Convexity and reciprocal concavity of the coupon-collection objective function

Let NNN\in\mathbb{N} and, for positive x1,,xNx_1,\ldots,x_N, define

pN(x1,,xN)=01(1i=1N(1txi))dtt.p_N(x_1,\ldots,x_N)=\int_0^1\left(1-\prod_{i=1}^N(1-t^{x_i})\right)\frac{dt}{t}.

Convexity and reciprocal-concavity conjecture. For each NNN\in\mathbb{N}, the function pNp_N is convex; indeed, 1/pN1/p_N is concave. This claim concerns the network objective function arising in coupon collection and predicts a generalization of the verified low-dimensional partial-fraction patterns.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Francisco J. Aragón Artacho, Jonathan M. Borwein, Victoria Martín-Márquez and Liangjin Yao, “Applications of Convex Analysis within Mathematics”, arXiv:1302.1978 (2013).

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