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Solving a system of equations with inequalities

Posted 9 years ago

Hello!

I'm very new to Mathematica and I've always used Wolfram|Alpha as an alternative. However, I need to solve a system containing equations and inequalities. The system contains the following equation and inequalities:

16x^4-40ax^3+(15a^2+24b)x^2-18abx+3b^2 = 0 \\
5ax-4x^2-b>0 \\
15ax-20x^2-3b<0 \\
4x^3 - 8 c x^2 + 5 a c x - c b < 0,

where a<0, x<0 and c<0. The objective is to find a solution x such that the above equation and inequalities are satisfied. In fact, I'm not particularly interested in the solution itself, but I'm interested in the constraints on the parameters (a,b,c). However, I tried to run this in the notebook, but it did not give any output. Could someone try to run it for me? Or guide me on how to solve it?

Many thanks!

POSTED BY: Cédric Cavents
2 Replies

Thanks for the answer!

That is indeed the system that I had to solve. The constraints on $a$ and $b$ are easy to handle. The constraint on $c$ is harder to handle. if Mathematica gives as output $\mbox{Root}[\ldots,1]$ and $\mbox{Root}[\ldots,2]$, then I assume the latter to be the greater (real) root?

When I only consider the first thee equations/inequalities of the systems then Mathematica also gives a constraint on $b$ in function of Roots objects. More precisely, one of the cases for example states $a^2 < b < \mbox{Root}[375 a^8 - 3600 a^6 x + 8088 a^4 x^2 - 6912 a^2 x^3 + 2048 x^4,2]$. I let Wolfram|Alpha solve the latter quartic and the two real solutions are: $0,147 a^2$ and $1.08148a^2$. Hence my example can also be written as: $$a^2<b<1,08148 a^2,$$ which is a fairly easy condition to work with.

Adding the last cubic inequality $4x^3 - 8 c x^2 + 5 a c x - c b <0$ to the system and solving it with Mathematica gives exactly the same constraints on $a$ and $b$ as above. Similarly, $c$ is also bounded by a Root object. For instance, $$\mbox{Root}[27b^3 +(27a^3 b - 162 a b^2)x + (-45a^4 + 225a^2 b + 72 b^2) x^2 + (-40 a^3 - 168 a b)x^3 + (48 a^2 + 16b) x^4]<c<0 $$ I also let Wolfram|Alpha solve the above quartic and the solution is horrendous. However, since I know the values of $a$ and $b$, I can easily compute the roots of the quartic with the help of Matlab for instance. Thus I think it's best to leave it like that?

Is there maybe a better way to obtain a condition on $c$ such that the whole system of equations/inequalities is satisfied? I mean, if I let Mathematica solve the cubic inequality then my condition on $c$ would be easier I guess, but that does not necessarily mean that the whole system is satisfied?

Thanks!

POSTED BY: Cédric Cavents

Hi Cedric,

it would be useful if you could attach your notebook an/or use the equation editor when you post. In your inline code there appear to be a couple of syntactical errors. For example if you want to evaluate an equation you should use double equal signs. Also "ax" is not the same as "a x"; "ax" is one variable called "ax" and "a x" is the product of the variables a and x. Now, guessing a bit what you might have wanted to solve I used:

Solve[16 x^4 - 40 a x^3 + (15 a^2 + 24 b) x^2 - 18 a b x + 3 b^2 == 0 && 5 a x - 4 x^2 - b > 0 && 15 a x - 20 x^2 - 3 b < 0 && 
4 x^3 - 8 c x^2 + 5 a c x - c b < 0 && a < 0 && x < 0 && c < 0, x]

which gives:

enter image description here

So there are sill some Root-objects in there. If you use Reduce instead of Solve you get another variation of the solution. Individual solutions can be found using FindInstance, but that won't solve your problem:

FindInstance[
 16 x^4 - 40 a x^3 + (15 a^2 + 24 b) x^2 - 18 a b x + 3 b^2 == 0 && 
  5 a x - 4 x^2 - b > 0 && 15 a x - 20 x^2 - 3 b < 0 && 
  4 x^3 - 8 c x^2 + 5 a c x - c b < 0 && a < 0 && x < 0 && c < 0, {x, a, b, c}]

which gives:

{{x -> -1, a -> -2, b -> 1/3 (6 + 4 Sqrt[3]), c -> -1}}

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Marco

POSTED BY: Marco Thiel
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