INEQUALITY

OF THE MEANS
This article is in collaboration with Prof. Krishnan Shankar, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oklahoma. The Oracle Asks This articles material came forth from the fertile mind of the extraordinary John Conway. References to the mathematics of the problem are listed at the end. It was a pleasure to discuss this problem with Prof. Dror Bar-Natan. Prof. Bar-Natans exposition and Javascript applet make the subject come alive on his website (http://www.math.toronto.edu/~drorbn/), which is certainly worth a visit. We start with a well-known inequality from high school algebra: let a and b be any two non- negative numbers. Then, their arithmetic mean is at least as large as their geometric mean, i.e., !!! !" !

Equality occurs precisely when a = b. This is not hard to prove algebraically, but here is a nice geometric proof. Consider the following figure where a square of side length a + b encloses 8 right angled triangles of orthogonal sides ! and ! each. The area of the inner square is (! !)! , which is the area of the outer square minus the area of the triangles. In other words, we have the following: 1 ! + ! ! 8. !". = ! ! ! 0 2 ! + ! ! 4!" !!! ! !" ! !!! !" ! The equality discussion is also clear since the inner square has area zero precisely when a = b. The inequality is true for any finite set of non-negative numbers. Given any set of non-negative numbers !! , !! , !! , , !! , we always have !! + !! + !! + , + !! ! !! . !! . !! . . !! ! This is not hard to prove algebraically but the fun starts when we try to replicate the geometric argument above. Here is the geometric problem for ! = 3: given a cubical box of side length

! + ! + !, can you fill it with 27 little cuboids each of length a, breadth b and width c without spilling out of the box? In concrete terms, take a cubical box of size 15 15 15 (inches for instance) and fill it with 27 little cuboids, each of size 4 5 6. The problem is hard, ridiculously hard even. Even if you look at the solution it does not easily lend itself to memory. Here is a link to the solution worked out step by step: http://www.math.toronto.edu/drorbn/projects/ArithGeom/ Scroll down to the Javascript application or read Professor Bar-Natans lucid explanation of the same topic. For larger n the problem comes in two flavors: solvable or hopeless. That is, if you can solve the problem for ! and ! it is possible to bootstrap the solution for nm. Thus, there is a solution for n = 4; 6; 8 etc. But the case ! = 5 is wide open. If you have some spare time, then by all means try to fit 3125 five dimensional cuboids of size ! ! ! ! ! into a five dimensional cube of side length ! + ! + ! + ! + !. We leave you with a question about cubes unrelated to the above inequality. This is the puzzle for this week. Please send in your answers to the following email address: askthedelphicoracle@gmail.com This months puzzle Take two standard six sided dice numbered 1 to 6 each. Is it possible to number them differently using positive integers so that one gets the same sums (2 through 12) with the same probabilities?

REFERENCES
Berlekamp, Conway & Guy, Winning ways for your mathematical plays. Bar-Natan, Odds & Ends, website.