Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-continuous-optimisation-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/2/b/i/solution
Past exam of the continuous optimisation course of the University of Oxford 2025 2 b i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Taking the natural logarithm of the positive product constraint gives . Its gradient has entries , so the equality constraint qualification holds everywhere on the feasible set. Use the optimization LagrangianStationarity requires , so every . Substitution into the constraint, using , gives . Thus the only candidate for a local minimum is .
To prove global minimality without assuming the inequality to be established, set . The constraint becomes the affine hyperplane , and the objective function becomes . Its Hessian matrix is positive-definite, so is strictly convex. The elementary tangent inequality , with equality only at zero, givesEquality forces every . ThereforeThis point is the unique global minimizer and the only local minimizer. The logarithm change of variables also explains why a multiplicative constraint leads to a convex optimization argument.
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