Let x 1 </msub> , x 2 </msub> , x 3 </msub

aligass2004yi

aligass2004yi

Answered question

2022-06-19

Let x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4 be points on the unit sphere S 2 , that maximizes the quantity
i < j x i x j 2 ,
where x i x j denotes the Euclidean distance in R 3 .

Do the x i form the shape of a Tetrahedron?

I tried using Lagrange's multipliers but this got a bit messy; I got that
i j ( v i , x j + x i , v j ) = i λ i x i , v i ,
for every ( v 1 , v 2 , v 3 , v 4 ) ( R 3 ) 4 , but I am not sure how to proceed from here.

Answer & Explanation

Elianna Douglas

Elianna Douglas

Beginner2022-06-20Added 23 answers

The complete answer is that, x i maximizes the given function, if and only if i x i = 0. Here is a proof base on achille hui's great comment:
i < j x i x j 2 = 1 2 i , j x i x j 2 = 1 2 ( 4 j x j 2 + 4 i x i 2 2 i x i , j x j )
= 16 i x i 2 .
In particular, any regular tetrahedron whose vertices lie on the sphere satisfies this condition, but there are other examples, such as a square on the equator.

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