Wednesday, 31 July 2013

real analysis - Drawing large rectangle under concave curve



Let f be a continuous concave function on [0,1] with f(1)=0 and f(0)=1. Does there exist a constant k for which we can always draw a rectangle with area at least k10f(x)dx, with sides parallel to the axes, in the area bounded by the two axes and the curve f?



If concavity is not required, it is possible to adapt from this example by using the curve c/x to ensure that any rectangle has sufficiently small area. But with concavity, we know that f lies above the line connecting the points (0,1) and (1,0), hence must have area at least 1/2. If f is exactly that line, then k=1/2 exactly. Otherwise, if f is above the line, it looks like the rectangle will even get larger compared to the area under the curve.


Answer




Let t[0,1] be a value such that f(x)f(t) for all x[0,1]. (Such a value exists since f is unimodal; I don't think we need continuity for this.) The triangle formed by (0,0), (1,0) and (t,f(t)) lies under the curve. Its area is 12f(t), and it contains an axis-parallel rectangle with half its area, 14f(t). The area under the curve is at most f(t). Thus k=14 suffices. I'm not sure this is the best possible constant, though.


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