Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2010/f/f2/c/1/solution
Past exam of the options II course of the University of Oxford 2010 F F2 c 1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Work on the positive orthant, where all real powers in are defined. To justify a global maximum, enlarge the constraint set to the compact simplexIt is closed and bounded since . The product extends continuously to , is zero at every boundary point where a coordinate vanishes, and equals at . Hence a maximum exists and lies in the positive interior. For the constraint gives directly.
For , at an interior maximum the Lagrange multiplier equations areAll and are positive, so all are equal. The constraint and make their common value . Thus the only possible maximizer has value , provingwith equality exactly when every . The source writes on all of ; for general noninteger exponents its relevant real-valued domain is the positive orthant used here.
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