MATH 446, HOMEWORK 3

JOE STUDENT

1.2.30 Let n be a positive integer and let a1 , a2 , ..., an be positive numbers. The har-

monic mean of these numbers is the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals

of the numbers. Prove that the harmonic mean of a set of positive numbers is less than

or equal to the geometric mean. When does equality occur?

1
Proof. We start by applying the AM-GM Inequality to , 1 , . . . , a1n . The AM-GM In-
a1 a2
  n1  
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
equality tells us that
a1
· a2
··· an
≤ n a1
+ a2
+ ··· + an
, which can be rewritten

 
1 1 1 1 1
1 ≤ n a1
+ a2
+ ··· + an
. If we take the reciprocal of both sides of this in-
(a1 ·a2 ···an ) n
1
n
equality, we get 1
+ a1 +···+ a1
≤ (a1 · a2 · · · an ) n . We can see that the left hand side
a1 2 n

of this inequality is the harmonic mean of a1 , a2 , ..., an , and the right hand side is the

geometric mean of a1 , a2 , ..., an . Thus we have shown that the harmonic mean of a set

of positive numbers is less than or equal to the geometric mean. Equality occurs when

1 1 1
a1
= a2
= ··· = an
, which occurs when a1 = a2 = ... = an . 

Date : February 11, 2009.