# Thread: A fun math problem in a show.

1. ## A fun math problem in a show.

Hey I was reading some comics and in the comics the protagonist tells someone to solve this equation if he wants him to do as he says.
I was wondering if it's possible to solve or is it just a joke. I played around a bit by getting the ln integral and putting the result together again as a ln and writing it as e but not really getting anywhere.

2x/a < integral of (1/t) dt upper boundary (a+x) lower boundary (a-x) < x(1/(a+x) + 1/(a-x))

2. ## Re: A fun math problem in a show.

Not sure what youu mean by "solve this equation" - it's an inequality which is in fact true for the case 'a' and 'x' are both positive and x<a. It's not too hard to see - consider how the area under the curve 1/t from a-x to a+x can be approximated by either (1) the area of a rectangle centerd on t= a, with width 2x and height 1/a, or (2) the area of the rectangle using height equal to the average of the values for t= a-x and t=a+x, and width of 2x.