An Equation Involving the Trigamma Function

198 Views Asked by At

Let $N$ be a positive integer, and consider the equation

\begin{equation} \frac{1}{2} \sum_{n=1}^{N} \psi^{(1)} \left( \frac{x+1-n}{2} \right) = \frac{N}{x}, \end{equation} in the real unkown $x > N - 1$, where $\psi^{(1)}(x)$ is the trigamma function.

I have conjectured that this equation has no solution. Does someone have an idea of a possible proof?

Any help is welcome.

NB From the series representation of the trigamma function we know that the map $(0,\infty) \ni x \mapsto \psi^{(1)}(x)$ is strictly decreasing. So our statement is proved if we can prove the inequality \begin{equation} \psi^{(1)}(x) > \frac{1}{x} \quad (x > 0), \end{equation} but I do not know how to prove it for now.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

Our system has actually no solution as conjectured, since the inequality stated in the note above holds true. More precisely, one can prove that

\begin{equation} \psi^{(1)}(x) > \frac{1}{x} + \frac{1}{2x^2} \quad (x > 0). \end{equation} For a proof, see e.g. Elbert and Laforgia On Some Properties of the Gamma Function, Section 2; Gordon, A Stochastic Approach to the Gamma Function, Theorem 4; Alzer, On Some Inequalities for the Gamma Function, Theorem 9.