On Ky Fan-type inequalities (Q5953394)

The following refinement of the equal weight Ky Fan inequality is due to \textit{W. Wang} and \textit{P. Wang} [Acta Math. Sin. 27, 485-497 (Zbl 0561.26013)]: \[ \Biggl({\mathfrak G_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak G_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^n\leq \Biggl( {\mathfrak A_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak A_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^{n- 1}\leq {\mathfrak H_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak H_n' ( \underline a)}, \] where the notation \(\mathfrak H_n' ( \underline a)\) for \(\mathfrak H_n' ( 1-\underline a)\) etc. is usual in this topic. A natural conjecture is that the inequality \[ \Biggl({\mathfrak H_n( \underline a;)\over\mathfrak H_n' ( \underline a;)}\Biggr)^{n- 1} \leq {\mathfrak A_n( \underline a;)\over\mathfrak A_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggl( {\mathfrak G_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak G_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^n \tag{**} \] also holds. The author proves this conjecture and moreover shows that \[ \Biggl({\mathfrak A_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak A_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^{\alpha}\Biggl( {\mathfrak H_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak H_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^{1- \alpha}\leq\Biggl( {\mathfrak G_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak G_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)\leq\Biggl({\mathfrak A_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak A_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^{\beta }\Biggl( {\mathfrak H_n( \underline a)\over\mathfrak H_n' ( \underline a)}\Biggr)^{ 1- \beta } \] if and only if \(\alpha \leq 1/n\), and \(\beta \geq 1- 1/n\). In addition it is conjectured that an additive analogue of (**) holds. Finally, the author shows that the bounds on a constant in an inequality of \textit{A. McD. Mercer} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 220, No. 2, 774-777 (1998; Zbl 0914.26009)] are best possible as Mercer conjectured.