Symmetric function means and permanents (Q2365661)

Let \([a_ 1,\dots,a_ n]\) denote the permanent of the \(n\times n\) matrix \((a_ 1,\dots,a_ n)\), where \(a_ 1,\dots,a_ n\) are vectors in \(\mathbb{R}^ n\). Let \(c,b_ 1,b_ 2,\dots\) be positive vectors in \(\mathbb{R}^ n\), i.e. with all components positive. For any positive vector \(x\) in \(\mathbb{R}^ n\) and for \(1\leq r\leq n\), define \[ S_{r,n}(x)=[x,\dots,x,b_ 1,\dots,b_{n-r}]/[x,\dots,x,b_ 1,\dots,b_{n-r},c], \] with \(r\) and \(r-1\) copies of \(x\) in the numerator and denominator respectively. The author makes the interesting conjecture that for positive vectors \(x\) and \(y\) \[ S_{r,n}(x+y)\leq S_{r,n}(x)+S_{r,n}(y). \] This result is trivial for \(r=1\) and the author proves it for \(r=2\). (The referee of the paper also gives an easy proof of the case \(r=n\).) The conjecture remains open for \(2<r<n\).