Various proofs of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality

Hui-Hua Wu and Shanhe Wu

Corresponding Author
Abstract: In this paper twelve dierent proofs are given for the classical Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
Keywords: Cauchy-Schwarz inequality; arithmetic-geometric means inequality; rearrangement inequality;
mathematical induction; scalar product
2000 Mathematics Subject Classication: 26D15
1 Introduction
The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality is an elementary inequality and at the same time a powerful inequality,
which can be stated as follows:
Theorem. Let (a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
n
) and (b
1
, b
2
, . . . , b
n
) be two sequences of real numbers, then
_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_

_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2
, (1)
with equality if and only if the sequences (a
1
, a
2
, . . . , a
n
) and (b
1
, b
2
, . . . , b
n
) are proportional, i.e., there is a
constant such that a
k
= b
k
for each k {1, 2, . . . , n}.
As is known to us, this classical inequality plays an important role in dierent branches of modern
mathematics including Hilbert spaces theory, probability and statistics, classical real and complex analysis,
numerical analysis, qualitative theory of dierential equations and their applications (see [1-12]). In this
paper we show some dierent proofs of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality.
2 Some dierent proofs of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
Proof 1. Expanding out the brackets and collecting together identical terms we have
n

i=1
n

j=1
(a
i
b
j
a
j
b
i
)
2
=
n

i=1
a
2
i
n

j=1
b
2
j
+
n

i=1
b
2
i
n

j=1
a
2
j
2
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
n

j=1
b
j
a
j
= 2
_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
2
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2
.
Because the left-hand side of the equation is a sum of the squares of real numbers it is greater than or
equal to zero, thus
_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_

_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2
.
1
Proof 2. Consider the following quadratic polynomial
f (x) =
_
n

i=1
a
2
i
_
x
2
2
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
x +
n

i=1
b
2
i
=
n

i=1
(a
i
x b
i
)
2
.
Since f(x) 0 for any x R, it follows that the discriminant of f(x) is negative, i.e.,
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
0.
The inequality (1) is proved.
Proof 3. When
n

i=1
a
2
i
= 0 or
n

i=1
b
2
i
=0, (1) is an identity.
We can now assume that
A
n
=
n

i=1
a
2
i
= 0, B
n
=
n

i=1
b
2
i
= 0, x
i
=
a
i

A
n
, y
i
=
b
i

B
n
(i = 1, 2, . . . , n),
then
n

i=1
x
2
i
=
n

i=1
y
2
i
= 1.
The inequality (1) is equivalent to
x
1
y
1
+ x
2
y
2
+ x
n
y
n
1,
that is
2(x
1
y
1
+ x
2
y
2
+ x
n
y
n
) x
2
1
+ x
2
2
+ + x
2
n
+ y
2
1
+ y
2
2
+ + y
2
n
,
or equivalently
(x
1
y
1
)
2
+ (x
2
y
2
)
2
+ + (x
n
y
n
)
2
0,
which is evidently true. The desired conclusion follows.
Proof 4. Let A =
_
a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
, B =
_
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
.
By the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, we have
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
AB

n

i=1
1
2
_
a
2
i
A
2
+
b
2
i
B
2
_
= 1,
so that
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
AB =
_
a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
_
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
.
Thus
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
.
Proof 5. Let A
n
= a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
, B
n
= a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
, C
n
= b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
.
It follows from the arithmetic-geometric means inequality that
A
n
C
n
B
2
n
+ 1 =
n

i=1
a
2
i
C
n
B
2
n
+
n

i=1
b
2
i
C
n
=
n

i=1
_
a
2
i
C
n
B
2
n
+
b
2
i
C
n
_
2
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
B
n
= 2,
2
therefore
A
n
C
n
B
2
n
,
that is
(a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
)(b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
) (a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
)
2
.
Proof 6. Below, we prove the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality by mathematical induction.
Beginning the induction at 1, the n = 1 case is trivial.
Note that
(a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
)
2
= a
2
1
b
2
1
+ 2a
1
b
1
a
2
b
2
+ a
2
2
b
2
2
a
2
1
b
2
1
+ a
2
1
b
2
2
+ a
2
2
b
2
1
+ a
2
2
b
2
2
= (a
2
1
+ a
2
2
)(b
2
1
+ b
2
2
),
which implies that the inequality (1) holds for n = 2.
Assume that the inequality (1) holds for an arbitrary integer k, i.e.,
_
k

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2

_
k

i=1
a
2
i
__
k

i=1
b
2
i
_
.
Using the induction hypothesis, one has

_
k+1

i=1
a
2
i

_
k+1

i=1
b
2
i
=

_
k

i=1
a
2
i
+ a
2
k+1

_
k

i=1
b
2
i
+ b
2
k+1

_
k

i=1
a
2
i

_
k

i=1
b
2
i
+|a
k+1
b
k+1
|

i=1
|a
i
b
i
| +|a
k+1
b
k+1
| =
k+1

i=1
|a
i
b
i
|.
It means that the inequality (1) holds for n = k + 1, we thus conclude that the inequality (1) holds for
all natural numbers n. This completes the proof of inequality (1).
Proof 7. Let
A = {a
1
b
1
, a
1
b
n
, a
2
b
1
, , a
2
b
n
, , a
n
b
1
, a
n
b
n
}
B = {a
1
b
1
, a
1
b
n
, a
2
b
1
, , a
2
b
n
, , a
n
b
1
, a
n
b
n
}
C = {a
1
b
1
, a
1
b
n
, a
2
b
1
, , a
2
b
n
, , a
n
b
1
, a
n
b
n
}
D = {a
1
b
1
, a
n
b
1
, a
1
b
2
, , a
n
b
2
, , a
1
b
n
, a
n
b
n
}
It is easy to observe that the set A and B are similarly sorted, while the set C and D are mixed sorted.
Applying the rearrangement inequality, we have
(a
1
b
1
)(a
1
b
1
) + +(a
1
b
n
)(a
1
b
n
) +(a
2
b
1
)(a
2
b
1
) + +(a
2
b
n
)(a
2
b
n
) + +(a
n
b
1
)(a
n
b
1
) + +(a
n
b
n
)(a
n
b
n
)
(a
1
b
1
)(a
1
b
1
)+ +(a
1
b
n
)(a
n
b
1
)+(a
2
b
1
)(a
1
b
2
)+ +(a
2
b
n
)(a
n
b
2
)+ +(a
n
b
1
)(a
1
b
n
)+ +(a
n
b
n
)(a
n
b
n
),
which can be simplied to the inequality
(a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
)(b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
) (a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
)
2
as desired.
Proof 8. By the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, one has for > 0,
3
|a
i
b
i
|
1
2
_
a
2
i
+
b
2
i

_
.
Choosing =

i=1
b
2
i
_
n

i=1
a
2
i
in the above inequality gives
|a
i
b
i
|
_

_
n

i=1
b
2
i
n

i=1
a
2
i
a
2
i
+

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
n

i=1
b
2
i
b
2
i
_

_
.
Hence
n

i=1
|a
i
b
i
|
1
2
_

_
n

i=1
b
2
i
n

i=1
a
2
i
n

i=1
a
2
i
+

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
n

i=1
b
2
i
n

i=1
b
2
i
_

_
,
or equivalently
n

i=1
|a
i
b
i
|
1
2
_
_

_
n

i=1
b
2
i
n

i=1
a
2
i
+

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
_
=

_
n

i=1
a
2
i

_
n

i=1
b
2
i
.
The desired conclusion follows.
Proof 9. Construct the vectors = (a
1
, a
2
, , a
n
) , = (b
1
, b
2
, , b
n
). Then for arbitrary real
numbers t, one has the following identities for scalar product:
( + t) ( + t) = + 2 ( ) t + ( )t
2
||
2
+ 2 ( ) t +||
2
t
2
= | + t|
2
0.
Thus
( )
2
||
2
||
2
0.
Using the expressions
= a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
, ||
2
=
n

i=1
a
2
i
, ||
2
=
n

i=1
b
2
i
,
we obtain
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
0.
Proof 10. Construct the vectors = (a
1
, a
2
, , a
n
) , = (b
1
, b
2
, , b
n
).
From the formula for scalar product:
= || || cos (, ) ,
we deduce that
|| || .
4
Using the expressions
= a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
, ||
2
=
n

i=1
a
2
i
, ||
2
=
n

i=1
b
2
i
,
we get the desired inequality (1).
Proof 11. Since the function f (x) = x
2
is convex on (, +), it follows from the Jensens inequality
that
(p
1
x
1
+ p
2
x
2
+ + p
n
x
n
)
2
p
1
x
2
1
+ p
2
x
2
2
+ + p
n
x
2
n
, (2)
where x
i
R, p
i
> 0 (i = 1, 2, . . . , n), p
1
+ p
2
+ + p
n
= 1.
Case I. If b
i
= 0 for i = 1, 2, . . . , n, we apply x
i
= a
i
/b
i
and p
i
= b
2
i
/(b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
) to the
inequality (2) to obtain that
_
a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
_
2

a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
,
that is
(a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
)
2
(a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
)(b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
).
Case II. If there exists b
i1
= b
i2
= = b
i
k
= 0, one has
_
n

i=1
a
i
b
i
_
2
=
_
_

i=i1,...,i
k
,1in
a
i
b
i
_
_
2

_
_

i=i1,...,i
k
,1in
a
2
i
_
_
_
_

i=i1,...,i
k
,1in
b
2
i
_
_

_
n

i=1
a
2
i
__
n

i=1
b
2
i
_
.
This completes the proof of inequality (1).
Proof 12. Dene a sequence {S
n
} by
S
n
= (a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
)
2

_
a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
_ _
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
_
.
Then
S
n+1
S
n
= (a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n+1
b
n+1
)
2

_
a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n+1
_ _
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n+1
_
(a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ + a
n
b
n
)
2
+
_
a
2
1
+ a
2
2
+ + a
2
n
_ _
b
2
1
+ b
2
2
+ + b
2
n
_
,
which can be simplied to
S
n+1
S
n
=
_
(a
1
b
n+1
b
1
a
n+1
)
2
+ (a
2
b
n+1
b
2
a
n+1
)
2
+ + (a
n
b
n+1
b
n
a
n+1
)
2
_
,
so
S
n+1
S
n
(n N).
We thus have
S
n
S
n1
S
1
= 0,
which implies the inequality (1).
Acknowledgements. The present investigation was supported, in part, by the innovative experiment
project for university students from Fujian Province Education Department of China under Grant No.214,
and, in part, by the innovative experiment project for university students from Longyan University of China.
5
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