# Cauchy-Schwarz in complex case, using discriminant

There is a proof of the real case of Cauchy-Schwarz inequality that expands $\|\lambda v - w\|^2 \geq 0$, gets a quadratic in $\lambda$, and takes the discriminant to get the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. In trying to do the same thing in the complex case, I ran into some trouble. First, there are proofs here, here, here, and here, but none of them do it the way I'm thinking of.

If I similarly expand $\|\lambda v - w\|^2_{\mathbb{C}},$ I get $|\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 \text{Re}(\lambda \langle v,w\rangle) + \|w\|^2$. How can I manipulate this to get Cauchy-Schwarz using the discriminant? My problem is that $$|\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 \text{Re}(\lambda \langle v,w\rangle) + \|w\|^2 \geq |\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 | \lambda ||\langle v,w\rangle | + \|w\|^2,$$ so I can't be sure that the latter term is $\geq 0$.

• You can decide $\;\lambda\in\Bbb R\;$ and that way make things a little simpler... – DonAntonio Mar 5 '14 at 4:52
• @DonAntonio That is true. I would, however, like to preserve the argument that since $\lambda$ is arbitrary, the RHS can be zero iff $w$ and $v$ are linearly dependent. – Eric Auld Mar 5 '14 at 5:34
• Somewhat similar: this question. – Nanashi No Gombe May 6 '17 at 8:56

If I similarly expand $\|\lambda v - w\|^2_{\mathbb{C}},$ I get $|\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 \text{Re}(\lambda \langle v,w\rangle) + \|w\|^2$.
Consider values $\lambda(r) = r \exp i\theta$, taking $\theta$ such as $\lambda(r) \langle v,w\rangle \in \mathbb R$. You get $$0\le|\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 \text{Re}(\lambda \langle v,w\rangle) + \|w\|^2 = r^2\|v\|^2 \pm 2 r |\langle v,w\rangle| + \|w\|^2$$
the $\pm$ depends on the sign of the real part.
I just thought of $$|\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 - 2 \text{Re}(\lambda \langle v,w\rangle) + \|w\|^2 \leq |\lambda|^2\|v\|^2 + 2 | \lambda ||\langle v,w\rangle | + \|w\|^2,$$ which yields the same discriminant. This seems to work!