Eigenvalue ratios for vibrating string equations with single-well densities (Q2051750)

The author proves the optimal upper bound $((\lambda_{n})/(\lambda_{m}))\leq((n/m))^2$ of the vibrating string \[ -y''=\lambda\rho(x)y, \] with Dirichlet boundary conditions for single-well densities. The author uses the following inequality \[ ((\lambda_{n}(\rho))/(\lambda_{m}(\rho)))\leq ((\lambda_{n}(L))/(\lambda_{m}(L))), \] where $L$ must be a stepfunction. The author also proves the same result for the Dirichlet Sturm-Liouville problems.