Beta-type functions and the harmonic mean (Q1689413)

For \(a>0\), \(f:(a,\infty)\to (0,\infty)\) and \(B_{f}:(a,\infty)^{2}\to (0,\infty)\) the Beta-type functions are defined by \(B_{f}(x,y)={{f(x)f(y)}\over{f(x+y)}}\), \(x,y>a\). The main results of the paper are: (\(\alpha\)) The function \(B_{f}(x,y)\) is an increasing mean if and only if the function \(f\) is logarithmically concave and \([f(x)]^{2}=xf(2x)\), \(x>0\) and (\(\beta\)) if \(I=(0,\infty)\) or \(I=[a,\infty)\), \(a>0\) and \(f:I\to (0,\infty)\) then the following conditions are equivalent: (i) \(B_{f}:I^{2}\to (0,\infty)\) is a mean, (ii) there is an additive function \(a:\mathbb R\to \mathbb R\) such that \(f(x)=2xe^{a(x)}\), \(x\in I\) and (iii) \(B_{f}\) is a harmonic mean in \(I\).