# Proving Hölder's Inequality

Let $f,g,\alpha:[a,b]\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ with $\alpha$ increasing and $f,g \in \mathscr{R}(\alpha)$, and $p,q>0$ with $\frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}=1$. Prove that $$\left|\int_a^b f(x)g(x)d\alpha\right|\leq \left(\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha \right)^{1/p} \left(\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha \right)^{1/q}$$

I am using Young's inequality, which states that for $a,b>0$, $uv\leq \frac{1}{p}u^{p}+\frac{1}{q}v^{q}$. This gets me as far as showing that $$\left|\int_a^b f(x)g(x)d\alpha\right|\leq \int\left( \frac {1}{p}|f(x)|^p +\frac{1}{q}|g(x)|^q\right)d\alpha$$

But here I'm stuck. I'm vaguely thinking that I could use the fact that $\frac {1}{p}|f(x)|^p +\frac{1}{q}|g(x)|^q$ is a convex combination and so if I do some Jensen's inequality type thing, but I can't figure out a way to make it work out.

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– TenaliRaman Jan 25 at 7:02

## 1 Answer

Suppose $\displaystyle\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha\neq 0$ and $\displaystyle\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha\neq 0$. Otherwise, if $\displaystyle\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha=0$, then $f\equiv 0$ a.e. and the Holder's inequality is trivial in this case.

Now applying Young's inequality with $u=\displaystyle\frac{|f(x)|}{(\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{p}}}$ and $v=\displaystyle\frac{|g(x)|}{(\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{q}}}$, we have $$\frac{|f(x)|}{(\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{p}}}\cdot\frac{|g(x)|}{(\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{q}}}\leq\frac{1}{p}\frac{|f(x)|^p}{\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha}+\frac{1}{q}\frac{|g(x)|^q}{\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha}.$$ Integrating it from $a$ to $b$ with respect to $d\alpha$, we obtain $$\frac{\int_a^b|f(x)||g(x)|d\alpha}{(\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{p}}(\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha)^{\frac{1}{q}}}\leq\frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}=1$$ which implies that $$\tag{1}\int_a^b|f(x)||g(x)|d\alpha\leq\left(\int_a^b \left|f(x)\right|^p d\alpha \right)^{1/p} \left(\int_a^b \left|g(x)\right|^q d\alpha \right)^{1/q}.$$ Now the inequality which we want to prove follows from $(1)$ and the inequality $$\left|\int_a^b f(x)g(x)d\alpha\right|\leq\int_a^b|f(x)||g(x)|d\alpha.$$

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I can't see how we can integrate the first line of Young's inequality like that. Can you help me see that a little bit better? – crf Jan 25 at 7:39
wow actually never mind, it's obvious. I just wasn't seeing straight. Thanks very much! – crf Jan 25 at 8:26
P.S., how did anyone come up with that – crf Jan 25 at 8:26
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