Oscillation/nonoscillation criteria for linear second-order differential equations (Q1268748)

The paper contains new oscillation and nonoscillation criteria for the second-order linear differential equation \[ y''+ q(t)y=0. \tag{*} \] To these criteria, the oscillation nature of (*) is investigated via properties of a certain associated first-order recurrence relation. One of the main results reads as follows. Theorem: Let \(t_n\to \infty\) be a real sequence such that \[ (t_{n+1}-t_n)\int_{t_n}^{t_{n+1}} q(t) dt\leq \alpha_n,\quad 0\leq \alpha_n<1, \] and suppose that there exists a sequence \(\{z_n\}\) satisfying the first-order recurrence relation \[ z_{n+1}={z_n-\alpha_n\over \theta_n+z_n-\alpha_n},\quad \theta_n={t_{n+1}-t_n\over t_{n+2}-t_{n+1}}, \] such that \(0<z_n<1\). Then (*) is nonoscillatory. An nonoscillatory complement of this theorem is given. If \(t_n=2^nt_0\) and \(\alpha_n=(3-2\sqrt{2})/t_{n+1}\) then the above theorem reduces to the oscillation criterion of \textit{C. Huang} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 210, No. 2, 712-723 (1997; Zbl 0880.34034)].