by RonPurewal Fri Nov 07, 2008 4:59 am
heh heh, that problem.
let me say the following:
this problem should serve as a nice wake-up call to any and all students who don't like "plug-in methods", or who abjure such methods so that they can keep searching ... and searching ... and searching for the elusive "textbook" method.
this problem is pretty much ONLY soluble with plug-in methods. therefore, you MUST make plug-in methods part of your arsenal if you want a fighting chance at all quant problems you'll see.
this is the case for a great many difficult inequality problems, by the way: the most difficult among those problems will often require some sort of plug-ins, or, at the very least, they will be hell on earth if you try to use theory.