Skip to main content

A sharpened version of Hardy’s inequality for parameter p=5/4

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a sharpened version of Hardy’s inequality for parameter p=5/4. By evaluating the weight coefficient W(k,5/4), sharpened Hardy’s inequality that contains the best coefficient η 5 / 4 =0.46 is established.

MSC:26D15, 26D20, 26D07.

1 Introduction

Let p>1, 1/p+1/q=1, a n 0 (n=1,2,), 0< n = 1 a n p <. Then

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) p < q p n = 1 a n p ,
(1)

where q p = ( p p 1 ) p is the best coefficient. Inequality (1) is called Hardy’s inequality which is of great use in the field of modern mathematics (see [1, 2]).

A special case of (1) yields the following inequalities:

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 2 <4 n = 1 a n 2 ,
(2)
n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 3 < 27 8 n = 1 a n 3 .
(3)

In 1998, Yang and Zhu [3] evaluated the weight coefficient W(k,p),

W(k,p)= k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( j = 1 n 1 j 1 / p ) p 1 ,k=1,2,,
(4)

and established an improved version of inequality (2) as follows:

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 2 <4 n = 1 ( 1 1 3 n + 5 ) a n 2 .
(5)

With the same approach, that is, evaluating the weight coefficient W(k,p), Huang [47] gave some improvements on Hardy’s inequality for p=3 and p=3/2, i.e.,

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 3 < 27 8 n = 1 ( 1 3 19 n 2 / 3 ) a n 3 ,
(6)
n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 3 / 2 3 3 n = 1 ( 1 1 5 1 n 3 + 3 ) a n 3 / 2 .
(7)

Some further extensions of Hardy’s inequality related to the range of parameter p were given in Huang [7, 8].

In 2005, Yang [9] proved an inequality for the weight coefficient W(k,2)

W(k,2)= k n = k 1 n 2 ( j = 1 n 1 j ) 4 [ 1 1 k ( 1 1 4 W ( 1 , 2 ) ) ]

and established the following inequality:

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 2 <4 n = 1 ( 1 θ 2 n ) a n 2 ,
(8)

where θ 2 =1 1 4 W(1,2)=0.13788928 is the best coefficient under the weight coefficient W(k,2).

In 2009, Zhang and Xu made use of the monotonicity theorem [1013] and obtained an improvement of inequality (1):

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) p ( p p 1 ) p n = 1 ( 1 c p 2 ( n 1 / 2 ) 1 1 / p ) a n p ,
(9)

where

c p = { ( p 1 ) [ 1 2 1 / p ( 1 1 / p ) ] , 1 < p 2 , 1 2 1 1 / p ( 1 1 / p ) p 1 , p > 2 .

By evaluating the weight coefficient W(k,p), and with the help of an inequality-proving package called BOTTEMA [14, 15], He [16] investigated a sharpened version of Hardy’s inequality for pN and obtained the following improved version of inequality (3):

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 3 27 8 n = 1 ( 1 θ 3 n 2 / 3 ) a n 3 ,
(10)

where θ 3 =1 8 27 W(1,3)=0.1673 is the best coefficient under the weight coefficient W(k,3).

In addition, in [16] the author wrote the computer program HDISCOVER to accomplish the automated verification of the following inequality for pN (N is the set of natural numbers):

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) p ( p p 1 ) p n = 1 ( 1 θ p ( 1 ) n 1 1 / p ) a n p ,
(11)

where θ p (1)=1 ( p 1 p ) p W(1,p) is the best coefficient of (11) under the weight coefficient W(k,p).

Recently, based on the program HDISCOVER 2012 written by Deng, He and Wu [17], an automated verification of inequality (11) is achieved for pQ (Q is the set of rational numbers).

For more detailed information of Hardy’s inequality, we refer the interested readers to relevant research papers [10, 12, 1823].

In this paper, by evaluating the weight coefficient W(k,5/4), we establish an improvement of Hardy’s inequality for parameter p=5/4 as follows:

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 5 / 4 5 5 / 4 n = 1 ( 1 1 10 1 n 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 ) a n 5 / 4 ,
(12)

where η 5 / 4 = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] 1=0.46 is the best coefficient under the weight coefficient W(k,5/4).

2 Lemmas

To prove the main results in Section 3, we will use the following lemmas.

Lemma 1 (see[22])

If p>1, then for all integers n1, it holds that

p p 1 n 1 1 / p p p 1 + 1 2 + 1 2 n 1 / p j = 1 n 1 j 1 / p p p 1 n 1 1 / p p p 1 + 1 2 + 1 2 n 1 / p + 1 12 p 1 12 p n 1 + 1 / p .
(13)

Lemma 2 (see[3])

If p>1, then for all integers nk1, it holds that

1 ( p 1 ) k p 1 + 1 2 k p < n = k 1 n p < 1 ( p 1 ) k p 1 + 1 2 k p + p 12 k p + 1 .

Lemma 3 Let p>1, 1/p+1/q=1, and let g r , g l be the functions defined by

g r (x)= 6 p + 12 q 1 12 p q x 1 / q + 1 2 q x 1 12 p q x 2 , g l (x)= p + 2 q 2 p q x 1 / q + 1 2 q x ,x[1,+).

Then 1< g r (x)<0, 1< g l (x)<0.

Proof Since p>1, 1/p+1/q=1, hence 1/ x 1 + 1 / p 1/ x 2 for x[1,+).

Further, we have

g r ( x ) = 6 p + 12 q 1 12 p q 2 x 1 + 1 / q 1 2 q x 2 + 1 6 p q x 3 6 p + 12 q 1 12 p q 2 x 2 1 2 q x 2 + 1 6 p q x 3 = ( 5 p x + x + 2 p ) ( p 1 ) 12 p 3 x 3 > 0 ,

and consequently, g r is strictly increasing on [1,+).

Now, from g r (1)=1/p>1 and lim x + g r (x)=0, it follows that g r (x) g r (1)=1/p>1 and g r (x)<0.

Similarly, from

g l ( x ) = p + 2 q 2 p q 2 x 1 + 1 / q 1 2 q x 2 p + 2 q 2 p q 2 x 2 1 2 q x 2 = p 1 2 p 2 x 2 > 0 , g l ( 1 ) = 1 / p > 1 and lim x + g l ( x ) = 0 ,

we deduce that 1< g l (x)<0.

Lemma 3 is proved. □

Lemma 4 Let 1<g(x)<0. If α(0,1], then

( 1 + g ( x ) ) ( 1 + ( α 1 ) g ( x ) + ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) 2 g 2 ( x ) ) ( 1 + g ( x ) ) α 1 + α g ( x ) + α ( α 1 ) 2 g 2 ( x ) .

If α[1,2], then

( 1 + g ( x ) ) α 1+αg(x)+ α ( α 1 ) 2 g 2 (x).

Proof When α(0,1]. By using the Maclaurin formula

( 1 + g ( x ) ) α = 1 + α g ( x ) + α ( α 1 ) 2 g 2 ( x ) + α ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) ( 1 + θ g ( x ) ) α 3 6 g 3 ( x ) , θ ( 0 , 1 ) ,

and noticing 1<g(x)<0, we find

1 + θ g ( x ) > 1 + g ( x ) > 0 , α ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) ( 1 + θ g ( x ) ) α 3 6 g 3 ( x ) 0 , ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) ( α 3 ) ( 1 + θ g ( x ) ) α 4 6 g 3 ( x ) 0 .

Thus

( 1 + g ( x ) ) α 1 + α g ( x ) + α ( α 1 ) 2 g 2 ( x ) , ( 1 + g ( x ) ) α = ( 1 + g ( x ) ) ( 1 + g ( x ) ) α 1 ( 1 + g ( x ) ) ( 1 + ( α 1 ) g ( x ) + ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) 2 g 2 ( x ) ) .

When α[1,2]. We have

α ( α 1 ) ( α 2 ) ( 1 + θ g ( x ) ) α 3 6 g 3 (x)0.

Thus

( 1 + g ( x ) ) α 1+αg(x)+ α ( α 1 ) 2 g 2 (x).

The proof of Lemma 4 is complete. □

Lemma 5 Let p>1, 1/p+1/q=1, nk1, and let [x] denote the greatest integer less than or equal to the real number x. Then we have

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g r ( n ) ) [ p ] 1 × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] ) g r ( n ) + ( p [ p ] ) ( p [ p ] 1 ) 2 g r 2 ( n ) ) ] .

Proof By Lemma 1 and the identity pq=p+q, q(p1)=p, it follows that

W ( k , p ) = k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( j = 1 n 1 j 1 / p ) p 1 k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( p p 1 n 1 1 / p p p 1 + 1 2 + 1 2 n 1 / p + 1 12 p 1 12 p n 1 + 1 / p ) p 1 = k 1 / q n = k 1 n p ( q n 1 / q 6 p + 12 q 1 12 p + 1 2 n 1 / p 1 12 p n 1 + 1 / p ) p 1 = k 1 / q n = k 1 n p q p 1 n ( p 1 ) / q ( 1 6 p + 12 q 1 12 p q n 1 / q + 1 2 q n 1 12 p q n 2 ) p 1 = q p 1 k 1 / q n = k 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g r ( n ) ) p 1 .

Combining Lemmas 3 and 4, we obtain

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g r ( n ) ) [ p ] 1 ( 1 + g r ( n ) ) p [ p ] ] q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g r ( n ) ) [ p ] 1 × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] ) g r ( n ) + ( p [ p ] ) ( p [ p ] 1 ) 2 g r 2 ( n ) ) ] .

This completes the proof of Lemma 5. □

Lemma 6 Let 1/p+1/q=1, nk1. If p(1,2), then

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] 1 ) g l ( n ) + ( p [ p ] 1 ) ( p [ p ] 2 ) 2 g l 2 ( n ) ) ] .

If p[2,+), then

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] 2 × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] + 1 ) g l ( n ) + ( p [ p ] + 1 ) ( p [ p ] ) 2 g l 2 ( n ) ) ] .

Proof Since pq=p+q, q(p1)=p, using Lemma 1 gives

W ( k , p ) = k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( j = 1 n 1 j 1 / p ) p 1 k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( p p 1 n 1 1 / p p p 1 + 1 2 + 1 2 n 1 / p ) p 1 = k 1 / q n = k 1 n p ( q n 1 / q p + 2 q 2 p + 1 2 n 1 / p ) p 1 = k 1 / q n = k 1 n p q p 1 n ( p 1 ) / q ( 1 p + 2 q 2 p q n 1 / q + 1 2 q n ) p 1 = q p 1 k 1 / q n = k 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) p 1 .

When p(1,2). From Lemmas 3 and 4, we have

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] 1 ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) p [ p ] q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] 1 ) g l ( n ) + ( p [ p ] 1 ) ( p [ p ] 2 ) 2 g l 2 ( n ) ) ] .

When p[2,+). Using Lemmas 3 and 4, we obtain

W ( k , p ) q p 1 k 1 / q n = k 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] 2 ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) p [ p ] + 1 q p 1 k 1 / q n = k [ 1 n 1 + 1 / q ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) [ p ] 2 × ( 1 + ( p [ p ] + 1 ) g l ( n ) + ( p [ p ] + 1 ) ( p [ p ] ) 2 g l 2 ( n ) ) ] .

Lemma 6 is proved. □

Lemma 7 (see[3])

Let p>1, a n 0 (n=1,2,), 0< n = 1 a n p <. Then

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) p k = 1 [ k 1 1 / p n = k 1 n p ( j = 1 n 1 j 1 / p ) p 1 a k p ] = k = 1 W(k,p) a k p .

3 Main results

Theorem 1 For an arbitrary natural number k, the following inequality holds true:

W(k,5/4)< R 5 / 4 (k),

where

R 5 / 4 ( k ) = 5 1 / 4 ( 5 133 240 k 1 / 5 17 , 689 144 , 000 k 2 / 5 + 25 48 k 19 192 k 6 / 5 17 , 689 480 , 000 k 7 / 5 + 467 4 , 224 k 2 + 133 18 , 000 k 11 / 5 + 97 38 , 400 k 3 + 133 60 , 000 k 16 / 5 + 61 504 , 000 k 4 + 19 240 , 000 k 5 ) .

Proof

Using Lemma 5 gives

W(k,5/4) 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k [ 1 n 6 / 5 ( 1 + 1 4 g r ( n ) 3 32 g r 2 ( n ) ) ] = 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k r 5 / 4 (n),

where

r 5 / 4 ( n ) = 1 n 6 / 5 133 600 n 7 / 5 17 , 689 240 , 000 n 8 / 5 + 1 40 n 11 / 5 + 133 8 , 000 n 12 / 5 41 9 , 600 n 16 / 5 133 60 , 000 n 17 / 5 + 1 4 , 000 n 21 / 5 1 60 , 000 n 26 / 5 .

Hence

W ( k , 5 / 4 ) 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k ( 1 n 6 / 5 133 600 n 7 / 5 17 , 689 240 , 000 n 8 / 5 + 1 40 n 11 / 5 + 133 8 , 000 n 12 / 5 41 9 , 600 n 16 / 5 133 60 , 000 n 17 / 5 + 1 4 , 000 n 21 / 5 1 60 , 000 n 26 / 5 ) .

Using Lemma 2 and taking p=6/5,7/5,8/5,11/5,12/5,16/5,17/5,21/5,26/5 in the right-hand side of inequality (13), respectively, we get

n = k 1 n 6 / 5 < 5 k 1 / 5 + 1 2 k 6 / 5 + 1 10 k 11 / 5 , n = k 133 600 n 7 / 5 < 133 240 k 2 / 5 133 1 , 200 k 7 / 5 , , n = k 1 4 , 000 n 21 / 5 < 1 12 , 800 k 16 / 5 + 1 8 , 000 k 21 / 5 + 7 80 , 000 k 26 / 5 , n = k 1 60 , 000 n 26 / 5 < 1 252 , 000 k 21 / 5 1 120 , 000 k 26 / 5 .

Adding up the above inequalities, we obtain

W(k,5/4)< R 5 / 4 (k).

Theorem 1 is proved. □

Theorem 2 For an arbitrary natural number k, the following inequality holds true:

W(k,5/4)> L 5 / 4 (k),

where

L 5 / 4 ( k ) = 5 1 / 4 ( 5 9 16 k 1 / 5 81 640 k 2 / 5 15 , 309 25 , 600 k 3 / 5 + 25 48 k 45 448 k 6 / 5 + 3 , 159 51 , 200 k 7 / 5 15 , 309 64 , 000 k 8 / 5 + 17 1 , 408 k 2 129 5 , 120 k 11 / 5 + 891 12 , 800 k 12 / 5 45 , 927 640 , 000 k 13 / 5 27 102 , 400 k 3 567 64 , 000 k 16 / 5 + 1 12 , 800 k 4 3 , 213 640 , 000 k 21 / 5 ) .

Proof

Utilizing Lemma 6 gives

W ( k , 5 / 4 ) 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k [ 1 n 6 / 5 ( 1 + g l ( n ) ) ( 1 3 4 g l ( n ) + 21 32 g l 2 ( n ) ) ] = 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k l 5 / 4 ( n ) ,

where

l 5 / 4 ( n ) = 1 n 6 / 5 9 40 n 7 / 5 243 3 , 200 n 8 / 5 15 , 309 32 , 000 n 9 / 5 + 1 40 n 11 / 5 + 27 1 , 600 n 12 / 5 + 5 , 103 32 , 000 n 13 / 5 3 3 , 200 n 16 / 5 567 32 , 000 n 17 / 5 + 21 32 , 000 n 21 / 5 .

Hence

W ( k , 5 / 4 ) 5 1 / 4 k 1 / 5 n = k ( 1 n 6 / 5 9 40 n 7 / 5 243 3 , 200 n 8 / 5 15 , 309 32 , 000 n 9 / 5 + 1 40 n 11 / 5 + 27 1 , 600 n 12 / 5 + 5 , 103 32 , 000 n 13 / 5 3 3 , 200 n 16 / 5 567 32 , 000 n 17 / 5 + 21 32 , 000 n 21 / 5 ) .

Using Lemma 2 and taking p=6/5,7/5,8/5,9/5,11/5,12/5,13/5,16/5,17/5,21/5 in the left-hand side of inequality (13), respectively, we get

n = k 1 n 6 / 5 > 5 k 1 / 5 + 1 2 k 6 / 5 , n = k 9 40 n 7 / 5 > 9 16 k 2 / 5 9 80 k 7 / 5 21 800 k 12 / 5 , , n = k 567 32 , 000 n 17 / 5 > 189 25 , 600 k 12 / 5 567 64 , 000 k 17 / 5 3 , 213 640 , 000 k 22 / 5 , n = k 21 32 , 000 n 21 / 5 > 21 102 , 400 k 16 / 5 + 21 64 , 000 k 21 / 5 .

Adding up the above inequalities, we obtain

W(k,5/4)> L 5 / 4 (k).

Theorem 2 is proved. □

Theorem 3 Let a n 0 (n=1,2,), 0< n = 1 a n 5 / 4 <. Then

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 5 / 4 5 5 / 4 n = 1 ( 1 1 10 1 n 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 ) a n 5 / 4 ,
(14)

where η 5 / 4 = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] 1=0.46 is the best possible under the weight coefficient W(k,5/4).

Proof

By Lemma 7, we have

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 5 / 4 k = 1 W(k,5/4) a k 5 / 4 .

Therefore, to prove inequality (14), it suffices to show that

W(k,5/4) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 k 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 ) .
(15)

Obviously, inequality (15) becomes an equality for k=1. In what follows, we will assume that k2.

By Theorem 1 W(k,5/4)< R 5 / 4 (k), we need only to prove that

R 5 / 4 (k) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 k 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 ) .

Note that

η 5 / 4 = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] 1=0.44> 11 25 ,

it suffices to show

R 5 / 4 (k) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 k 1 / 5 + 11 / 25 ) .
(16)

Substituting k= x 5 in (16), inequality (16) becomes

R 5 / 4 ( x 5 ) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 x + 11 / 25 ) ,where x 2 5 ,

which is equivalent to the following inequality:

5 1 / 4 ( 5 133 240 x 17 , 689 144 , 000 x 2 + 25 48 x 5 19 192 x 6 17 , 689 480 , 000 x 7 + 467 4 , 224 x 10 + 133 18 , 000 x 11 + 97 38 , 400 x 15 + 133 60 , 000 x 16 + 61 504 , 000 x 20 + 19 240 , 000 x 25 ) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 x + 11 / 25 ) 5 133 240 x 17 , 689 144 , 000 x 2 + 25 48 x 5 19 192 x 6 17 , 689 480 , 000 x 7 + 467 4 , 224 x 10 + 133 18 , 000 x 11 + 97 38 , 400 x 15 + 133 60 , 000 x 16 + 61 504 , 000 x 20 + 19 240 , 000 x 25 5 1 2 1 x + 11 / 25 133 240 x 17 , 689 144 , 000 x 2 + 25 48 x 5 19 192 x 6 17 , 689 480 , 000 x 7 + 467 4 , 224 x 10 + 133 18 , 000 x 11 + 97 38 , 400 x 15 + 133 60 , 000 x 16 + 61 504 , 000 x 20 + 19 240 , 000 x 25 + 1 2 1 x + 11 / 25 0 f ( x ) 221 , 760 , 000 x 25 ( 25 x + 11 ) 0 ,
(17)

where

f ( x ) = 300 , 300 , 000 x 25 + 2 , 032 , 838 , 500 x 24 + 299 , 651 , 660 x 23 2 , 887 , 500 , 000 x 21 721 , 875 , 000 x 20 + 445 , 702 , 950 x 19 + 89 , 895 , 498 x 18 612 , 937 , 500 x 16 310 , 656 , 500 x 15 18 , 024 , 160 x 14 14 , 004 , 375 x 11 18 , 451 , 125 x 10 5 , 407 , 248 x 9 671 , 000 x 6 295 , 240 x 5 438 , 900 x 193 , 116 .

From the hypothesis x 2 5 >1.14, we have

300 , 300 , 000 x 25 + 2 , 032 , 838 , 500 x 24 + 299 , 651 , 660 x 23 2 , 887 , 500 , 000 x 21 721 , 875 , 000 x 20 + 445 , 702 , 950 x 19 + 89 , 895 , 498 x 18 > ( 300 , 300 , 000 × 1.14 4 + 2 , 032 , 838 , 500 × 1.14 3 + 299 , 651 , 660 × 1.14 2 2 , 887 , 500 , 000 ) x 21 721 , 875 , 000 x 20 + 445 , 702 , 950 x 19 + 89 , 895 , 498 x 18 = 1 , 020 , 861 , 716 x 21 721 , 875 , 000 x 20 + 445 , 702 , 950 x 19 + 89 , 895 , 498 x 18 = [ ( 1 , 020 , 861 , 716 x 721 , 875 , 000 ) x 2 + 445 , 702 , 950 x + 89 , 895 , 498 ] x 18 > [ ( 1 , 020 , 861 , 716 × 1.14 721 , 875 , 000 ) × 1.14 2 + 445 , 702 , 950 × 1.14 + 89 , 895 , 498 ] x 18 = 1 , 172 , 299 , 661 x 18 .

Further, we have

f ( x ) > 1 , 172 , 299 , 661 x 18 612 , 937 , 500 x 16 310 , 656 , 500 x 15 18 , 024 , 160 x 14 14 , 004 , 375 x 11 18 , 451 , 125 x 10 5 , 407 , 248 x 9 671 , 000 x 6 295 , 240 x 5 438 , 900 x 193 , 116 > 1 , 172 , 299 , 661 x 18 612 , 937 , 500 x 18 310 , 656 , 500 x 18 18 , 024 , 160 x 18 14 , 004 , 375 x 18 18 , 451 , 125 x 18 5 , 407 , 248 x 18 671 , 000 x 18 295 , 240 x 18 438 , 900 x 18 193 , 116 x 18 = 191 , 220 , 497 x 18 > 0 .

Consequently, inequality (17) holds true, and inequality (14) is proved.

Let us now show that η 5 / 4 = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] 1=0.46 is the best possible under the weight coefficient W(k,5/4).

Consider inequality (14) in a general form as

W(k,5/4) 5 5 / 4 ( 1 1 10 1 k 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 ) .
(18)

Putting k=1 in (18) yields

η 5 / 4 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] .

Thus the best possible value for η 5 / 4 in (18) should be η min = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] .

This completes the proof of Theorem 3. □

Remark 1 From the definition of W(k,p) and in the same way as in [17], we can establish the following accurate estimates of W(1,5/4):

6.965042829<W(1,5/4)<6.967740323.
(19)

Further, the approximation of η 5 / 4 can be derived as follows:

η 5 / 4 = 5 5 / 4 10 [ 5 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) ] 1=0.46.

Remark 2 For p=5/4, inequality (11) can be written as

n = 1 ( 1 n k = 1 n a k ) 5 / 4 5 5 / 4 n = 1 ( 1 1 ( 1 5 ) 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) n 1 / 5 ) a n 5 / 4 .
(20)

It is easy to observe that

1 10 1 n 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 > 1 10 1 n 1 / 5 + 4 , 711 / 10 , 000 > 7 100 n 1 / 5

and

1 ( 1 5 ) 5 / 4 W(1,5/4)<1 ( 1 5 ) 5 / 4 ×6.967740323=0.06808< 7 100 ,

hence

1 ( 1 5 ) 5 / 4 W ( 1 , 5 / 4 ) n 1 / 5 < 1 10 1 n 1 / 5 + η 5 / 4 .

This implies that inequality (14) is stronger than inequality (11).

References

  1. Hardy GH, Littlewood JE, Pólya G: Inequalities. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1952.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mitrinović DS, Pečarić JE, Fink AM: Inequalities Involving Functions and Thier Integrals and Derivatives. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht; 1991.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Yang BC, Zhu YH: An improvement on Hardy’s inequality. Acta Sci. Natur. Univ. Sunyatseni 1998, 37(1):41–44.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Huang QL:An improvement of series Hardy’s inequality for p=3. J. Hubei Inst. Natl. 1999, 17(3):54–57.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Huang QL:A sharpness and improvement of Hardy’s inequality for p=3/2. J. Guangxi Norm. Univ. (Nat. Sci. Ed.) 2000, 18(1):38–41.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Huang QL: An improvement of Hardy’s inequality in an interval. Acta Sci. Natur. Univ. Sunyatseni 2000, 39(3):20–24.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Huang QL:An improvement of Hardy’s series inequality in the interval [2,5]. J. South China Univ. Technol. (Natl. Sci. Ed.) 2000, 28(2):64–68.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Huang QL: An extension of a strengthened inequality. J. Guangdong Educ. Inst. 2001, 21(2):17–20.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Yang BC: On a strengthened version of Hardys inequality. J. Guangdong Educ. Inst. 2005, 25(5):5–8.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Kuang JC: Applied Inequalities. 4th edition. Shangdong Science and Technology Press, Jinan; 2010:576.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Zhang XM: A new proof method of analytic inequality. RGMIA Research Report Collection 2009, 12(1):18–29.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Zhang XM, Chu YM: New Discussion to Analytic Inequalities. Harbin Institute of Technology press, Harbin; 2009:260–275.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Zhang, XM, Chu, YM: A new method to study analytic inequalities. J. Inequal. Appl. (2010). http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jia/2010/698012

  14. Yang L, Xia BC: Automated Discovering and Proving for Mathematical Inequalities. Science Press, Beijing; 2008:33–42. 117–142

    Google Scholar 

  15. Yang L, Zhang JZ, Hou XR: Nonlinear Algebraic Equation Systems and Automated Theorem Proving. Shanghai Science’s and Technology’s Education Publishing House, Shanghai; 1996:137–166.

    Google Scholar 

  16. He D:The automatic verification of Hardy inequality’s improvements and its improving type of PN. J. Guangdong Educ. Inst. 2012, 32(3):28–35.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Deng, YP, He, D, Wu, SH: A sharpened version of Hardy’s inequality and the automated verification program. J. Math. Pract. Theory (2012, submitted)

  18. Huang YZ, He D:An improvement of Hardy’s inequality for p=3/2. J. Shantou Univ. (Natl. Sci. Ed.) 2012, 27(3):15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Yang BC: On a strengthened Hardy’s inequality. J. Xinyang Teach. Coll. (Natl. Sci. Ed.) 2002, 15(1):37–39.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Huang QL:A strengthened Hardy’s inequality in the interval [1,2]. J. Guangdong Educ. Inst. 2002, 22(2):20–23.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Huang QL, Yang BC: A strengthened dual form of Hardy’s inequality. J. Math. (PRC) 2005, 25(3):307–311.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Zhu YH, Yang BC: Improvement on Euler’s summation formula and some inequalities on sums of powers. Acta Sci. Natur. Univ. Sunyatseni 1997, 36(4):21–26.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Qian X, Meixiu Z, Zhang X: On a strengthened version of Hardy’s inequality. J. Inequal. Appl. 2012, 2012: 300. 10.1186/1029-242X-2012-300

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The present investigation was supported, in part, by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian province of China under Grant 2012J01014 and, in part, by the Foundation of Scientific Research Project of Fujian Province Education Department of China under Grant JK2012049.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shanhe Wu.

Additional information

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

YD finished the proof and the writing work. SW gave YD some advice on the proof and writing. DH gave YD lots of help in revising the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Deng, Y., Wu, S. & He, D. A sharpened version of Hardy’s inequality for parameter p=5/4. J Inequal Appl 2013, 63 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1029-242X-2013-63

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1029-242X-2013-63

Keywords