Inequality involving two unknowns and factorials

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
4 replies · 3K views
Rosey24
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
I need to prove the following:
n!/r! >= r^(n-r)

With r and n as natural numbers and n>=r
I know the LHS will end up being (n-r) terms long as the first r! will cancel out of n! (n>=r), but as they're both unknown, I just left it as
1*2*3*...*(n-2)*(n-1)*n

1*2*3*...*(r-2)*(r-1)*r

and I looked at the RHS as r^n/r^r, but I'm not sure how to work with these two sides. :rolleyes:

Any tips on different ways to approach this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


Update: Is it enough to do the following, using induction:
Prove that for n=1, it works as 1 >= 1
and then, assuming the inequality holds for n, try n+1:
(n+1)!/r! >= r^[(n+1)-r]
which is just
n!(n+1)/r! >= r^(n-r)*r
and, as n>=r, (n+1)>=r, so, by induction, it's holds for all n.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
LHS= (r+1)*(r+2)...*n , there are n-r terms and each term is greater than r . Hence, the LHS is greater than r^(n-r), right?
 
Ahh I like the way this new guy thinks :) Much simpler than induction, original and just plain :) which is good lol.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded!

I appreciate the simplicity of your response, huyen_vyvy. One small note: it's a she who assumed r=1, not a he.