Özdemir et al.

Journal of Inequalities and Applications 2013, 2013:333

http://www.journalofinequalitiesandapplications.com/content/2013/1/333

RESEARCH Open Access

On some inequalities for s-convex functions

and applications
Muhamet Emin Özdemir1 , Çetin Yıldız1* , Ahmet Ocak Akdemir2 and Erhan Set3
*
Correspondence:
yildizc@atauni.edu.tr Abstract
1
Department of Mathematics,
K.K. Education Faculty, Ataturk Some new results related to the left-hand side of the Hermite-Hadamard type
University, Erzurum, 25240, Turkey inequalities for the class of functions whose second derivatives at certain powers are
Full list of author information is s-convex functions in the second sense are obtained. Also, some applications to
available at the end of the article
special means of real numbers are provided.
MSC: Primary 26A51; 26D15
Keywords: Hadamard’s inequality; s-convex (concave) function; Hölder inequality;
power-mean inequality

1 Introduction
The following definition is well known in the literature: a function f : I → R, ∅ =
 I ⊂ R, is
said to be convex on I if the inequality
 
f tx + ( – t)y ≤ tf (x) + ( – t)f (y)

holds for all x, y ∈ I and t ∈ [, ]. Geometrically, this means that if P, Q and R are three
distinct points on the graph of f with Q between P and R, then Q is on or below the
chord PR.
In their paper [], Hudzik and Maligranda considered, among others, the class of func-
tions which are s-convex in the second sense. This class is defined in the following way: a
function f : [, ∞) → R is said to be s-convex in the second sense if
 
f tx + ( – t)y ≤ t s f (x) + ( – t)s f (y)

holds for all x, y ∈ [, ∞), t ∈ [, ] and for some fixed s ∈ (, ]. The class of s-convex
functions in the second sense is usually denoted by Ks .
It can be easily seen that for s =  s-convexity reduces to the ordinary convexity of func-
tions defined on [, ∞).
In the same paper [], Hudzik and Maligranda proved that if s ∈ (, ), f ∈ Ks implies
f ([, ∞)) ⊆ [, ∞), i.e., they proved that all functions from Ks , s ∈ (, ), are nonnegative.

Example  [] Let s ∈ (, ) and a, b, c ∈ R. We define the function f : [, ∞) → R as

⎧
⎨a, t = ,
f (t) =
⎩bt s + c, t > .

© 2013 Özdemir et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Özdemir et al. Journal of Inequalities and Applications 2013, 2013:333 Page 2 of 11
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It can be easily checked that

(i) if b ≥  and  ≤ c ≤ a, then f ∈ Ks ,
(ii) if b >  and c < , then f ∈/ Ks .

Many important inequalities are established for the class of convex functions, but one of
the most famous is the so-called Hermite-Hadamard’s inequality (or Hadamard’s inequal-
ity). This double inequality is stated as follows: Let f be a convex function on [a, b] ⊂ R,
where a = b. Then

  b
a+b  f (a) + f (b)
f ≤ f (x) dx ≤ .
 b–a a 

For several recent results concerning Hadamard’s inequality, we refer the interested reader
to [–].
In [] Dragomir and Fitzpatrick proved a variant of Hadamard’s inequality which holds
for s-convex functions in the second sense.

Theorem  Suppose that f : [, ∞) → [, ∞) is an s-convex function in the second sense,
where s ∈ (, ), and let a, b ∈ [, ∞), a < b. If f ∈ L([a, b]), then the following inequalities
hold:
  b
a+b  f (a) + f (b)
s– f ≤ f (x) dx ≤ . (.)
 b–a a s+

The constant k = /(s + ) is best possible in the second inequality in [].

The above inequalities are sharp. For recent results and generalizations concerning
s-convex functions, see [–].
Along this paper, we consider a real interval I ⊂ R, and we denote that I ◦ is the interior
of I.
The main aim of this paper is to establish new inequalities of Hermite-Hadamard type
for the class of functions whose second derivatives at certain powers are s-convex func-
tions in the second sense.

2 Main results
To prove our main results, we consider the following lemma.

Lemma  Let f : I ⊂ R → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If

f  ∈ L[a, b], then the following equality holds:

b  
 a+b
f (x) dx – f
b–a a 

  
(b – a)   a+b
= t f t + ( – t)a dt
  
   
  a+b
+ (t – ) f tb + ( – t) dt . (.)
 
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Proof By integration by parts, we have the following identity:

  
a+b
 
I = t f t + ( – t)a dt
 
    
  a+b   a+b
=t 
f t + ( – t)a  – 
tf t + ( – t)a dt
b–a   b–a  
 
 
  a+b   a+b 
= f – t f t + ( – t)a 
b–a  b–a b–a  
   
 a+b
– f t + ( – t)a dt
b–a  
   
  a+b  a+b
= f – f
b–a  (b – a) 
  
 a+b
+ f t + ( – t)a dt. (.)
(b – a)  

Using the change of the variable x = t a+b


+ ( – t)a for t ∈ [, ] and multiplying the both
(b–a)
sides (.) by 
, we obtain

 
(b – a) a+b
t  f  t + ( – t)a dt
  
    a+b
b–a  a+b  a+b  
= f – f + f (x) dx. (.)
    b–a a

Similarly, we observe that

  
(b – a)   a+b
(t – ) f tb + ( – t) dt
  
    b
b–a  a+b  a+b 
=– f – f + f (x) dx. (.)
    b – a a+b


Thus, adding (.) and (.), we get the required identity (.). 

Theorem  Let f : I ⊂ [, ∞) → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ such that f  ∈ L[a, b],

where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If |f | is s-convex on [a, b], for some fixed s ∈ (, ], then the following
inequality holds:

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
   
(b – a)      a + b    
≤   
f (a) + (s + )(s + )f   
(s + )(s + )(s + )   + f (b) (.)

[ + (s + )–s ](b – a)      

≤ f (a) + f (b) . (.)
(s + )(s + )(s + )
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Proof From Lemma , we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a

   
(b – a) 
   a+b 
≤ t f t + ( – t)a  dt
  
    
 a + b 
+ (t – ) f  tb + ( – t)  dt
 

   
(b – a)   s   a + b  
s  

 dt
≤ t t f  + ( – t) f (a)
  

  
(b – a)  
 s  
 
s   a + b 

+ 
(t – ) t f (b) + ( – t) f
   dt


   
(b – a)    a + b     
 
= f  + (s + )(s + )(s + ) f (a)
 s +  

  
(b – a)      
+ f (b) +  f  a + b 
 (s + )(s + )(s + ) s+   
   
(b – a)       
= f (a) + (s + )(s + )f  a + b  + f  (b) , (.)
(s + )(s + )(s + )   

where we have used the fact that

 

t  ( – t)s dt = (t – ) t s dt = ,
  (s + )(s + )(s + )
 

t s+ dt = ( – t)s+ dt = .
  s+

This proves inequality (.). To prove (.), and since |f  | is s-convex on [a, b], for any
t ∈ [, ], then by (.) we have

 
a+b f (a) + f (b)
 s–
f ≤ . (.)
 s+

Combining (.) and (.), we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
   
(b – a)       
≤ f (a) + (s + )(s + )f  a + b  + f  (b)
(s + )(s + )(s + )   

(b – a)     
≤ f (a) + (s + )(s + )–s f (a) + f (b) + f  (b)
(s + )(s + )(s + ) s+
[ + (s + )–s ](b – a)      
= f (a) + f (b) ,
(s + )(s + )(s + )

which proves inequality (.), and thus the proof is completed. 

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Corollary  In Theorem , if we choose s = , we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
   
(b – a)     a + b    
≤ f (a) + f   + f (b)
 
(b – a)      
≤ f (a) + f (b) . (.)


The next theorem gives a new upper bound of the left Hadamard inequality for s-convex
mappings.

Theorem  Let f : I ⊂ [, ∞) → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ such that f  ∈ L[a, b],

where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If |f  |q is s-convex on [a, b], for some fixed s ∈ (, ] and q >  with

p
+ q = , then the following inequality holds:

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+

          
  q   a + b q q   a + b q   q q
×  
f (a) + f  
+ f   
    + f (b) . (.)

Proof Suppose that p > . From Lemma  and using the Hölder inequality, we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 

   
(b – a)  a+b 
≤ t  f  t + ( – t)a  dt
  
    
 a + b 
+ (t – ) f  tb + ( – t)  dt
 
   p     q  q
(b – a)   a + b 
≤ p  

t dt f t  + ( – t)a  dt
 
   p     q  q
(b – a)   
+ (t – )p dt f tb + ( – t) a + b  dt .
   
 

Because |f  |q is s-convex, we have

  q   q 
  a + b     
f t + ( – t)a  dt ≤  f  (a)q + f  a + b 
   s+   


and
  q   q 
      
f tb + ( – t) a + b  dt ≤  f  a + b  + f  (b)q .
   s+   

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By a simple computation,


t p dt =
 p + 

and
 

(t – )p dt = ( – t)p dt = .
  p + 

Therefore, we have
   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+

          
 q  a + b q q   a + b q   q q
× f  (a) + f   + f

 + f (b)
 .
 

This completes the proof. 

Corollary  Let f : I ⊂ [, ∞) → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ such that f  ∈ L[a, b],

where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If |f  |q is s-convex on [a, b], for some fixed s ∈ (, ] and q >  with

p
+ q = , then the following inequality holds:

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+
 –s       
×  q + –s + s +  q f  (a) + f  (b) .

Proof We consider inequality (.), and since |f  |q is s-convex on [a, b], then by (.) we
have
 
a+b f (a) + f (b)
 s–
f ≤ .
 s+

Therefore
   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+
 –s   q  q  
×  + s +  f (a) + –s f  (b) q
  q   q   
+ –s f  (a) + –s + s +  f  (b) q .
Özdemir et al. Journal of Inequalities and Applications 2013, 2013:333 Page 7 of 11
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We let a = (–s + s + )|f  (a)|q , b = –s |f  (b)|q , a = –s |f  (a)|q and b = (–s + s +
)|f  (b)|q . Here,  < /q <  for q > . Using the fact


n 
n 
n
(ai + bi )r ≤ ari + bri
i= i= i=

for  < r < , a , a , . . . , an ≥  and b , b , . . . , bn ≥ , we obtain the inequalities

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+
 –s   q  q  
×  + s +  f (a) + –s f  (b) q
  q   q   
+ –s f  (a) + –s + s +  f  (b) q
  p   q
(b – a)  
≤
 p +  s+
 –s  –s  q      
×  q +  +s+ f (a) + f (b) . 

Theorem  Let f : I ⊂ [, ∞) → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ such that f  ∈ L[a, b],

where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If |f  |q , q ≥  is s-convex on [a, b], for some fixed s ∈ (, ], then
the following inequality holds:

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
        
(b – a)  p    q    a + b q q
≤  
f (a) + f
  (s + )(s + )(s + ) s +   
     
   a + b q    q q
 
+ f  + (s + )(s + )(s + ) f (b) .
s +  

Proof Suppose that p ≥ . From Lemma  and using the power mean inequality, we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a

   
(b – a) 
   a+b 
≤ t f t + ( – t)a  dt
  
    
 a + b 
+ (t – ) f  tb + ( – t)  dt
 
   p     q  q
(b – a) 
   a+b 
≤ 
t dt t f t + ( – t)a  dt
   
        q
(b – a) 

p  
   a + b q
+ (t – ) dt (t – ) f tb + ( – t)  dt .
   
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Because |f  |q is s-convex, we have

  q   
 
   a+b     q    a + b q
t f t 
+ ( – t)a  dt ≤  
f (a) + f
  (s + )(s + )(s + ) s +   

and
  
     a + b q
(t – ) f tb + ( – t)  dt
 
  
   a + b q    q
f (b) .
≤ f  +
s+  (s + )(s + )(s + )

Therefore, we have
   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
      q  q
(b – a)  p    q  
≤ f (a) +  f  a + b 
  (s + )(s + )(s + ) s+   
     
   a + b q    q q
 
+ f  + (s + )(s + )(s + ) f (b) . 
s +  

Corollary  In Theorem , if we choose s = , we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
         
(b – a)  q |f (a)|q   a + b q q
≤ + f 
   
    
 a + b q |f  (b)|q q
+ f   + . (.)
 

Now, we give the following Hadamard-type inequality for s-concave mappings.

Theorem  Let f : I ⊂ [, ∞) → R be a differentiable mapping on I ◦ such that f  ∈ L[a, b],

where a, b ∈ I with a < b. If |f  |q is s-concave on [a, b], for some fixed s ∈ (, ] and q >  with

p
+ q = , then the following inequality holds:

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 
s–      
(b – a) q   a + b    a + b 
≤     .
 (p + )/p 
f
  + f  

 
Proof From Lemma  and using the Hölder inequality for q >  and p
+ q
= , we obtain

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx 
  b–a a 

        
(b – a)  a+b   a + b 
≤ t  f  t + ( – t)a  dt + (t – ) f  tb + ( – t)  dt
    
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  p     q  q
(b – a)    a + b 
≤ p  

t dt f t  + ( – t)a  dt
 
   p     q  q
(b – a)   
+ (t – )p dt f tb + ( – t) a + b  dt . (.)
   
 

Since |f  |q is s-concave, using inequality (.), we have

  q   q
  a + b   
s–   a + b 
f t + ( – t)a  dt ≤  f (.)
     


and
  q   q
    
f tb + ( – t) a + b  dt ≤ s– f  a + b  . (.)
     


From (.)-(.), we get

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
s–      
(b – a) q   a + b    a + b 
≤ f  + f  ,
 (p + )/p      

which completes the proof. 


 
Corollary  In Theorem , if we choose s =  and 
< ( p+ ) p < , p > , we have

   b 
 a+b  
f – f (x) dx
  b–a a
      
(b – a)   a + b    a + b 
≤ f  + f  . (.)
  

3 Applications to special means

We now consider the means for arbitrary real numbers α, β (α = β). We take:
() Arithmetic mean:

α+β
A(α, β) = , α, β ∈ R+ ;


() Logarithmic mean:

α–β
L(α, β) = , |α| = |β|, α, β = , α, β ∈ R+ ;
ln |α| – ln |β|

Generalized log-mean:

 n
β n+ – α n+
Ln (α, β) = , n ∈ Z\{–, }, α, β ∈ R+ .
(n + )(β – α)

Now, using the results of Section , we give some applications to special means of real
numbers.
Özdemir et al. Journal of Inequalities and Applications 2013, 2013:333 Page 10 of 11
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Proposition  Let  < a < b and s ∈ (, ). Then we have

 s    s– 
A (a, b) – Ls (a, b) ≤ |s(s – )|(b – a) as– +  a + b + b s–
.
s
 

Proof The assertion follows from (.) applied to the s-convex function in the second
sense f : [, ] → [, ], f (x) = xs . 

Proposition  Let  < a < b and s ∈ (, ). Then we have

 s    q
q(s–)   
A (a, b) – Ls (a, b) ≤ |s(s – )|(b – a)  a a + b q(s–) q
s +
   

   
a + b q(s–) bq(s–) q
+ + .
 

Proof The assertion follows from (.) applied to the s-convex function in the second
sense f : [, ] → [, ], f (x) = xs . 

Proposition  Let  < a < b and p > . Then we have


 s   
A (a, b) – Ls (a, b) ≤ (b – a) + .
s
(a + b) (a + b)

Proof The inequality follows from (.) applied to the concave function in the second
sense f : [a; b] → R, f (x) = ln x. The details are omitted. 

Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions
ÇY, AOA and ES carried out the design of the study and performed the analysis. MEÖ participated in its design and
coordination. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Author details
1
Department of Mathematics, K.K. Education Faculty, Ataturk University, Erzurum, 25240, Turkey. 2 Department of
Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Letters, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Ağrı, 04100, Turkey. 3 Department of
Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Arts, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.

Received: 9 November 2012 Accepted: 4 July 2013 Published: 22 July 2013

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doi:10.1186/1029-242X-2013-333
Cite this article as: Özdemir et al.: On some inequalities for s-convex functions and applications. Journal of Inequalities
and Applications 2013 2013:333.