On a problem of Dobrowolski and Williams and the Pólya-Vinogradov inequality (Q5943747)

Let \(a\in \mathbb{R}^+\), \(b\in \mathbb{R}^+\) and \(q\in \mathbb{N}\). Let \(F(A,B,q)\) denote the class of all functions \(f:\mathbb{Z}\to \mathbb{C}\) such that \(f(n+q)= f(n)\), for all \(n\in \mathbb{Z}\), \(|f(n)|\leq A\), for all \(n\in \mathbb{Z}\), and \[ \sum_{n=1}^q \Biggl|\sum_{k=1}^K f(n+k) \Biggr|^2\leq BqK, \quad\text{for all }K\in \mathbb{N}. \] In 1992, \textit{E. Dobrowolski} and \textit{K. S. Williams} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 114, 29-35 (1992; Zbl 0743.11042)] proved that if \(a\in \mathbb{Z}\) and \(N\in \mathbb{N}\) then the inequality \[ \Biggl|\sum_{n=a+1}^{a+N} f(n) \Biggr|\leq \frac{\sqrt{B}} {2\log 2} \sqrt{q}\log q+ 3A\sqrt{q} \tag{1} \] holds for all \(f\in F(A,B,q)\). The authors modify the method of Dobrowolski and Williams (by interpreting it geometrically) to obtain the following improvement of (1) \[ \Biggl|\sum_{n=a+1}^{a+N} f(n) \Biggr|< \frac{\sqrt{B}} {3\log 3} \sqrt{q} \log q+ \bigl( 5\sqrt{B}+ \tfrac 32 A\bigr) \sqrt{q}. \tag{2} \] From (2) they deduce the following form of the Polya-Vinogradov inequality: if \(\chi\) is a nonprincipal character modulo \(q\) then \[ \Biggl|\sum_{n=a+1}^{a+N} \chi(n) \Biggr|< \frac{1}{3\log 3} \sqrt{q}\log q+ 6.5\sqrt{q}. \tag{3} \] Although there are forms of the Polya-Vinogradov inequality with smaller constants than \(\frac{1}{3\log 3}\), the inequality (3) is perhaps the strongest version proved by entirely elementary arguments.