want to find the shape which gives the maximum value to the
I.Q. number. But, for a circle, the value of the I.Q. number is 1,
so if the optimum shape is a circle, then the inequality
I.Q. 1
holds for all plane shapes, and equality occurs only for the
circle.
Note that, since the I.Q. is the ratio of an area to the square of a
length, it is non-dimensional, i.e. a number requiring no units.
78
<
A
>
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Example
Find the I.Q. number for a square of side a.
Solution
L = 4a, A = a 2 ,
and
I.Q. = 4
a2
0.785.
2 =
4
( 4a )
Activity 6
Find I.Q. numbers of various shapes and check that, in each
case, the inequality I.Q. 1 holds.
360
degrees or
n
2
radians.
n
1
a
1
a2
a
=
2
2 tan 4 tan
n
n
2
n
na 2
, and L = na,
The total area, A =
4 tan
n
so
na 2
1
I.Q. = 4
( na )2
4 tan
n
i.e.
n
I.Q. =
tan
n
79
Chapter 4 Inequalities
Activity 7
x
as x 0 .
Use your calculator to find the limit of
tan x
x
where x = .
n
tan x
Exercise 4D
1. For a given perimeter length of 12 cm, find the
total area enclosed by the rectangle with sides
(a) 3 cm and 3 cm
1: k
( k 1)
(b) 2 cm and 4 cm
(c) 1 cm and 5 cm
6. For a given surface area, S, what closed threedimensional shape do you think gives a
maximum volume?
80
Chapter 4 Inequalities
4.5
Miscellaneous Exercises
(a)
2x >
(b)
8.
9.
x
1
>
.
x +1 3 + x
a
v2
ka
4 x 2 12 x + 5 < 0.
2
.
x 1
a
What value of k gives a maximum I.Q. value?
10. Find the I.Q. number for a variety of triangles,
including an equilateral triangle. What do you
deduce about the I.Q. numbers for triangles?
*11. For three-dimensional closed shapes, the
isosurface area quotient number is defined as
I.Q. =
6 V
3
S2
where V is the volume enclosed by a total
surface area S. Find the I.Q. for a variety of
three-dimensional shapes. Can you find an
inequality satisfied by all closed shapes in three
dimensions?
finite?
7. Find the region satisfied by
x+y4
2 x 3y 6
3x y 3
x 2.
81
Chapter 4 Inequalities
82