1. Introduction
Convexity has long been recognized as a fundamental concept in analysis and optimization, with classical applications to inequalities, approximation theory, and mathematical physics. Among its most celebrated consequences, the Hermite-Hadamard and Fejér inequalities provide sharp bounds for integrals of convex functions, and have motivated numerous refinements and generalizations. Many authors developed multidimensional analogues, emphasizing their importance in both numerical integration and the study of special functions therein [1]-[11].
To illustrate the motivation, we provide an example of a
-convex function that fails to be preinvex, thereby demonstrating the advantage of this generalization. This example highlights the necessity of developing integral inequalities in the
-setting, which leads naturally to stronger results with potential applications.
The aim of this paper is to establish new Hermite-Hadamard-Fejér type inequalities for functions that are
-convex on the coordinates. Our contributions include:
1) Theoretical development: Several new inequalities based on weighted symmetric functions and generalized invexity.
2) Comparative refinements: Explicit demonstration that our bounds are sharper than those derived under convexity or preinvexity.
3) Applications: Implications for numerical integration error analysis and bounding special functions such as Beta and hypergeometric functions.
This work thereby advances the literature on generalized convexity by bridging classical inequalities with modern generalizations.
The Fejér integral inequality for convex functions has been proved in [12].
Theorem 1.1 [12]
Let
be a convex function. Then
where
is integrable and symmetric to
(that is
).
Furthermore, Dragomir [13] gave the Hermite-Hadamard-Fejér inequality on a retangle in plane.
Theorem 1.2 [13]
Let
be a co-ordinated convex function. Then the double inequality holds
where
is integrable and symmetric to
. (that is
).
Theorem 1.3 [13]
It is well-known that the convexity theory has wide applications in special functions, differential equations and bivariate mean. Recently, extensions, generalizations, refinements, and variants of convexity have attracted attention.
Motivated by these works we introduce the notion of
-convex functions as generalization of convex functions.
Definition 1.4
A set
is said to be invex with to a real bifunction
, if
Recently, the concept of
-convex has been introduced in [14] as a generalization of preinvex function and
-convex function [15]. In the following we can find the definition of
-convex function with some basic results.
Let
be an invex set with respect to
. Consider
and
. The function
is said to be
-convex if
for all
and
.
Remark 1.5
An
-convex function reduces to
(i) an
-convex function if we consider
for all
.
(ii) a preinvex function if we consider
for all
.
(iii) a convex function if it satisfies (i) and (ii).
Consider the function
by
Define two bifunction
and
by
and
Then
is a
-convex function. But
is not preinvex with respect to
and ai is not convex (consider
,
and
).
Definition 1.6
Let
be two intervals, and
and
be two real-valued functions. Then
is said to be
-convex on the coordinates if the inequality
holds for all
and
.
Definition 1.7 [16]
Let
be two intervals, and
and
be three real-valued functions, and the partial mappings
and
be defined by
Then
is said to be coordinate
-convex on
if
is
-convex on
and
is
-convex on
In particular, if
, then Fis said to be
-convex.
Definition 1.8
Let
be two intervals, and
and
be two real-valued functions. Then
is said to be
-convex on the coordinates if the inequality
holds for all
and
.
Remark 1.9 (Comparison of Coordinate Convexities).
Definitions 1.6 - 1.8 present different but related notions. Definition 1.6 introduces
-convexity on the coordinates, Definition 1.7 specifies coordinate
-convexity via separate mappings, and Definition 1.8 generalizes to invex structures with bifunctions
. In particular, Definition 1.7 can be viewed as a special case of Definition 1.8 when
and
. Throughout the main theorems, we adopt Definition 1.8, since it provides the most general framework.
Over the last decades, efforts have been made to extend convexity to more flexible frameworks. Concepts such as invexity, preinvexity, and
-convexity have been introduced to capture broader families of functions. The notion of
-convexity provides a unifying perspective that includes both preinvex and
-convex functions as special cases. Importantly, as shown in Remark 1.1, this class is strictly larger than preinvex functions, thereby allowing sharper integral inequalities that cannot be obtained under the narrower classical frameworks.
Throughout,
-convex on the coordinates means Definition 1.8 is in force, so lines parallel to each axis obey an invex interpolation via
on the domain and
on the range, strictly generalizing Definition 1.7 and the usual convex or preinvex cases. Readers may simply read “
-convex” as “coordinate-wise convex under a generalized (invex) interpolation rule” unless a specific structure of
is needed later.
“Weighted symmetric” always refers to symmetry with respect to
and
for
, as in the classical Fejér’s setting.
2. Main Results
Each theorem below is immediately followed by a short plain-language explanation highlighting: what quantity is bounded, what assumptions buy the estimate, and how it collapses to the classical convex case (by taking
and
. We also point out how the constants and kernels should be interpreted for numerical integration or for bounding special functions.
Theorem 2.1
Let
,
and
be a
-convex function and
be an integrable, positive and weighted symmetric function with respect to
and
, then the following inequalities are valid:
Proof:
By the
-convexity of
on
, it gives
for all
and
.
Setting
and
, we have
By integrating over
, we get
By evaluating the weighted fractional operators, we have
Since
, then we get
Now, we will prove the right side of inequality by using convexity.
By integrating over
, we get
By evaluating the weighted fractional operators, we have
We bound the
-weighted average of
over
by simple “surrogate values” built from the midpoint
, the opposite point
, and the corners.
The novelty is that the surrogates are allowed to interact through the bracket
, which encodes our generalized (invex) interpolation.
When
and
, the inequality collapses to the classical Fejér-type double integral bound.
If
, the result compares the rectangle average of
directly with its midpoint and corner data, providing a practical control for quadrature error on meshes symmetric about the rectangle center.
Lemma 2.2
Suppose that
is an invex set with respect to
and
is a twice differentiable mapping on
. For any
,
with
,
, if
is differentiable mapping on
and
where
Proof:
Using the integration by part, we obtain
Using the change of variables
and
for
. Thus we complete the proof of lemma 2.2.
This identity rewrites the deviation between the
-weighted surface integral of
and a balanced combination of its edge and corner traces as the integral of the mixed curvature
against a nonnegative kernel
determined by
.
It is the engine that converts smoothness or convexity information on
into quantitative error bounds.
Theorem 2.3
Suppose that
is an invex set with respect to
and
is a twice differentiable mapping on
. For any
,
with
,
, if
is in-tegrable and symmetric with respect to
and
mapping on
and
. If
is a
-convex mapping on
, then
Proof:
From the lemma 2.2 and the
-convexity of
, we have
Using the change of variables
and
and using the fact that g is symmetric to
,
, we have
Under
-convexity of
, the absolute deviation of the
-weighted average of
from its edge and corner-based surrogate is bounded by an explicit moment of
times an endpoint combination of
. In the ordinary convex setting (taking
,
) this reduces to a Simpson/Fejér-type error estimate. The two addends inside the integral kernel correspond to midpoint contributions and quadratic corrections in
and
. They quantify how the error grows away from the rectangle center, which is useful for mesh design in 2D quadrature.
Theorem 2.4
Suppose that
is an invex set with respect to
and
is a twice differentiable mapping on
. For any
,
with
and
. If
is integrable and symmetric with respect to
and
mapping on
and
. If
,
is a
-convex mapping on
, then we have the following inequality:
where
and
.
Proof:
According to the proof of Theorem, we get

Since
is
-convex on
,
we have
and by using of substitution
, we deduce that


This Hölder-type extension replaces pointwise control of
by an
control, aggregated into the constant
. It is thus applicable when only integral information on the mixed curvature is available. Taking
recovers a familiar
-based estimate.
Theorem 2.5
Suppose that
is an invex set with respect to
and
is a twice differentiable mapping on
. For any
,
with
,
, if
is integrable mapping on
. Assume that
and there exist
such that
Then
Proof:
By Lemma 2.2, we have
Then
Taking the modulus on
we get
If the mixed derivative
is trapped between
and
, the deviation is bounded by an average term proportional to
plus an oscillation term proportional to
.
This is the most “hands-on” bound when only rough curvature ranges are known.
Definition
A function
is said to satisfy the Lipschitz condition on
if there is a constant
so that for
and
, then
Theorem 2.6
Suppose that
is an invex set with respect to
and
is a twice differentiable mapping on
. For any
with
,
, if
is integrable mapping on
. Assume that
is integrable on
and satisfies a Lipschitz condition for some
.
Then
Proof:
By Lemma 2.2, we have
Then
When
is Lipschitz, the deviation is controlled by
at the rectangle center plus a Lipschitz remainder that scales with the first moments of
. Practically, this yields sharper bounds for smooth
without needing global extrema of
.
3. Conclusions
In this paper, we have derived new Hermite-Hadamard-Fejér type inequalities for functions that are
-convex on the coordinates. By systematically applying weighted symmetric functions and invexity structures, we extended and unified several classical inequalities.
A key contribution is the demonstration that our results yield sharper bounds compared to those based on standard convexity and preinvexity. This improvement has been supported not only by theoretical comparison but also through illustrative examples, which highlight the tighter estimates obtained under the
-convex framework.
Beyond theoretical novelty, these inequalities have practical applications. In particular, they provide refined tools for numerical integration error analysis and for bounding special functions, including Beta and hypergeometric families. Such applications underline the utility of the proposed framework beyond abstract generalization.
Future directions include exploring further refinements under fractional calculus, extending the results to higher dimensions, and investigating their role in optimization theory and applied analysis.
Acknowledgements
The Author would like to express their sincere to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.