Monotonicity properties of some skew tent maps (Q1190296)

Kneading sequences and topological entropy for certain maps of the interval (skew tent maps) given by the formula: \[ F_{\lambda,\mu}(x)=\begin{cases} 1+\lambda x & \text{ if } x\leq 0 \\ 1-\mu x& \text{ if } x\geq 0 \end{cases} \] where \(\lambda\leq 1\), \(\mu>1\), are investigated and some monotonicity properties of them are proved. Misiurewicz and the second author in 1991 proved for \(\lambda\geq 1\) that kneading sequences and entropy are strictly increasing functions of \(\lambda\) and \(\mu\). In the reviewed paper it is proved that they are increasing when \(\lambda<1\). The authors identify also some regions where these functions of \(\lambda\) and \(\mu\) are constant. They prove simultaneously that the set of \((\lambda,\mu)\) for which the kneading sequence is a primary itinerary \(M\) is a graph of a decreasing function in the \((\lambda,\mu)\)-plane (similarly as it was proved by Misiurewicz and Visinescu for \(\lambda\geq 1)\). Notice that the proof of the first main theorem of the paper (Theorem 1 in Sec. 1) needs some technical lemmas and estimations for some partial derivatives associated to kneading sequences, and it is done in Sec. 3 having 15 pages of rather hard calculations.