On sum sets and convex functions (Q2138576)

Given finite sets \(A\) and \(B\) of real numbers, the sum set and product set of \(A\) and \(B\) are defined as \[ A+B = \{ a+b : a\in A, b\in B \}, \quad AB = \{ ab : a\in A, b\in B \}. \] Erdős and Szemerédi conjectured that at least one of \(|A+A|\) or \(|AA|\) is large with respect to \(|A|\). In this paper, a variant of the problem is considered and the unified methods follow a series of recent developments in the sum-product literature. The authors prove new bounds for sums of convex or concave functions and prove that for all \(A,B \subseteq \mathbb R\) finite sets, and for all \(f,g\) convex or concave functions, we have \[ |A + B|^{38}|f(A) + g(B)|^{38} \gtrsim |A|^{49}|B|^{49}. \] They also prove the three-variable expansion result \[ |AB+A|\gtrsim |A|^{\frac32 +\frac3{170}}\,. \]