Prove that $x^{y^x} > y^{x^y}$ for $x > y > 1$

222 Views Asked by At

Prove that $x^{y^x} > y^{x^y}$ for $x > y > 1$.

So I've tried this so far:

$x^{y^x} > y^{x^y}$

$e^{(y^x)\ln x} > e^{(x^y)\ln y}$

$(y^x)\ln x > (x^y)\ln y$

$e^{\ln({(y^x)\ln x)}} > e^{\ln({(x^y)\ln y})}$

$x\ln(y) + \ln(\ln x) > y\ln x + \ln(\ln y)$

And well, I got stuck there. Is there something I'm doing wrong or should I try a different approach?

Edit:

$x\ln(y) - y\ln(x) > \ln(\ln y)-\ln(\ln x) $

$x\ln(y) - y\ln(x) > \ln{\left(\frac{\ln y}{\ln x}\right)}$

$e^{x\ln y - y\ln x} > \frac{\ln y}{\ln x}$

Since $\frac{\ln y}{\ln x} < 1$, it would suffice to show that $\frac{e^{x\ln(y)}}{e^{y\ln(x)}} > 1$. So:

$x\ln y> y\ln x$

$\frac{x}{y} > \frac{\ln x}{\ln y}$

How do I prove the last bit though?

1

There are 1 best solutions below

0
On BEST ANSWER

Ignore everything in the "Edit" section. We have:

(1) $x\ln(y) + \ln(\ln x) > y\ln x + \ln(\ln y)$

Let $u = \frac{\ln x}{\ln y} > 1$ and $v = \ln y > 0$

Then $x = e^{uv}$, $y = e^v$

By substituting x and y in (1) we get:

$e^{uv}v + \ln u + \ln v > e^vuv + \ln v$

$e^{uv}v + \ln u - e^vuv > 0$

$\ln u > v(ue^v - e^{uv})$

If $ue^v - e^{uv} \leq 0$ then ok.

Else let $ue^v - e^{uv} > 0$

$ue^{v} > e^{uv}$

$\ln u + v > uv$

$\ln u > v(u - 1)$

Now it will suffice to show that:

(2) $u - 1 > ue^v - e^{uv}$

Let $f(v) = u - 1 - ue^v + e^{uv}$, $v \geq 0$

Since $f(0) = 0$, we can now prove that $f'(v) > 0$ for $v > 0$.

$f'(v) = ue^{uv} - ue^v > 0$ as $u > 1$

Which means that f is increasing for $v > 0$ and therefore (2) is satisfied.