A two point boundary value problem for a second order differential equation with quadratic growth in the derivative. (Q1413591)

The author considers positive solutions to the two-point second-order nonlinear boundary value problem with quadratic growth in the first derivative \[ w''+h(s,w)+k(w)w^{\prime 2}=0,\quad w(\alpha)=w(\beta)=0,\quad w(s)>0,\;s\in(\alpha,\beta). \] Conditions are given guaranteeing that the problem has at most one positive solution. The results on ordinary differential equations are applied to radially symmetric solutions of elliptic equations.