A triangle is drawn in a region bounded by the $x$-axis and a polynomial curve with all real roots, with one side of the triangle on the $x$-axis, as shown in this example: [![enter image description here][1]][1] >What is the supremum of the ratio $R$ of the triangle's area to the region's area? (We require that the polynomial has all real roots, because [otherwise][2] the answer would be trivial: the supremum would be $1$, for example with $y=x-x^n$ and letting $n\to\infty$.) I considered the largest area triangle drawn in the region bounded by the $x$-axis and the polynomial $y=(-1)^{n-1}(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{a}\right)^2-1\right)^n, a>1$, from $x=-1$ to $x=1$. [![enter image description here][3]][3] Numerical investigation suggests that for any given $a$ value, the ratio $R$ is maximized when $n\approx 1.88a^2$. $\color{blue}{a=10}$: $\space R\approx0.8953810$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{10}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{187}}$ $\space R\approx0.8953823$ with $y=-(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{10}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{188}}$ $\space R\approx0.8953822$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{10}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{189}}$ $\color{blue}{a=100}$: $\space R\approx0.8955295$ with $y=-(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{100}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{18799}}$ $\space R\approx0.8955296$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{100}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{18800}}$ $\space R\approx0.8955295$ with $y=-(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{100}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{18801}}$ $\color{blue}{a=1000}$: $\space R\approx0.8955309$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{1000}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{1879990}}$ $\space R\approx0.8955311$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{1000}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{1880000}}$ $\space R\approx0.8955310$ with $y=(x^2-1)\left(\left(\frac{x}{1000}\right)^2-1\right)^{\color{red}{1880010}}$ I conjecture that the supremum of $R$ is approached when $a\to\infty$ (for each value of $a$, we choose the value of $n$ that maximizes $R$), and that $R\approx 0.8955$. [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/JWnw4.png [2]: https://math.stackexchange.com/q/4648043/398708 [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/4Smma.png