New properties of some mean values (Q1288163)

Let \(p\) be a strictly monotonic real valued function on positive reals, and for all positive real numbers \(a\) and \(b\), let \[ M_{p, n} (a, b) = p^{-1} \left ( {1 \over {2\pi}} \int_0^{2\pi} p \left ( r_n ( \theta) \right) d\theta \right) , \] where \(r_n ( \theta) = \root n \of {a^n \cos^2 \theta + b^n \sin^2 \theta}\). The quantity \(M_{p, n} (a, b)\) defines a symmetric mean between \(a\) and \(b\), and several well known means can be obtained by specializing on \(p\) and \(n\). Among other results, the authors prove that the function \(f(a, b; p, n) := {1 \over {2\pi}} \int_0^{2\pi} p (r_n ( \theta)) d\theta \) satisfies the functional equation \[ F\left ( P_q (a, b) , P_s (a, b) \right) = F(a, b) \quad \text{with} \quad P_q (a, b) := \root q \of { ( a^q + b^q)/2 } \] if \(n \neq 0\), \(q=n\), \(s=-n\), and \(p(x) = \alpha x^{q+s-n} + \beta\). Here \(\alpha, \beta\) are arbitrary real constants.