2014/2015 MA2108 TUTORIAL 1-SOLUTIONS

1. Prove the Bernoullis inequality:

(1 + x
1
)(1 + x
2
) (1 + x
n
) 1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
n
,
where all the x
i
s have same sign and > 1.
Proof. We prove by Mathematical Induction.
First, when n = 1, since we have 1 +x
1
= 1 +x
1
, the inequality holds for
n = 1.
Second, we assume that the inequality holds for n = k, i.e. one has
(0.1) (1 + x
1
)(1 + x
2
) (1 + x
k
) 1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
k
,
where x
i
> 1, i and they all have same sign. Now as x
k+1
> 1, we have
1 + x
k+1
> 0. So multiplying 1 + x
k+1
to both sides of the inequality (0.1),
we have
(0.2) (1+x
1
)(1+x
2
) (1+x
k
)(1+x
k+1
) (1+x
1
+x
2
+ +x
k
)(1+x
k+1
).
However,
(1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
k
)(1 + x
k+1
)
= 1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
k
+ x
k+1
+ (x
k+1
x
1
+ x
k+1
x
2
+ x
k+1
x
k
).
As x
i
s all have same sign, we must have
x
k+1
x
1
0, x
k+1
x
2
0, , x
k+1
x
k
0.
So we have
(0.3) (1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
k
)(1 + x
k+1
) 1 + x
1
+ x
2
+ + x
k
+ x
k+1
.
So from (0.2) and (0.3), we see that
(0.4) (1 +x
1
)(1 +x
2
) (1 +x
k
)(1 +x
k+1
) 1 +x
1
+x
2
+ +x
k
+x
k+1
.

2. (i) Prove that

3 is an irrational number;
(ii) Prove that

3 +

5 is an irrational number.
Proof. (i) We prove by contradiction. Suppose that

3 is rational. Then
there are integers p, q such that

p
q

2
= 3. We may assume that p, q are
positive and have no common integer factors other than 1.
Since p
2
= 3q
2
, we see that p
2
is divisible by 3. This implies that p is also
divisible by 3. (Otherwise if p is not divisible by 3, then p = 3k +1 or 3k +2
for some k N. Then p
2
= (3k + 1)
2
= 9k
2
+ 6k + 1 = 3(3k
2
+ 2k) + 1 or
p
2
= (3k + 2)
2
= 9k
2
+ 12k + 4 = 3(3k
2
+ 4k + 1) + 1, in each case p
2
is
1
2 2014/2015 MA2108 TUTORIAL 1-SOLUTIONS
not divisible by 3.) Therefore, since p, q do not have 3 as common factor, q
cannot be divisible by 3. .
Since p is divisible by 3, then p = 3k for some k N and hence 9k
2
= 3q
2
,
so that q
2
= 3k
2
. Therefore q
2
is also divisible by 3 and it follows that q
must be divisible by 3.
Since the hypothesis p
2
= 3q
2
leads to the contradictory conclusion that
q is both divisible and not divisible by 3, it must be false.
(ii) We prove by contradiction. Suppose that

3 +

5 is a rational num-
ber. Let

3 +

5 = r, where r is rational. Then we have

5 = r

3.
Square both sides, we have 5 = r
2
+3 2r

3. So we have 2r

3 = r
2
2 or

3 =
r
2
2
2r
. However since r is rational, we have
r
2
2
2r
is also rational, which
implies

3 is rational. This is a contradiction. So

3 +

5 is an irrational
number.

3. Let A, B be two bounded subsets of R, which only contain nonnegative

numbers. Dene C = {ab : a A, b B}. Prove that
inf C = inf Ainf B.
Solution: As A, B only contain nonnegative elements, we must have inf A
0, inf B 0.
c = ab C with a A, b B, as a inf A, b inf B and inf A
0, inf B 0, we have c = ab inf Ainf B. Therefore inf Ainf B is a lower
bound of C.
Next we will show that inf Ainf B is the largest lower bound of C.
Let v be any lower bound of C.
First we want to deal with case that B contains the element 0. In this
case, since we have v ab, a A, b B, then v a 0 = 0 inf Ainf B.
Next lets assume B only contains positive element. Since we have v
ab, a A, b B, then for any b B, we have v/b a, a A. Therefore,
v/b is a lower bound of A. So v/b inf A. If inf A = 0, then v 0
inf Ainf B, we are done. If inf A > 0. Then v/ inf A b, b B. So
we see that v/ inf A is lower bound of B. Therefore v/ inf A inf B. So
v inf Ainf B. This shows that inf Ainf B is the largest lower bound of C.