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I came across these two results recently:

$$ \int_a^b \sqrt{\left(1-\dfrac{a}{x}\right)\left(\dfrac{b}{x}-1\right)} \: dx = \pi\left(\dfrac{a+b}{2} - \sqrt{ab}\right)$$

$$ \int_a^c \sqrt[3]{\left| \left(1-\dfrac{a}{x}\right)\left(1-\dfrac{b}{x}\right)\left(1-\dfrac{c}{x}\right)\right|} \: dx = \dfrac{2\pi}{\sqrt{3}}\left(\dfrac{a+b+c}{3} - \sqrt[3]{abc}\right)$$ for $0<a\leq b\leq c$.

I haven't tried to solve the first one yet, but I have an idea of how to approach it, namely using the substitution $x=a\cos^2\theta+b\sin^2\theta$. I have no idea how to approach the second one, however.

I think that the most interesting thing about the results above is that it seems like there is a proof for the AM-GM inequality hidden within. Clearly both integrands are positive and so the AM-GM falls out for the 2 and 3 variable case. All that is required is to prove the results.

My question is twofold:

  1. How would the second integral be computed? Is there an approach using elementary techniques?
  2. Can this be generalised to prove the AM-GM inequality for $n$-variables?
RobPratt
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Amioun
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    I checked numerically. The second integral is false for $a=1$, $b=2$, $c=3$. Please, check your sources. – jjagmath Sep 08 '21 at 11:49
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    @jjagmath. I used the same case ! – Claude Leibovici Sep 08 '21 at 12:58
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    The second integral seems to be correct with a cube root instead of a square root in the integrand. – ComplexYetTrivial Sep 08 '21 at 13:01
  • @ComplexYetTrivial. Good shot ! – Claude Leibovici Sep 08 '21 at 13:10
  • Can you tell use where you came across these identities? – Martin R Sep 08 '21 at 14:01
  • For the first equation, see https://math.stackexchange.com/q/2799576/42969, https://math.stackexchange.com/q/3343625/42969, https://math.stackexchange.com/q/3549527/42969. – Martin R Sep 08 '21 at 14:07
  • Apologies, yes it should be a cube root in the integrand. It has now been edited.

    I found it on an instagram math page. I have contacted the owner asking for a source and/or proof but there was no reply.

    – Amioun Sep 08 '21 at 15:44
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    Interestingly, the pattern fails for $n \ge 4$. But I have no proof of any of these. – heropup Sep 08 '21 at 20:21
  • Feng Qi and Dongkyu Lim, Integral representations of bivariate complex geometric mean and their applications, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics vol. 330 (2018), 41--58; available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2017.08.005. – qifeng618 Oct 19 '21 at 03:38

3 Answers3

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$\DeclareMathOperator{\Res}{Res}$ $\DeclareMathOperator{\sgn}{sgn}$ $\newcommand{\d}{\mathrm{d}}$ $\newcommand{\e}{\mathrm{e}}$ $\newcommand{\E}{\mathrm{E}}$ $\newcommand{\P}{\mathrm{P}}$ $\newcommand{\i}{\mathrm{i}}$ $\newcommand{\abs}[1]{\left\lvert #1 \right\rvert}$

Let $0 < a_0 \leq a_1 \ldots \leq a_{n-1}$ be a monotone sequence of $n$ positive real numbers. Then $$\boxed{ \sum_{k=0}^{n-2}\frac{1}{\pi}\sin \tfrac{\pi (k+1)}{n}\int_{a_k}^{a_{k+1}} \left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{\abs{x-a_i}}\right)\frac{\d x}{x} =\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i - \sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i} }\text{.}$$

The left side is manifestly nonnegative, so OP's second question is answered in the affirmative, although the form of the left side for $n=2,3$ is deceptively simple and does not reflect the general case.

The underlying method of this answer does not differ from that of Svyatoslav's, save for doing the bookkeeping needed to provide for the $n$-variable case. The method can be adapted to show that, for a positive random variable $X$ that takes on a finite set of values,

$$ \int_{\mathrm{ess}\,\inf X}^{\mathrm{ess}\,\sup X} \frac{\sin (\pi \P(X >x))}{\pi x}\e^{\E \ln \abs{X-x}} \d x =\E\,X - \e^{\E\ln X} \text{;}$$

it's tempting to think that this last equality holds for arbitrary positive random variables with finite arithmetic and geometric mean, but I have no proof of that.


Write $I$ for the closed interval $[a_0,a_{n-1}]$. Take the cut of $\sqrt[n]{z}$ to be the negative real axis. Write $\mathbb{C}^*$ for the Riemann sphere. Consider the meromorphic differential forms $\alpha_{U_0}$, $\alpha_{U_1}$, $\alpha_{U_2}$, on $U_0 = \mathbb{C}\backslash (-\infty,a_{n-1}]$, $U_1 = \mathbb{C}\backslash [a_0,\infty)$, and $U_2=\mathbb{C}^*\backslash [0,a_{n-1}]$ given by

$$\begin{aligned} \alpha_{U_0} &=\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{z-a_i}\right)\frac{\d z}{z} \\ \alpha_{U_1} &=-\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{a_i-z}\right)\frac{\d z}{z} \\ \alpha_{U_2} &=-\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{1-a_iz^{-1}}\right)\frac{\d (z^{-1})}{(z^{-1})^2}\text{.} \end{aligned}$$

These three forms agree pairwise on the intersections of their respective domains. That's because—for the chosen cut convention—

  • if $a > 0$ and either $\Im z \neq 0$ or $\Re z > a$, then

    $$\sqrt[n]{z-a} = \frac{\sqrt[n]{1-az^{-1}}}{\sqrt[n]{z^{-1}}}\text{;}$$

  • if $a > 0$ and $\Im z \neq 0$, then

    $$\sqrt[n]{a-z} = \e^{-\i\pi \sgn \Im z /n}\sqrt[n]{z-a}\text{.}$$

Consequently, there is a unique meromorphic differential form $\alpha$ on $\mathbb{C}^*\backslash I = \bigcup_{i=0}^2U_i$ such that $\left. \alpha\right\rvert_{U_i} = \alpha_{U_i}$ for $i=0,1,2$. This $\alpha$ has a simple pole at $0$ and a double pole at $\infty$.

So let $C$ be a cycle separating $I$ from $\{0,\infty\}$ and oriented in the negative sense. What is $$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C\alpha\text{?}$$

  • If $C$ is taken to be a rectangle with sides parallel to and infinitesimally close to $I$, then

    $$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C \alpha = \frac{1}{2\pi\i}\left(\int_{I+\i 0^+}\alpha - \int_{I-\i0^+}\alpha\right)\text{,}$$

    the contribution from the remaining sides vanishing.

  • If $C$ is taken to encircle $\{0,\infty\}$ in a positive sense, then

    $$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C \alpha = \Res_0 \alpha + \Res_{\infty}\alpha\text{.}$$

For the former choice, note that, for real $x$,

$$\sqrt[n]{x\pm \i 0^+} = \sqrt[n]{\abs{x}}\e^{\pm\i\pi [x < 0]/n}$$

where $[(-)]$ is Iverson bracket notation.

Therefore

$$\int_{I\pm\i0^+}\alpha = \int_I\e^{\pm\i\pi N(x)/n}\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{\abs{x-a_i}}\right)\frac{\d x}{x}$$

where $N(x)$ is the number of the $a_i$ greater than $x$. Then

$$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C\alpha = \frac{1}{\pi}\int_I\sin \tfrac{\pi N(x)}{n} \left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{\abs{x-a_i}}\right)\frac{\d x}{x}$$ which, because $N(x)$ is constant away from the $a_i$, simplifies to $$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C\alpha = \sum_{k=0}^{n-2}\frac{1}{\pi}\sin \tfrac{\pi (k+1)}{n}\int_{a_k}^{a_{k+1}} \left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{\abs{x-a_i}}\right)\frac{\d x}{x}\text{.}$$

As for the latter choice: from the Laurent expansions of $\alpha$ at $0$, $\infty$

$$\alpha_z = \left(-\sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i} + \mathcal{O}(z)\right)\frac{\d z}{z}$$ $$\alpha_z = \left(-\frac{1}{z^{-1}} + \frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i + \mathcal{O}(z^{-1}) \right)\frac{\d (z^{-1})}{z^{-1}}$$

the required residues are found to be $$\Res_0 \alpha = - \sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i}$$ $$\Res_{\infty} \alpha = \frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i$$

whence

$$\frac{1}{2\pi\i}\oint_C\alpha = \frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i - \sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i}\text{.}$$

These two choices of $C$ must result in the same value for $\tfrac{1}{2\pi\i}\int_C\alpha$, whence

$$\boxed{ \sum_{k=0}^{n-2}\frac{1}{\pi}\sin \tfrac{\pi (k+1)}{n}\int_{a_k}^{a_{k+1}} \left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}\sqrt[n]{\abs{x-a_i}}\right)\frac{\d x}{x} =\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i - \sqrt[n]{\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}a_i} }\text{.}$$

K B Dave
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    Nice general solution. Just, I'm afraid, the factor 2 is missing: for the case $n=3,, (a,b,c)$ the LHS of your equation gives $\frac{1}{\pi}(\sin\pi/3+\sin2\pi/3)=\frac{\sqrt3}{\pi}$ Or, maybe I'm missing something... – Svyatoslav Sep 09 '21 at 03:26
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    @Svyatoslav each $\sin$ factor is multiplied with an integral over a different interval, so for the case $n=3$ when the two $\sin$ factors are equal there is no spurious duplication and the expression matches that given in the OP – K B Dave Sep 09 '21 at 03:34
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    Thank you for the clarification – Svyatoslav Sep 09 '21 at 03:39
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    Nice proof! Could you please elaborate a bit on why $\alpha_z$ extends to meromorphic differential form? Additionally, and probably related to the previous question, how should one think of terms $\sqrt[n]{z-a_i}$ in the definition of $\alpha_z$ for $z\in (-\infty,a_0)$ (if one takes into account that the cut of the $n$-th root is negative axis)? – Salini Mendisi Sep 09 '21 at 16:33
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    @SaliniMendisi I've added an explicit construction of $\alpha$ by choice of local sections. – K B Dave Sep 09 '21 at 23:41
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    Splendid, all clear now - thanks! – Salini Mendisi Sep 09 '21 at 23:56
  • Stratospherical answer. – Sebastiano Sep 11 '21 at 13:28
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$$I(a,b,c)=\int_a^c\Big|(x-a)(x-b)(x-c)\Big|^{1/3}\frac{dx}{x}=I_{ab}+I_{bc}$$ where $I_{ab}=\int_a^b$, etc.

We go to the complex plane and consider $\oint$ with the turning points $z=a$ and $z=c$ (making the cut from $a$ to $c$). Let's denote this integral as $j$. It is easy to check that $$j=\oint=I_{ab}+I_{bc}e^{-\pi i/3}+I_{cb}e^{-\pi i}+I_{ba}e^{-4\pi i/3}$$ where $I_{ba}=-I_{ab}$ (we go in the opposite direction - from $b$ to $a$ in the lower bank of the cut). We also added small half- and full circles around $z=a,b,c$ - to make the contour closed (the integrals along these circles have zero contribution).

Now, we add the integration path from $z=c$ to $R$ along axis $X$, and a big circle of the radius $R\to \infty$:

we integrate along the upper bank of the cut, then from $z=c$ to $R$, along a big circle, then from $z=R$ back to $z=c$ along axis $X$ in the opposite direction, and finally along the lower bank of the cut to the starting point. Let's denote this integral as $J$.

As we have the only pole inside this big closed contour, and bearing in mind that integrals along axis $X$ cancel each other, we can write: $$J=j+\oint_R=2\pi i \operatorname{Res}\Big((z-a)(z-b)(z-c)\Big)^{1/3}\frac{1}{z}$$ where $\oint_R=\oint_R\Big((z-a)(z-b)(z-c)\Big)^{1/3}\frac{dz}{z}$ - denotes the integration along a big circle (counter-clockwise).

All evaluations are straightforward (the only thing is that we have to appoint correctly the phases of the integrand when going around $z=a,b,c$ on the both banks of the cut). $$\operatorname{Res}_{z=0}\Big((z-a)(z-b)(z-c)\Big)^{1/3}\frac{1}{z}=e^{\pi i/3}(abc)^{1/3}$$ $$\oint_R\to 2\pi ie^{-2\pi i/3}\Big(-\frac{1}{3}\Big)(a+b+c)\,\, \text{at} \,R\to\infty$$

Taking all together

$$(I_{ab}+I_{bc})(1+e^{-\pi i/3})=2\pi ie^{\pi i/3}\Big((abc)^{1/3}-\frac{a+b+c}{3}\Big)$$ $$I(a,b,c)=\frac{\pi}{\cos(\pi /6)}\Big(\frac{a+b+c}{3}-(abc)^{1/3}\Big)$$

The pattern for $0<a<b<c<d<e...$ is also clear.

Svyatoslav
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  • You can write \operatorname{Res} to make it look a bit nicer – the content is already nice :) – Martin R Sep 08 '21 at 19:22
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    While I have no objections to your main calculation, the last sentence seems highly optimistic. (Numerically, it's not clear to me that there's a generalization to $n>3$.) – Semiclassical Sep 08 '21 at 19:25
  • @Martin R Thank you - improved :) – Svyatoslav Sep 09 '21 at 03:44
  • @Semiclassical I agree with you - I also cannot write the general form for the initial integral. The available generalisation is presented in the post by K B Dave – Svyatoslav Sep 09 '21 at 04:13
  • I will upvote once you edit the last sentence to clear this up a bit (the generalization by K B Dave doesn't seem clear to me ). – Maximilian Janisch Sep 09 '21 at 16:32
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Let $n\in\mathbb{N}=\{1,2,\dotsc\}$ and $\boldsymbol{a}=(a_1,a_2,\dotsc,a_n)$ be a positive sequence, that is, $a_k>0$ for $1\le k\le n$. The arithmetic and geometric means $A_n(\boldsymbol{a})$ and $G_n(\boldsymbol{a})$ of the positive sequence $\boldsymbol{a}$ are defined respectively as \begin{equation*} A_n(\boldsymbol{a})=\frac1n\sum_{k=1}^na_k \quad \text{and}\quad G_n(\boldsymbol{a})=\Biggl(\prod_{k=1}^na_k\Biggr)^{1/n}. \end{equation*} For $z\in\mathbb{C}\setminus(-\infty,-\min\{a_k,1\le k\le n\}]$ and $n\ge2$, let $\boldsymbol{e}=(\overbrace{1,1,\dotsc,1}^{n})$ and \begin{equation*} G_n(\boldsymbol{a}+z\boldsymbol{e})=\Biggl[\prod_{k=1}^n(a_k+z)\Biggr]^{1/n}. \end{equation*}

In Theorem 1.1 of the paper [1] below, by virtue of the Cauchy integral formula in the theory of complex functions, the following integral representation was established.

Theorem 1.1. Let $\sigma$ be a permutation of the sequence $\{1,2,\dotsc,n\}$ such that the sequence $\sigma(\boldsymbol{a})=\bigl(a_{\sigma(1)},a_{\sigma(2)},\dotsc,a_{\sigma(n)}\bigr)$ is a rearrangement of $\boldsymbol{a}$ in an ascending order $a_{\sigma(1)}\le a_{\sigma(2)}\le \dotsm \le a_{\sigma(n)}$. Then the principal branch of the geometric mean $G_n(\boldsymbol{a}+z\boldsymbol{e})$ has the integral representation \begin{equation}\label{AG-New-eq1}\tag{1} \boxed{G_n(\boldsymbol{a}+z\boldsymbol{e})=A_n(\boldsymbol{a})+z-\frac1\pi\sum_{\ell=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{\ell\pi}n \int_{a_{\sigma(\ell)}}^{a_{\sigma(\ell+1)}} \Biggl|\prod_{k=1}^n(a_k-t)\Biggr|^{1/n} \frac{\textrm{d}\,t}{t+z}} \end{equation} for $z\in\mathbb{C}\setminus(-\infty,-\min\{a_k,1\le k\le n\}]$.

Taking $z=0$ in the integral representation \eqref{AG-New-eq1} yields \begin{equation}\label{AG-ineq-int}\tag{2} \boxed{G_n(\boldsymbol{a})=A_n(\boldsymbol{a})-\frac1\pi\sum_{\ell=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{\ell\pi}n \int_{a_{\sigma(\ell)}}^{a_{\sigma(\ell+1)}} \Biggl[\prod_{k=1}^n|a_k-t|\Biggr]^{1/n} \frac{\textrm{d}\,t}{t}\le A_n(\boldsymbol{a})}. \end{equation} Taking $n=2,3$ in \eqref{AG-ineq-int} gives \begin{equation}\tag{+} \boxed{\frac{a_1+a_2}{2}-\sqrt{a_1a_2}\,=\frac1\pi\int_{a_1}^{a_2} \sqrt{\biggl(1-\frac{a_1}{t}\biggr) \biggl(\frac{a_2}{t}-1\biggr)}\, \textrm{d}\,t\ge0} \end{equation} and \begin{equation}\tag{#} \boxed{\frac{a_1+a_2+a_3}{3}-\sqrt[3]{a_1a_2a_3}\, =\frac{\sqrt{3}\,}{2\pi} \int_{a_1}^{a_3} \sqrt[3]{\biggl| \biggl(1-\frac{a_1}{t}\biggr) \biggl(1-\frac{a_2}{t}\biggr) \biggl(1-\frac{a_3}{t}\biggr)\biggr|}\,\textrm{d}\,t\ge0} \end{equation} for $0<a_1\le a_2\le a_3$.

Weighted version of the integral representation \eqref{AG-New-eq1} can be found in the paper [2] below. We recite the weighted version as follows.

For $n\ge2$, $\boldsymbol{a}=(a_1,a_2,\dotsc,a_n)$, and $\boldsymbol{w}=(w_1,w_2,\dotsc,w_n)$ with $a_k, w_k>0$ and $\sum_{k=1}^nw_k=1$, the weighted arithmetic and geometric means $A_{w,n}(\boldsymbol{a})$ and $G_{w,n}(\boldsymbol{a})$ of $\boldsymbol{a}$ with the positive weight $\boldsymbol{w}$ are defined respectively as \begin{equation} A_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})=\sum_{k=1}^nw_ka_k \end{equation} and \begin{equation} G_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})=\prod_{k=1}^na_k^{w_k}. \end{equation} Let us denote $\alpha=\min\{a_k,1\le k\le n\}$. For a complex variable $z\in\mathbb{C}\setminus(-\infty,-\alpha]$, we introduce the complex function \begin{equation}\label{complex-geometric-mean} G_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a}+z)=\prod_{k=1}^n(a_k+z)^{w_k}. \end{equation} In Section 3 of the paper [2] below, with the aid of the Cauchy integral formula in the theory of complex functions, the following integral representation was established.

Theorem 3.1. Let $0<a_k\le a_{k+1}$ for $1\le k\le n-1$ and $z\in\mathbb{C}\setminus(-\infty,-a_1]$. Then the principal branch of the weighted geometric mean $G_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a}+z)$ with a positive weight $\boldsymbol{w}=(w_1,w_2,\dotsc,w_n)$ has the integral representation \begin{equation}\label{AG-New-eq1-weighted}\tag{3} \boxed{G_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a}+z)=A_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})+z-\frac1\pi\sum_{\ell=1}^{n-1}\sin\Biggl[\Biggl(\sum_{k=1}^{\ell}w_k\Biggr)\pi\Biggr] \int_{a_\ell}^{a_{\ell+1}} \prod_{k=1}^n|a_k-t|^{w_k} \frac{\textrm{d}\,t}{t+z}}. \end{equation} Letting $z=0$ in the integral representation \eqref{AG-New-eq1-weighted} gives \begin{equation}\label{AG-New-eq1-weighted-z=0}\tag{4} \boxed{G_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})=A_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})-\frac1\pi\sum_{\ell=1}^{n-1} \sin\Biggl[\Biggl(\sum_{k=1}^{\ell}w_k\Biggr)\pi\Biggr] \int_{a_\ell}^{a_{\ell+1}} \prod_{k=1}^n|a_k-t|^{w_k} \frac{\textrm{d}\,t}{t}\le A_{\boldsymbol{w},n}(\boldsymbol{a})}. \end{equation} Setting $n=2$ in \eqref{AG-New-eq1-weighted-z=0} leads to \begin{equation}\label{AG-New-n=2-weighted-z=0}\tag{5} \boxed{a_1^{w_1}a_2^{w_2}=w_1a_1+w_2a_2-\frac{\sin(w_1\pi)}\pi \int_{a_1}^{a_2} \biggl(1-\frac{a_1}{t}\biggr)^{w_1} \biggl(\frac{a_2}{t}-1\biggr)^{w_2} \textrm{d}\,t \le w_1a_1+w_2a_2} \end{equation} for $w_1,w_2>0$ such that $w_1+w_2=1$.

There have existed more closely related conclusions published in the following references below.

References

  1. Feng Qi, Xiao-Jing Zhang, and Wen-Hui Li, Levy--Khintchine representation of the geometric mean of many positive numbers and applications, Mathematical Inequalities & Applications 17 (2014), no. 2, 719--729; available online at https://doi.org/10.7153/mia-17-53.
  2. Feng Qi, Xiao-Jing Zhang, and Wen-Hui Li, An integral representation for the weighted geometric mean and its applications, Acta Mathematica Sinica-English Series 30 (2014), no. 1, 61--68; available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10114-013-2547-8.
  3. Feng Qi and Bai-Ni Guo, The reciprocal of the weighted geometric mean is a Stieltjes function, Boletin de la Sociedad Matematica Mexicana, Tercera Serie 24 (2018), no. 1, 181--202; available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40590-016-0151-5.
  4. Feng Qi and Bai-Ni Guo, The reciprocal of the weighted geometric mean of many positive numbers is a Stieltjes function, Quaestiones Mathematicae 41 (2018), no. 5, 653--664; available online at https://doi.org/10.2989/16073606.2017.1396508.
  5. Feng Qi and Dongkyu Lim, Integral representations of bivariate complex geometric mean and their applications, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 330 (2018), 41--58; available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2017.08.005.
  6. Feng Qi, Bounding the difference and ratio between the weighted arithmetic and geometric means, International Journal of Analysis and Applications 13 (2017), no. 2, 132--135.
  7. Feng Qi and Bai-Ni Guo, The reciprocal of the geometric mean of many positive numbers is a Stieltjes transform, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 311 (2017), 165--170; available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2016.07.006.
  8. Feng Qi, Xiao-Jing Zhang, and Wen-Hui Li, The harmonic and geometric means are Bernstein functions, Boletin de la Sociedad Matematica Mexicana, Tercera Serie 23 (2017), no. 2, 713--736; available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s40590-016-0085-y.
  9. Feng Qi, Xiao-Jing Zhang, and Wen-Hui Li, An elementary proof of the weighted geometric mean being a Bernstein function, University Politehnica of Bucharest Scientific Bulletin Series A---Applied Mathematics and Physics 77 (2015), no. 1, 35--38.
  10. Bai-Ni Guo and Feng Qi, On the degree of the weighted geometric mean as a complete Bernstein function, Afrika Matematika 26 (2015), no. 7, 1253--1262; available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13370-014-0279-2.
  11. Feng Qi, Xiao-Jing Zhang, and Wen-Hui Li, Levy--Khintchine representations of the weighted geometric mean and the logarithmic mean, Mediterranean Journal of Mathematics 11 (2014), no. 2, 315--327; available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00009-013-0311-z.
  12. Feng Qi and Bai-Ni Guo, Levy--Khintchine representation of Toader--Qi mean, Mathematical Inequalities & Applications 21 (2018), no. 2, 421--431; available online at https://doi.org/10.7153/mia-2018-21-29.
  13. Feng Qi, Viera Cernanova, Xiao-Ting Shi, and Bai-Ni Guo, Some properties of central Delannoy numbers, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 328 (2018), 101--115; available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2017.07.013.
qifeng618
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    I see, you really like this question – Maximilian Janisch Sep 21 '21 at 16:46
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    There is no need to post (what appears to be) identical answers to multiple questions: https://math.stackexchange.com/a/4256362/42969, https://math.stackexchange.com/a/4256364/42969, https://math.stackexchange.com/a/4256373/42969. – If you think that a question has been asked and answered before then you can flag it as a duplicate. – Martin R Sep 22 '21 at 13:34
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    What I think would make this a better post (both as an answer and for you) is 1) removing all but the most relevant references (so we know what's important - academics can find your CV if they want it), 2) using preprint links instead of (or together with) DOIs so people without library access can quickly find them, and 3) briefly discussing the motivation and implications of having a Stieltjes transform pair for the shifted weighted GM (e.g., you can bound the difference from above, it's completely positive, it's operator monotone/convex, it can be used in information theory). – K B Dave Sep 22 '21 at 15:13
  • As a mathematician, I think that one should cite the formally published versions of all references, if any, as possible as one can. The formally published versions imply final versions, most accurate versions, most complete versions, most ... versions. – qifeng618 Sep 25 '21 at 00:19
  • If one wants to know more details about proofs of the general conclusions in my answer, I think it is better to read related references listed in my answer. In general, it is impossible for one to get all information about a complex or complicated problem from here. I think that reading journal articles is still necessary for a mathematician to study mathematics. It is often happened that the answers of academic problems in mathematics are not enough short to be recited here, but too long to be stated in details here. Because mathematics formulas can be expressed here by LaTeX, so I like here. – qifeng618 Sep 25 '21 at 01:10
  • If estimating those integrals in the right hand sides of the equations with tags (2), (+), (#), (4), and (5) in my answer, then one can bound the difference between the (weighted) arithmetic mean and the (weighted) geometric mean of any finitely many variables. – qifeng618 Sep 25 '21 at 01:27
  • The proposer of this question asked that "My question is twofold: How would the second integral be computed? Is there an approach using elementary techniques? Can this be generalised to prove the AM-GM inequality for -variables?" My answer reaches at these aims: as a consequence of one of the general conclusions in my answer, the second integral can be computed by virtue of the Cauchy integral formula in the theory of complex functions; the AM-GM inequality for -variables, including its weighted version, can be proved by the general conclusions in my answer. – qifeng618 Sep 25 '21 at 10:46