On two functional equations connected with the characterizations of the distance measures (Q1376587)

The goal of the present paper is to derive the general solution of the functional equations \[ f(pr,qs) +f(ps,qr)= g(p,q)h(r,s) +g(r,s) h(p,q) \] where \(p,q,r,s \in (0,1]\), and \[ f_1(pr,qs) +f_2(ps,qr) =g(p,q)+ h(r,s) \] where \(p,q,r,s \in (0,1]\) and \(f_1, f_2, f,g,h\): \((0,1] \to \mathbb{C}\). The solutions of these functional equations are obtained without any regularity hypotheses. A special case of the first functional equation is the functional equation \[ f(pr,qs)+ f(ps,qr)= g(p,q)f(r,s) +g(r,s) f(p,q) \] for \(p,q,r,s \in (0,1]\), whose general solution, without any regularity conditions, was obtained by \textit{T. Riedel} and \textit{P. K. Sahoo} [Publ. Math. 46, No. 1-2, 125-135 (1995; Zbl 0860.39032)]. As remarked by the authors, the above equation is connected with the characterizations of distance measures between probability distributions. The paper provides new results in a very interesting subject which is oriented towards applications.