512 THE MATHEMATICAL GAZETTE

2. H. S. M. Coxeter, Introduction to geometry (2nd edn.), Wiley (1969).

3. Henri Poincaré, Science and method, Science Press (1908).
10.1017/mag.2019.116 CARLO DEL NOCE
Via Lanfranconi, N. 1/12B, 16121 Genoa, Italy
e-mail: cmdelnoce@gmail.com

103.35 Hölder's inequality revisited

Based on the same idea provided by Razminia [1], we are going to
present a new proof for Hölder's inequality.

Lemma 1: For all positive numbers a1, a2, b1 and b2, we have

a1b1 + a2b2 ≤ (ap1 + ap2) (bq1 + bq2)

1/p 1/q
, (1)
1 1 ap1 ap2
where + = 1 with p, q > 1. Moreover, the equality holds when = .
p q bq1 bq2

Proof: Let us define the following function

f (x) = (1 + xp) (1 + yq)

1/p 1/q
− 1 − xy, (2)
with a given y. Clearly f (x) is continuous and differentiable, so the critical
points of f (x) can be obtained by solving the following equation
1 −1
d 1
f (x) = xp − 1 (1 + xp)
p
(1 + yq)q − y = 0. (3)
dx
Moving y to the right-hand side of (3), and raising both sides of the equation
to the power q, we obtain
( 1p − 1)q
x(p − 1)q (1 + xp) (1 + yq) = yq.
Now, using the fact that 1p − 1 = − 1q and q (p − 1) = p, we obtain
−1
xp (1 + xp) (1 + yq) = yq or (1 + yq) = yq (1 + x−p) ,
from which we conclude that 1 = yqx−p or, equivalently, xp = yq x = yp . ( q
)
On the other hand, by taking the derivative of (3), which gives

[ (p − 1) x p−2
(1 + xp)
1
p −1
+ (1 − p) x2p − 2 (1 + xp)
1
p −2
] (1 + y ) ,
q
1
q

and after factorisation, it becomes

d2 1 −2 1

2
f (x) = (p − 1) xp − 2 (1 + xp)
p
(1 + yq)q ,
dx
which is clearly positive and, consequently, f (x) is convex. Based on
df
dx (x = y )
q/p |
q
= f yp = 0 ( )
and the convexity of f (x), we can conclude that f (x) is always non-negative.

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 NOTES 513

a2 b2
Now, by choosing x = and y = in (2), we get (1). It should be noted
a1 b1
ap ap2
that the equality holds in (1) when 1q = q or equivalently, xp = yq for
b1 b2
when f (x) = 0.

Theorem 2: Hölder's inequality for sums states that

(∑ ) (∑ )
1 1
n n p n q

∑ akbk ≤ apk bqk , (4)

k=1 k=1 k=1
1 1
where all ak , bk > 0 and + = 1with p, q > 1. The equality holds
p q
apk apj
when q = for all k, j = 1, 2, … , n. Moreover, if p = q = 2, (4)
bk bqj
becomes Cauchy's inequality.

Proof: By dividing both sides of (4) by maxk (ak ) and maxk (bk ), we have

(∑ ) (∑ )
1 1
n n p n q

∑ xkyk ≤ xpk yqk ,

k=1 k=1 k=1
ak bk
where xk = and yk = . Hence, all xk , yk belong to the
maxk (ak ) maxk (bk )
closed interval [0, 1]. Let us define the following function on [0, 1] 2n

(∑ ) (∑ )
1 1
n p n q n
g (x1, x2, … , xn, y1, y2, … , yn) = xpk yqk − ∑ xkyk.
k=1 k=1 k=1
According to Weierstrass’s theorem, which says a continous function has a
global minimum on a closed interval, we conclude that the function g has a
xp xpj
global minimum on [0, 1] 2n. This minimum value occurs when qk = q for
yk yj
all k, j = 1, 2, … , n. By use of the contradiction approach, let us assume
that there is a minimum point A = (α1, α2, … , αn, β1, β2, … , βn), where
αp αp αp2
at least two qk are unequal, and without loss of generality, say q1 ≠ q .
βk β1 β2
From Lemma 1, α1β1 + α2β2 < (αp1 + αp2)p (βq1 + βq2)q , and then by
1 1

rearranging the terms in this inequality and adding some terms to both sides,
we obtain

( )( )
1 1
n p n q 1 n
− (αp1 + αp2) (β1 + β2) −
1

∑ ∑ ∑ αkβk
q q q
αpk βk
p q

k=1 k=1 k=3

(∑ ) (∑ )
1 1
n p n q n

∑ αkβk,
q
< αpk βk − (5)
k=1 k=1 k=1

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 514 THE MATHEMATICAL GAZETTE

The right-hand side and left-hand side of (5) represents g (x) at points A and

(( )( ) ( )( ) )
1 1 1 1
αp1 + αp2 p αp1 + αp2 p βq1 + βq2 q βq1 + βq2 q
B= , , α3, … , αn, , , β3, … , βn ,
2 2 2 2
respectively. It should be noted that B belongs to [0, 1] 2n (because

( ) ( )
1 1
αp1 + αp2 p βq1 + βq2 q
0 < , ≤ 1). We have therefore found another point,
2 2
which makes g (x) smaller than the global minimum, i.e. g (A). It brings us to
a contradiction and completes the proof.

Acknowledgement: The author thanks Dr. Abolhassan Razminia for his help
in refining this manuscript.

Reference
1. K. Razminia, A short proof of symmetric inequalities, College Math. J.
46 (2015) pp. 364-366.
10.1017/mag.2019.117 K. RAZMINIA
Dynamical Systems & Control (DSC) Research Lab., Department of
Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, Persian Gulf University,
P.O. Box 75169, Bushehr, Iran

103.36 Three footnotes to Cartwright's proof that π is

irrational
Dame Mary Cartwright’s proof that π is irrational, which was famously
set as an examination question at Cambridge University in 1945, may be
found in many places such as [1, 2, 3, 4]. In particular, [1] traces the
connection between this proof, Hermite’s earlier proof and Niven’s
(probably more familiar) slightly later one, which is the one presented in [5,
6].
In examination question format, Cartwright's proof goes as follows.
• Define In (x) = x2n + 1 ∫−1 (1 − t 2) cosxt dt for non-negative
1 n

integers, n.
• Use two successive integration by parts to derive the reduction
formula
In (x) = 2n (2n − 1) In − 1 (x) − 4n (n − 1) x2In − 2 (x) for n ≥ 2,
with initial conditions I0 (x) = 2 sin x and I1 (x) = 4 sin x − 4x cosx.
• Use induction to establish that
1
( 1 − t 2) cosxt dt = In (x) = n! [ Pn (x) sin x + Qn (x) cosx] (1)
n
x2n + 1 ∫
−1
where Pn and Qn are polynomials of degree at most n with integer
coefficients.
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