Oscillation of functional differential equations with deviating arguments (Q1813277)

The oscillatory behavior of the equation \(L_ nx(t)+q(t)F(x(g(t)))=0\), \(n\) even, \(L_ 0x=x\), \(L_ kx=(a_ k)^{-1}(L_{k-1}x)'\), is studied. The author assumes among others that \(q\geq 0\), \(g(t)\to\infty\) when \(t\to\infty\), \(xF(x)>0\) for \(x\neq 0\), \(F'(x)\geq 0\), \(-F(-xy)\geq F(xy)\geq KF(x)F(y)\) for \(xy>0\). The purpose of the paper is to extend and unify a lot of earlier results (Grace-Lalli, Kartsatos, Philos, Staikos,\dots). The results can be applied to equations with retarded, advanced and mixed type of argument. Examples show that the demonstrated theorem improves earlier results.