Prove Jensen's Inequality: Convex Functions (a,b) → R

  • Thread starter Thread starter v.rad
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Inequality
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
1 reply · 2K views
v.rad
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
1. Suppose that f: (a,b) --> R is convex. Prove Jensen's inequality: if x1,...,xn[tex]\in(a,b)[/tex] and c1,...,cn >= 0 s.t. [tex]\sum(c_j)f(x_j)[/tex] >= f([tex]\sum((c_j)(x_j))[/tex]

both summations from j = 1 to n

2: Convex: whenever x1, x2 [tex]\in(a,b)[/tex] and 0 <= c <= 1, we have cf(x1) + (1 + c)f(x2) >= f(cx1 + (1-c)x2)


3. I realize that this is a proof by induction.
I have written the first summation in the form of (cn+1)(xn+1) + (1 - (cn+1)y, and then used my definition of convexity. My issue is trying to figure out what my y is. I know it has something to do with breaking it into a summation from just j=1 to n but I keep going in circles...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Try this:

[tex]\sum_{j=1}^{n+1}c_j x_j = c_{n+1} x_{n+1} + \sum_{j=1}^{n}c_j x_j = c_{n+1} x_{n+1} + \left(\frac{1 - c_{n+1}}{1 - c_{n+1}}\right) \sum_{j=1}^{n}c_j x_j = c_{n+1} x_{n+1} + (1 - c_{n+1}) \sum_{j=1}^{n}\frac{c_j}{1 - c_{n+1}} x_j[/tex]

What is

[tex]\sum_{j=1}^{n}\frac{c_j}{1 - c_{n+1}}[/tex]?