Comparison theorems for first order linear delay equations (Q1107706)

The authors establish comparison theorems for a delay differential equation of the form \(x'(t)=-\sum^{n}_{i=1}q_ i(t)x(t-T_ i(t)),\) \(t\geq 0\). The comparison involve another equation of the same form but with different coefficients and different delays. They also define the notion of what we call strong oscillation, which turns out to be more restricted than the usual notion of oscillation. They also consider a situation where the two definitions are equivalent.