Meromorphic functions sharing three values with a linear differential polynomial (Q1205490)

The authors deal with the following question: Let \(f\) be a meromorphic and nonconstant function, \(k\in\mathbb{N}\) is a fixed number and \[ L=a_ k f^{(k)}+a_{k-1} f^{(k-1)}+\dots+a_ 0 f, \qquad a_ k\neq 0. \] Is it true or not that \(f\equiv L\) in the case when \(f\) and \(L\) do not take three (pairwise distinct) complex values? The positive answer was obtained by the authors for \(L=f'\) [Manuscr. Math. 29, 195-206 (1979; Zbl 0416.30028)] and by \textit{G. Frank} and \textit{W. Schwick} [Result. Math. 22, No. 3/4, 679-684 (1992; Zbl 0763.30012)] for \(L=f^{(k)}\), \(k\) is an arbitrary positive natural number. In the article the same is proved for the following two situations: (i) \(L=a_ k f^{(k)}+a_{k-3} f^{(k-3)}+ a_{k-4} f^{(k-4)} +\dots+ a_ 0f\), \(k\geq 3\), \(a_ j\in\mathbb{C}\), \(a_ k\neq 0\); (ii) \(L=a_ k f^{(k)}+a_{k-1}f^{(k-1)}+\dots+ a_ 0 f\), \(a_ k\neq 0\), \(k\) is ``small'' (\(2\leq k\leq 50\)), \(a_ j\in\mathbb{C}\), \(a_ k\neq 0\). The result is obtained due to usual techniques of the Nevanlinna theory. The surprising condition \((k\leq 50)\) in (ii) is connected with the availability of the software ``Mathematica'' usually used for the inversion of some power series.