SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR PROBLEM SET 1

FALL 2010, MATH 311:01

0.5.39. If x < y, prove that x <

x+y < y. 2

Proof. Observe that x + x < x + y < y + y. Dividing through by 2 yields the desired result. x+y . (Hint: Use the fact ( x y)2 0). 2 Proof. We know that x + y 2 xy = ( x y)2 0. Rearrange the inequality to obtain x + y 2 xy. Dividing through by 2 now yields the desired result. 0.5.41. If 0 < a < b, prove that 0 < a2 < b2 and 0 < a < b. 0.5.40. If x 0 and y 0, prove that xy Proof. We rst note that 0 < a < b implies 0 < aa < < bb, which establishes the rst inequality. ab To show the second inequality, we suppose that a b; we may assume further that a b > 0, since the square root of a positive real number is a positive real number. It immediately follows that the inequality 0< b b b a a a holds, whence b a. We conclude that 0 < a < b implies 0 < a < b, as desired. 0.5.42. If x, y, a and b are greater than zero and x a x x+a a < , prove that < < . y b y y+b b

The obvious cross-multiplication proof. Observe that y > 0 and b > 0 imply bx < ay. Thus, bx + xy < xy + ay, which in turn yields x(b + y) < y(x + a). Since x, y, x + a, and y + b are positive, we may conclude that x x+a < . y y+b Similarly, bx + ab < ay + ab, and we have b(x + a) < a(y + b). Since a, b, x + a, and y + b are positive, it follows that x+a a < . y+b b Combining the two inequalities yields the desired result. Another proof, just for fun. We rst prove the following x a Lemma. If x, y, a and b are greater than zero and = , then we have y b x x+a a = = . y y+b b
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FALL 2010, MATH 311:01

Proof of the lemma. We nd a positive real number k such that a = kx and b = ky. Then x+a x + kx (k + 1)x x a = = = = , y+b y + ky (k + 1)y y b as desired. x c Find a positive real number c such that = . Similarly, nd a positive real number d such y b a d c x a d that = . The inequality = < = yields the two inequalities c < a and x < d, whence b y b y b y it follows from the above lemma that x+c x+a d+a a x = < < = . y y+b y+b y+b b We note that we have applied the lemma twice.