Solving linear functional inequalities with a computer (Q6887933)

The authors discuss a universal procedure and use results concerning stochastic orderings to obtain continuous solutions of inequalities of the form \(a_{1} f(\alpha_{1}x + (1-\alpha_{1}) y) + \cdots + a_{n} f(\alpha_{n}x + (1-\alpha_{n})y) \leq 0, x,y \in I\), where \(x, y\) are any points form the interval \(I \subset \mathbb{R}\), \(f : I \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is an unknown function and \(a_{i} \in \mathbb{R}\), \(\alpha_{i} \in [0, 1]\) are given numbers. The authors assume that \(a_{1} + \cdots + a_{n} = 0\) in this paper.\N\NIn the beginning, the authors give the basic tools and provide simple examples to explain their use. It is shown that the expressions the authors study may be written as Stieltjes integrals with respect to suitably constructed functions. The authors claim that a function \(f\) is convex of order \(n\) if \(f[x_{1}, \cdots, x_{n+2}]\geq 0\), \(x_{1}, \cdots, x_{n+2} \in I\). The authors provide a simple example of the application of the theorem that gives a simple sufficient condition for the higher-order convex ordering by considering the inequality \[f(x)-3f\left(\frac{2x+y}{3}\right)+3f\left(\frac{x+2y}{3}\right)-f(y)\leq 0.\] Further, they show that a continuous function \(f : \mathbb{R} \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) satisfies the inequality \[-2f(x)+3f\left(\frac{3x+y}{4}\right)-2f\left(\frac{x+y}{2}\right)+3f\left(\frac{x+3y}{4}\right)-2f(y)\leq 0\] if and only if it is convex.\N\NMoreover, the authors present the construction of a computer program that solves inequalities of the above type after providing all necessary theoretical details. They divide the procedure in the following three steps: \N\N(1) They show that every continuous solution of the considered inequality is a convex function of some order;\N\N(2) They calculate the number of crossing points; and\N\N(3) They find the numbers \(\alpha_{i}\), that is a crucial step. \N\NEach step is based on several results, properly discussed in the paper. The computer method used to achieve their result is a Python function named \textbf{Linear\(_-\)inequality\((\cdot)\)}. This function includes all the steps from 1 to 3 and works by accepting a considered functional inequality as input.\N\NThe authors explore some results with accompanying graphs and others without graphical representation. For a complete overview of all results, including graphs and the Python source code, refer to the GitHub URL \url{https://github.com/CPOkeke/Solving-linear-functional-inequalities-with-a-computer}. The authors give the following examples on inequalities illustrating the application of the computer approach:\N\N\begin{itemize}\N\item \(\frac{1}{3}\big[f\big(\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)+f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) +f\big(\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{12} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{5}{12} \big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)\big]\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{4}{9}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) +\frac{5}{18}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{12} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{5}{12} \big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)\big]\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{4}{45}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) +\frac{5}{18}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{20} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{49}{180} \big[f\big(\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)+f\big(\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)\big]\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{16}{45}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big)+\frac{49}{180} \big[f\big(\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)+f\big(\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)\big]-\frac{1}{30} (f(x)+f(y))-\frac{5}{12}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)\big] \leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{1}{3}\big[f\big(\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big) +f\big(\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{9}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) -\frac{5}{18}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)\big]\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{1}{3}\big[f\big(\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big) +f\big(\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{45}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) -\frac{1}{20} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{49}{180} \big[f\big(\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)+f\big(\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)\big]\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{5}{12}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{5}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{5}}{10}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{12} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{2}{3}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big)\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{5}{18}\big[f\big(\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)+f\big(\frac{5-\sqrt{15}}{10}x+\frac{5+\sqrt{15}}{10}y\big)\big] -\frac{1}{6} (f(x)+f(y)) -\frac{2}{9}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big)\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{49}{180} \big[f\big(\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)+f\big(\frac{7-\sqrt{21}}{14}x+\frac{7+\sqrt{21}}{14}y\big)\big]-\frac{7}{60} (f(x)+f(y))-\frac{14}{45}f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) \leq 0\).\N\N\item \(\frac{1}{2} \big[f\big(\frac{3+\sqrt{3}}{6}x+\frac{3-\sqrt{3}}{6}y\big)+f\big(\frac{3-\sqrt{3}}{6}x+\frac{3+\sqrt{3}}{6}y\big)\big]-\frac{1}{3}\big[f\big(\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)+f\big(\frac{x+y}{2}\big) +f\big(\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{4}x+\frac{2+\sqrt{2}}{4}y\big)\big] \leq 0\).\N\N\item \(3f(\frac{3x+y}{4})+3f(\frac{x+3y}{4})-f(x)-4f(\frac{x+y}{2})-f(y)\leq 0\).\N\N\item \(9f(\frac{2x+y}{3})-8f(x)-f(y)\leq 0\).\N\end{itemize}