Two dimensions are easier (Q330089)

The classical isoperimetric inequality states that among sets of given perimeter, the ball contains the maximal volume. Equivalently, a ball of given volume has minimal perimeter among sets of the same volume. In this paper, the author presents a short proof of the classical isoperimetric inequality in two dimensions. In two dimensions, one may assume that the set of minimal perimeter is connected and bounded, otherwise its perimeter is infinite. Moreover, in two dimensions the set of minimal perimeter is simply connected, because filling any holes reduces the perimeter and increases the area. Finally, in two dimensions one can take the convex hull of a minimizing domain, which does not increase the perimeter nor decrease the enclosed area, and see that optimal domains must be convex. Once the optimal domain is known to be convex, its boundary can be locally represented as a Lipschitz function and the existence of an optimal domain follows from Blaschke's selection theorem. From standard arguments in the calculus of variations, its boundary must have constant curvature. The author maximizes the area \(A(\Omega)\) subject to the length \(L(\partial\Omega)\) in polar coordinates. So among periodic functions \(r(\theta)\) one can look at the functional \(A+\lambda L\) with Euler-Lagrange equation to show that the curvature \(\kappa\) of \(\partial\Omega\) is constant, which implies that the optimal domain is a disc. For higher dimensions, the author presents six open problems.