Yorke and Wright \(3/2\)-stability theorems from a unified point of view (Q1422562)

The 3/2-stability result of \textit{E.~M.~Wright} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 194, 66--87 (1955; Zbl 0064.34203)] says that all solutions of the equation \(x^\prime(t)=f(x(t-1))\), with \(f(t)=p(e^{-x}-1)\), \(p>0\), converge to zero if \(p\leq 3/2\). \textit{J.~A.~Yorke} [J. Differ. Equations 7, 189--202 (1970; Zbl 0184.12401)] proved a similar result for the scalar delay differential equation \[ x'(t)=f(t,x_t),\quad x_t(s):=x(t+s),\,\, s\in [-h,\,0].\tag{1} \] The result of Yorke assumes the condition: There exists a constant \(a<0\) such that \[ a{\mathcal M}(\phi)\leq f(t,\phi)\leq -a{\mathcal M}(-\phi), \] for all \(\phi\in {\mathcal C}([-h,\,0])\), where \({\mathcal M}(\phi)=\max\{0,\, \max_{s\in[-h,\,0]}\phi(s)\}\). This condition is not satisfied by the Wright equation. Therefore, formally Yorke's result does not include that of Wright. The present paper proposes a global stability criterion for equation (1), which gives a unified point of view of Wright and Yorke theorems, in the sense that they both appear as particular cases.