3
$\begingroup$

During my research, I came a cross this question :

Let $f \in C([0,1])$ convex.

Is it true that $$\int_0^1 \max(f(t),f(1-t)) \geq\\ 2/3\max(f(1/3),f(2/3))+1/3 \max(f(1/6),f(5/6))?$$

$\endgroup$
3
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Many questions I see on MathOverflow can already be solved by GPT-5 Pro. It might be a good idea to check your problem with an AI model first, just to see whether it gives a correct or helpful answer, before posting. chatgpt.com/s/t_68dc2dad65a4819193a04707f0f0e448 $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30 at 19:22
  • $\begingroup$ I do it, and the AI don't give a correct answer, I don't have gpt-5 pro, thanks for the answer. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30 at 19:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Dattier: The latest and most powerful version of ChatGPT is an indispensable tool in mathematics. Maybe the main part of your research has already been solved by GPT-5 Pro and you could save months or even years of hard work? $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 2 at 5:41

1 Answer 1

6
$\begingroup$

Let $g(t):=\max(f(t),f(1-t))$. Then the function $g$ is convex on $[0,1]$, symmetric about $1/2$, and hence nonincreasing on $[0,1/2]$. So, letting $h(s):=g(s/2)$ for $s\in[0,1]$, we rewrite the inequality in question as $$\int_0^ 1 h\ge\frac23\,h\Big(\frac23\Big)+\frac13\,h\Big(\frac13\Big) \tag{1}\label{1},$$ where the function $h$ is convex and nonincreasing on $[0,1]$.

So, letting $h_z(s):=\max(0,z-s)$ for some $z\in(0,1]$ and all $s\in[0,1]$, we see that the function $h$ is a nonnegative mixture of a constant and functions $h_z$ -- see the detail at the end of this answer.

So, it is enough to verify \eqref{1} when $h$ is either a constant or of the form $h_z$ for some $z\in(0,1]$. This verification is elementary and straightforward.


Let me comment on the nice comment by Paata Ivanisvili. The first part of the GPT-5 Pro solution is essentially the same as the above reduction of the inequality in question to inequality \eqref{1} for functions $h$ that are convex and nonincreasing on $[0,1]$.

The second parts of the two solutions are quite different, though. That of the GPT-5 Pro solution is rather ad hoc and creative.

On the other hand, the second part above requires no thinking or creativity. Moreover (or in other words), it is much more generally applicable. Indeed, with the same approach, it will be easy to create and then elementary and straightforward to verify any inequality of the form $$\int_0^ 1 h\ge\sum_{i\in I}p_i\, h(b_i), \tag{2}\label{2}$$ where again the function $h$ is convex and nonincreasing on $[0,1]$ and for each $i$ in an at most countable set $I$ we have the following: $A_i$ is a measurable subset of $[0,1]$, $p_i:=\int_{A_i}dx>0$, $b_i\in[a_i,1]$, $a_i:=\int_{A_i}x\,dx/p_i$ is the barycenter of $A_i$, and $(A_i)_{i\in I}$ is a partition of the interval $[0,1]$.

Inequality \eqref{2} holds because for each $i\in I$ we have $\frac1{p_i}\,\int_{A_i} h\ge h(a_i)\ge h(b_i)$, by Jensen's inequality for the convex function $h$ and because $h$ is nonincreasing.

If we only know the $p_i$'s and the $b_i$'s (but not the $A_i$'s), then, to prove inequality \eqref{2}, we can just note that this inequality trivially holds when $h$ is a constant and then verify \eqref{2} for $h$ of the form $h_z$ for some $z\in(0,1]$, which is elementary and straightforward.

Inequality \eqref{1} is a special case of \eqref{2}, with $I=\{1,2\}$, $A_1=(1/3,1]$, $A_2=[0,1/3]$, $a_1=2/3$, $a_2=1/6$, $b_1=2/3\ge a_1$, $b_2=1/3\ge a_2$. In particular, this provides another, and this time immediate, proof of \eqref{1}.


Detail: Our function $h$ is convex and nonincreasing on $[0,1]$. So, letting $h'$ denote the left derivative of the convex function $h$ on $(0,1]$, for any $u\in(0,1]$ we have $$h'(1)-h'(u)=\int_{[u,1)}\mu(dz),$$ where $\mu$ is the (nonnegative) Lebesgue--Stieltjes measure corresponding to the nondecreasing left-continuous function $h'$. So, for any $s\in(0,1]$ $$h(s)=h(1)-\int_s^1 du\,h'(u) \\ =h(1)-h'(1)(1-s)+\int_s^1 du\,\int_{[u,1)}\mu(dz) \\ =h(1)-h'(1)(1-s)+\int_{[s,1)}\mu(dz)\int_{(s,z]} du \\ =h(1)-h'(1)h_1(s)+\int_{[s,1)}\mu(dz)h_z(s) \\ =h(1)+|h'(1)|h_1(s)+\int_{(0,1)}\mu(dz)h_z(s);$$ here it was taken into account that $h$ is nonincreasing and hence $h'\le0$.

So, indeed, $h$ is a nonnegative mixture of the constant $h(1)$ and functions $h_z$ for $z\in(0,1]$ -- that is, for some nonnegative measure $\nu$ and all $s\in(0,1]$ we have $$h(s)=h(1)+\int_{(0,1]}\nu(dz)h_z(s).$$

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ What do you mean by mixture ? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30 at 18:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Dattier : I have provided a detail on this. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30 at 18:41
  • $\begingroup$ Downvoter: Can you please explain you reasons? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 26 at 23:51

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.